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miche
Canada
283 Posts |
 Posted - 10/06/2009 : 21:38:46
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Hillbilly,
I very much wanted to read the hometown link you posted re : fibro etc, it is shut down , do you have a copy ? |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2009 : 07:26:22
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Miche,
It was embedded in another thread. I copied and pasted below. Hope it helps. The links are dead, so the text will have to suffice.
THE CAUSE AND CURE OF NERVOUS SYMPTOMS
Preface
The findings described here were originally discovered Dr. Abraham Low1,2 , an American psychiatrist (1891-1954), and Dr Claire Weekes8, an Australian physician, who died approx. 10 years ago. I was able to confirm their discoveries and additionally I incorporated in my manuscript some discoveries from the field of Objectivism3. The ideas expressed by the above two investigators were largely the result of introspection, i.e. cognition directed inward. I have been engaged in introspection such a long time that it has become almost second nature to me.
Please note that I use the terms anxiety, fear and stress interchangegeably. The same also applies to thethree adjectives nrvous, functional and emotional when pplied to illness, symptoms or disorders. The article can be found at the link below:
INTRODUCTION
"I have gathered a bouquet of flowers from other men’s gardens, naught but the string that binds them is my own"
---- Michel de Montaigne
Over fifty percent of patients who visit their physicians daily have symptoms for which no physical cause can be found. Doctors refer to these patients as having a functional illness, as distinquished from patients who have an organic cause for their symptoms. The cause of functional symptoms is not adequately understood by most physicians and it is managed poorly in a great many instances.
Other names for functional illness are: nervous illness, emotional illness, anxiety disorder, psychosomatic illness, emotional disorder, psychoneurosis, nervous ailment, minor mental disorder, and just plain "nerves." I shall regard all these terms synonymously and interchangeably because their symptoms are all anxiety-induced. Some examples of functional illnesses are: psychosomatic disorders, general anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorders, simple phobias, panic attacks, fibromyalgia, obsessive-compulsive disorders, anxiety and depression, social phobia.
I am excluding from consideration psychoses, manic-depressive illnesses, schizophrenia, and major depressions. All these may have a genetic component and are possibly biologically triggered.
My position is that Functional Illness or Disorder is a definite clinical entity, with a specific cause. Just as tuberculosis is caused specifically by the tubercle bacillus, so functional illness is caused specifically by anxiety or stress. If anxiety is removed, functional symptoms disappear. I have reached this conclusion not only as a result of extensive experience in clinical practice, but also as a result of having personally experienced panic attacks, agoraphobia and other functional symptoms.
I have discovered that Functional illness is caused by our emotions, mostly fear (anxiety) and anger, and is largely self-induced and self-generated, without conscious awareness on our part. This may at first sound unbelievable. However, you can prove this to yourself by examining your own inner-life, your own emotions. This is called introspection, a process of cognition directed inward (Ayn Rand). Functional illness is logically best studied by introspection, because the cause, the symptoms and the cure of functional symptoms are all essentially subjective events.
HOW I GAINED INTELLECTUAL UNDERSTANDING INTO THE CAUSE OF FUNCTIONAL (EMOTIONAL) ILLNESS
I graduated from Case Western Reserve University Medical School in 1935. After three years of hospital training, I was engaged in a Family Practice for 50 years. The first 10 years in practice I found rather difficult because too many of my patients had symptoms without evidence of organic disease. I did not understand what caused my patients functional symptoms, and realized I managed them poorly. This caused me great stress in my practice. I took numerous postgraduate courses in Psychology and Psychiatry, hoping I would find the cause of functional symptoms, and learn how to manage these patients more successfully. At the end of ten years of intensive study of Psychology and Psychiatry, careful listening to my patients, and as a result of my own introspection I reached the conclusion that anxiety and stress were the cause of my patients’ functional symptoms. Once I had arrived at this conviction, I was able to manage most of these patients successfully, and I came to love the practice of Medicine.
HOW I GAINED EMOTIONAL INSIGHT INTO THE CAUSE OF FUNCTIONAL ILLNESS
I gained emotional insight, a deeper understanding of functional illness, by experiencing severe functional symptoms myself. My first panic attack occurred suddenly on February 21,1998. First, I felt three bizarre heat waves sweeping across my upper back. Then came a feeling of severe anxiety. Next, I thought I was about to die by suffocation. As I looked around me to see if opening a door or window might help, I saw there really was no danger present, and my intense anxiety subsided immediately. However a low-grade anxiety lingered on, and I could not get free of it. I recognized immediately that I had just experienced a severe panic attack.
I consulted my family physician and described my unusual experience. He performed a complete physical examination and prescribed 0.25-mg aprazolam (xanax) tablets, an anti-anxiety medication. With half of an aprazolam tablet, my anxiety vanished completely, but the effect only lasted four hours. I realized that this was only treating my symptom. It did not treat the cause. A low-grade anxiety continued to follow me like a shadow, in anticipation of getting future panics. Next, my fears multiplied, and I developed other functional symptoms. I woke up on three separate nights with racing, obsessive thoughts, which I was unable to control. An anti-anxiety pill was necessary for sleep on each occasion. Additionally, I felt increasingly uneasy as dusk approached each day, and I experienced slight fear on entering my bedroom at night. Being alone at night became somewhat distressful, and I felt much more comfortable during daylight hours. In retrospect, I was on the road to developing agoraphobia, because my fears multiplied and I was unable to "let go of my fear" of getting future panic attacks.
At this point, I realized I needed additional help, so I joined a "self-help" lay support group, named Recovery-Inc. Dr. Abraham Low, who founded this group in 1937, was a Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst who practiced in Chicago, Ill. He was Associate Director of the Illinois Psychiatric Institute, and Assistant Forensic Physician to all the State Mental Hospitals. Reading Dr. Low’s books, and especially listening to his 70 audiotapes, was a great educational experience for me. Most of Dr. Low’s keen insight and understanding of functional illness was gained by introspection. His philosophic principles and techniques of therapy are described in his many books, some of them listed in the bibliography.1, 2
Dr. Low said, there would be very little nervous illness without fear. And to overcome nervous symptoms one has to be willing to do the things one fears to do, and be willing to endure some discomfort. I carefully thought about this advice, and after my third weekly Recovery-Inc. session, I experienced symptoms that I recognized as the onset of a second panic attack. Again I felt three bizarre heat waves sweeping across my upper back, followed by severe anxiety. Before the latter reached its maximum intensity, I said to myself, "I am going to endure this, even if it kills me." As I did so and confronted my anxiety directly, it vanished instantly, completely and magically. I became immediately elated as I experienced sudden insight on an emotional level, that my panic attack had been self-induced by fear. I became so exhilarated that my fear of another panic attack vanished instantly. I learned that anxiety, in the absence of physical danger is reversible, when you face it without fear. The expression "There is nothing to fear but fear itself" now gained a new vital meaning for me.
My panic attacks stopped immediately, and the remainig fear-generated agoraphobia-like symptoms I overcame more gradually in a matter of four or five weeks. My mental health in the past five years has been so splendid, that I am eager to share my personal discoveries in functional illness with all others.
EMOTIONS ARE THE RESULT OF OUR AUTOMATIZED VALUES
On the subject of emotions, my greatest mentors were Ayn Rand and her Associates, Leonard Peikoff and Harry Binswanger. Ayn Rand was the founder of a monumental philosophy called Objectivism. Objectivism holds that man has a cognitive mechanism and an emotional mechanism. Both are blank slates at birth, and both are controlled by man’s conscious mind. Man’s subconscious mind (subconscious) can be likened to a computer that is programmed by our conscious mind, by our own value judgments. All this takes place mostly without conscious awareness. We say our values become automatized, and the resultant "printout" from the subconscious is the emotions. Both the storage and retrieval takes place with lightning rapidity. All the above explanation is highly abstract, but is clearly presented by Leonard Peikoff3 and Harry Binswanger.4.5
Since all the above ideas are abstract concepts, let me illustrate by giving you some concrete examples. First, on how the cognitive mechanism works: if I say to you, "Five times eight is ____", what come to your mind instantly is 40. If I say to you "In God we --------", what comes to your mind instantly is "trust." In each instance, the information was previously automatized (programmed) into the subconscious, and was instantly available to your conscious mind, when triggered.
Now, some examples to illustrate how the emotional mechanism works. If the person driving behind your car unexpectedly blows his horn, your instant reaction is emotional, perhaps a combination of fear and anger. This would be the result of a previous evaluation that was automatized, and its resultant emotions (fear and anger) were now triggered. Another example: A 3-year old child might be found playing fearlessly with a loaded handgun, not realizing it is a lethal weapon. This same child later in life, having learned that a loaded handgun is dangerous and can kill, would now react with great fear. Here again, a previous evaluation was automatized, and the sight of the handgun triggered the emotion of fear. A third example: when we are introduced to someone for the first time, we usually measure each other subliminally. Each might observe and evaluate the other on such things as personal appearance, level of intelligence, sense of self-confidence, degree of relaxation, skill in self-expression, sense of empathy. All this complex evaluation is done by our conscious mind, automatized in our subconscious and is instantly available, on a cognitive as well as an emotional level, on demand.
YOUR MIND CAN KEEP YOU WELL IF YOU HAVE FUNCTIONAL SYMPTOMS
Most patients are not aware that their panic attack or other functional symptoms are due to anxiety or stress. It is essential that this information is conveyed to them. Otherwise, they might forever look for a physical cause for their symptoms, or even imagine that they are "going crazy." Faison Covington consulted 30 physicians over a period of 13 years, looking for a physical cause for her symptoms, before recovering from a severe functional illness.6
Taking pills only treats symptoms. Taking pills in the hope that they will magically cure a "neurotransmitter imbalance" is an idle hope.
Once the patient understands and is able to accept the fact that his symptoms are functional in nature, and caused by anxiety and stress, the patient is immedialy relieved and his symptoms disappear shortly thereafter, in most instances. This has been my experience repeatedly in clinical practice, and was one reason why I found the practice of Medicine so enjoyable and fulfilling. Many patients are aware on a subliminal level that their symptoms are related to stress, and only need to hear this from a trusted physician or other authority figure.
The treatment of patients with long-standing functional symptoms can be more difficult, especially if they have consulted numerous health professionals in the past. When these patients have been referred to many specialists previously, and have been subjected to numerous sophisticated tests, this experience itself can serve to frighten some patients. Often times, patients may become confused when different physicians and therapists offer different explanations for their functional symptoms. These patients need the care of an understaning physician and the duration of treatment may take a longer time. A few patients are unable or unwilling to accept the fact that their functional symptoms are due to anxiety and stress, and may continue to search for someone who will find a physical cause for their illness.
All the above observations serve to indicate that the treatment of patients with functional symptoms can at times be complex and difficult. A physician who understands the cause of functional symptoms, and who at the same time understands and practices the "Art of Medicine" will have the greatest success in helping patients with functional symptoms. The subject of treatment of severe chronic anxiety, panic and agoraphobia is well presented in the books by Seagrave and Covington6, Paul Foxman,7 Claire Weekes,8 and Lucinda Basset.10
SUMMARY
A functional illness or disorder is a distinct clinical entity, and is caused by our emotions (fear, anxiety, and anger). Emotions are the result of the "printout" from our subconscious computer that we ourselves programmed, mostly without conscious awareness. Automatized emotions erupt into our conscious mind instantly when triggered. This instant appearance of fear or anxiety, out of nowhere so to speak, can trigger our biological "fight or flight" reaction and thus cause our functional symptoms. Only someone who is willing to engage in minute self-observation (introspection) will discover and be convinced of the fact that functional symptoms are caused by our emotions.
Intellectual understanding of the cause of functional symptoms on the part of the patient may at times not be enough to cure a patient’s functional illness, but understanding the cause can be the forerunner to prevention and cure. If a patient overcomes his irrational fears, anxiety and anger, where no physical danger is present, he will lose his functional symptoms, and find himself on the road to high-quality mental health.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1) Low AA, Mental Health through Will Training. Glencoe (Ill): Willett Publishing Co.; 1950.
2) Low AA, Manage Your Fears Manage Your Anger. Glencoe (Ill): Willett Publishing Co.; 1995.
(3) Peikoff L, Objectivism the Philosophy of Ayn Rand. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc.; 1991: 153-158.
(4) Binswanger H, The Ayn Rand Lexicon, Objectivism From A to Z. New York: New American \\\\ Library; 1986:141-144.
(5) Binswanger H, Psycho-Epistemology ll. (Two audiotapes). New Milford (CT): Second Renaissance Books; 1998: 2(b).
(6) Seagrave A, Covington F, Free From Fears, New Help for Anxiety, Panic and Agoraphobia. New York: Pocket Books; 1987.
(7) Foxman P, Dancing with Fear, Overcoming Anxiety in a World of Stress and Uncertainty. Northvale (NJ): Jason Aronson Inc.; 1996.
(8) Weekes C, A Simple and Effective Treatment of Agoraphobia. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc.; 1976.
(9) Binswanger H, The Ayn Rand Lexicon. New American Library; 1986.
(10) Bassett, L. Attacking Anxiety. Center for Anxiety and Stress, 1984.
POSTSCRIPT: The above manuscript was not accepted for publication in the medical journals, perhaps because its concepts are almost completely psychologically oriented, and at the present time Academic Psychiatry is principally biologically oriented. If the ideas expressed in my manuscript were confirmed, validated and accepted by the Academic Medical Centers and other leaders in the mental health field, it would give Functional Illness and Psychiatry a more scientific base. Psychiatry today, is the only branch of Medicine that has no strictly scientific base.
You are welcome to reprint this document:
http://members.aol.com/ferdinandv/index.html
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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pan
United Kingdom
173 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2009 : 08:35:35
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Just wondering really, why don't people just recover and move on or not recover and change perspective or treatment options? I don't get all this debating over what really amounts to linguistic technicalities on many levels.
I don't know but surely the healthy thing is to get better with or without the TMS diagnosis and then move as far away from the subject as possible...
...there is a thin line between fighting a crusade and picking at a scab. |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2009 : 09:14:50
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No need to refer to me as Mr. Quixote, pan. My friends call me Don.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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miche
Canada
283 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2009 : 22:59:15
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Hillbilly,
Thank you for sending , I read all your posts and everything you have to say on the subject of anxiety and stress and also fibro , you have helped me tremendously , I cannot verbalise all the reasons why I believe in what you say mostly because I do not have a great command of your language nor am I well educated , however despite my difficulties in expressing myself I understand the whole concept perfectly and although I can only speak for myself and my experience with living with fibro for the past fifteen years or so, you are absolutely right , for me fibro happened after a tragic event and a loss on top of years of chronic stress , first the panic attacks then tightening up the muscles and holding my breath soon became an unconsious habit , it took years before I even realised I was doing it , it certainly played havoc with my body. It's like being in a state of alert all the time, it's exhausting after a while .
I haven't had panic attacks in years and I am not on any medications so I have made progress but I am always a stress away from tensing up, aching and going in a flare , it's a constant battle to stay ahead but one I am determined to win .
I am not saying I don't believe in tms , I gained a lot of insights from reading Sarno and I witnessed a cure from chronic pain in my family , however when it comes to fibro I am inclined to believe that anxiety , fear and a constant state of tension play major roles
Thank's again ,
Miche
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HellNY
130 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2009 : 06:14:41
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Hillbilly -
Thanks for the interesting thread. I might be called a "Sarno success," I suppose. I was diagnosed by him directly and have done very well over the past few years. But I have also never converted to teh Freudian component of his theories and also believe that the concepts Sarno advocates may predate him. He has popularized them, however, and saved thousands or millions.
I, too, suspect that the pain conditions are a direct expression of negative affect and not a form of the subconcious mind attempting to "distract." There former is a simpler explanation and teh latter cumbersome and complicated. Occam's razor is a deft tool.
The great thing is that, regardsless of whether the Fredian component is true ot not, the treatment plan is the same. You no longer believe your pain is due to a physical problem. That does about 80% of the work. Once the fear and obsession about the pain abates, the pain itself recedes although it tends to be a lagging indicator of success (takes longer to get better). |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2009 : 20:23:07
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HellNY,
Thanks for your input. What do you have to say about purported "instant cures"?
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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sarita
130 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2009 : 18:44:57
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| hillbilly, i started the low. how he talks about the effort to go through torture; that helped me so much. |
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pan
United Kingdom
173 Posts |
Posted - 10/17/2009 : 02:50:37
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quote:
Originally posted by Hillbilly
No need to refer to me as Mr. Quixote, pan. My friends call me Don.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lol Hillbilly, I was of course refering to the debate in general rather than your good self kind sir
Seriously, that is an excellent article you posted about the cause & cure of nervous symptoms....hope you don't mind but I have posted it over at a health anxiety forum as would like to hope that it may ring some bells for the folks on there. |
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HellNY
130 Posts |
Posted - 10/17/2009 : 17:54:56
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quote:
Originally posted by Hillbilly
HellNY,
Thanks for your input. What do you have to say about purported "instant cures"?
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hillbilly -
For what it's worth, I am fairly sure the "instant cures" are legitimate. In those cases I believe what was maintaining the pain was the FEAR of the pain. Fear and anxiety are of course forms of negative affect. These emotions also cause the involuntary muscles to contract and perhaps blood vessels to constrict, etc. Further, the processes that occur in the brain during negative affect may also result in the amplification of noxious sensory stimuli because we have assigned those stimuli as "significant" and "important." Thus the minds aperture (attention) opens to those feelings. Then its a vicious cycle and the pain increased which in turn leads to more fear and anxiety and obsession which in tunr leads to increased tension and pain perception.
But when a person becomes convinced that their pain is not due to a physical problem, as in reading Sarno's book, they stop being afraid and teh whoel vicious cycle collapses. They are the instant cures.
Call it "Panic Disorder of the Pain System>'
I think its teh same process.
Or, alternatively, there's a fruedian-like subconcious trying to "distract you" etc etc which just seems less plausible to me.
Either way, the outcomes are the same.
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Edited by - HellNY on 10/17/2009 17:57:53 |
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sborthwick
87 Posts |
Posted - 03/30/2010 : 11:09:13
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Hillbilly,
The information you pasted at the beginning of this thread was fantastic. I have never had panic attacks but this guy seemed to also have insomnia.
I still do not understand how you lose the fear of the Insomnia thoughts? I know my fear about sleeping is creating the anxiety and adrenalin and of course keeping me up....so do I just lie through them at night when the thoughts come?? Just laugh at the thoughts???
I have dread before I go into my bedroom at night....which of course is crazy as I used to sleep. I have had insomnia for 5 years now |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 09:06:24
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Alexis,
All I have to say in response is that you clearly do not understand what I am saying. You clearly have not read my in-depth posts about sadness, anger, and other "negative emotions" and how they contribute to the problem. This is clear as day. The name "anxiety disorder" symptoms are not limited to those created only by fear or anxiety. Many people simply call it nervous illness, functional illness, psychosomatic illness, or conversion. These terms are synonymous. You need to read more about this to understand it. The only time these symptoms take hold and control our lives to any extent is when we allow the fear of the symptoms to keep us from feeling them. It isn't the situations in life that we fear, but the FEELINGS of fear/anger/sadness and our catastrophic response to them that keeps them around, keeps us shrinking away, keeps us from enjoying a full life. It is that simple, and no matter how much rambling on and on you do about how you understand your symptoms in a distraction paradigm, it does not in any way refute what I have written here.
Please, before responding again with anecdotal evidence about your symptoms, watch the video on the Linden Method website (a panic attack and anxiety disorder treatment program that I DO NOT endorse) related to the HPA axis, how nervous impulses send out messages to the glands to release hormones, how the amygdala controls all this. Then, go to Dr. Schubiner's video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldyI7mJG2EA. If you can't stomach the Freudian stuff, just fast-forward to about 4:30. Please also read Dr. Brady's explanation of the stress response, and visit Jim Folk's unbelievably detailed model at his website www dot anxietycentre dot com. You will see near-mirror images of the cycle that is caused by stressful emotions — fear, anger, sadness, all of them cause problems when constant thought and analysis is given them.
No, I never said it was simple anxiety. Never, not once. I think my own illness was anger-based to begin with, but once the symptoms started and overwhelmed me, I was kept ill by fear of the symptoms, plainly and clearly. I was terrified of my own body's reactions.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Edited by - Hillbilly on 04/02/2010 15:31:09 |
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sborthwick
87 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 09:43:19
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Hillbilly,
I actually print out your posts and read them daily now! Thanks to you for your courage and time spent here explaining the real cause of all these symptoms. I categorically agree and know 100% that you have hit the nail on the head...and I am a Sarno enthusiast.
I am still struggling with the insomnia.....I get nervous before I go to bed. Last night I got 4 hours. I had a new job starting this morning in my firm and I went out with a guy that I am just not sure about...I don't think I am ready for another relationship yet after a break up 2 months ago....but these are life things and most people just deal with them.
I lay awake, worrying that I won't be able to sleep. A few nights ago, I had a good night where I just shrugged off the thoughts and called it "that silly anxiety thing again". I was not afraid of the thoughts. I know that Claire Weeks says how we can have good and bad days in the beginning and can learn from setbacks. So...I am taking that attitude. Still...it is hard to keep the chin up!!
I don't have any other symptoms of anxiety. During the day, it is easy for me to shake off anything. I have no back pain and have never had panic attacks or anything of that nature. I do get depressed from time to time, but taking 5 htp has completely changed that.
Do you have any more tips regarding the insomnia Hillbilly? I read and reread your posts and and Claire WEek's work. I also just ordered 2 cds from Neurovision - they are a form of hypnosis for the mind regarding insomnia....really not sure about this as don't want to confuse myself |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 10:53:35
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Suz,
How many years has this gone on without it affecting your health? It could go on for decades (and often does while people work, raise families, live), but it has to be placed in the same compartment of your mind as any other symptom. My insomnia was perhaps the worst part of the whole thing, looking back, because I felt so alone and suffered the worst of my thoughts in the night while lying there. It is the thoughts that scare you. It is the feelings the thoughts provoke that scare you. You have to relax toward the thoughts and not give a damn if you don't sleep for weeks. Then your body can relax. It does it on its own. Your body and mind are addicted to being alarmed. You start having the lower thoughts and wham! no sleep. But if no sleep means no consequence, then it is simply the thoughts about the sleep themselves that are the problem. You are fine. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Take heart in that! Replace dread of insomnia with joy in your health.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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sborthwick
87 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2010 : 08:26:18
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Thanks Hillbilly....so appreciate your words.
I am reading "Say goodnight to Insomnia" again - fantastic. I am so aware now that my negative thinking about sleep - which is completely ridiculous has been keeping me awake for years. I also just got 2 fantastic cds from Neurovision - unbelievable hypnosis tapes to help reinforce positive thinking about sleep and undo the obssessive negative thinking.I listened to one of them and actually fell asleep that night within 5 minutes.
I have never slept so soundly. It was extraordinary |
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sborthwick
87 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2010 : 08:02:30
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Ugh....Hillbilly. Last night was awful. I actually read your post on this thread at 1:30 when I was wide awake. I had too much caffeine in the afternoon and was talking too late on the phone....so I realize that doesn't help sleep.
I was not lying awake thinking about any stress in my life at all....just the same thought..."what if I don't sleep".
I have been reading the "Good night to Insomnia" and listening to the insomnia/hypnosis tapes.
However, I wonder if all this is confusing me. It seems that one thing and one thing alone will eliminate my insomnia.....losing the fear of it. Not caring one bit if I sleep or not. This is the challenge for me. I still think that if I won't sleep, I will be terrible at my job! Although many times I have survived fine on 4 hours at work. I feel tired and a little low and my focus isn't that good - but that is it.
Losing the fear of the fearful thoughts of not sleeping ....just like I lost the fear of the back pain and so it just went away. dur
I know I am a very healthy person and there is NO REASON why I wouldn't sleep. This has become a crazy obssession with me.
Do I just keep practicing? Hillbilly...I would love to talk to you or email you directly. Of course, I understand if this is not appropriate and asking too much of you. I want to hit this thing on the head once and for all and get on with my life. |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2010 : 12:17:30
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quote:
I still think that if I won't sleep, I will be terrible at my job
Have you any evidence that this is true? Even a single time in all these years lying there wondering if you will sleep, has this thought ever come true? When life experience proves thoughts wrong, they must be given the same regard as the transient thoughts that enter our heads all day....barely a shrug of the shoulders. Low's books and groups have a saying: "Thoughts are not facts." Weekes says "don't be bluffed by a thought." And yet....
Sorry, I don't do phone consultations or email through this site. I used to, but then I got burned by a few who shared the address and my private correspondence with others, and I just got bombarded with questions and hate mail.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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sborthwick
87 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2010 : 12:20:40
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Thanks Hillbilly.
I am sorry you received hatemail - how insane! I completely understand and appreciate all your valuable posts.
Maybe I should get the Low book. I often think of Week's words "don't be bluffed by a thought"
I do feel much more tired on teh job and think more slowly. However, it is true that I always get through the day. |
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guej
115 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2010 : 13:19:42
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I've been dealing with insomnia for about a year and half now (coinciding with chronic pain). Prior to the pain, I was a great sleeper. At first, I couldn't sleep because the pain was so intense, but over time, insomnia became a bad habit, just like the pain. Last December I read "Say Goodnight to Insomnia", and I have to say, it helped tremendously. The most important chapter, for me, was the one that basically convinced me that I wasn't going to die if I didn't get 8 hours of sleep. I worried way too much over lack of sleep. Same thoughts as you...."I won't be able to function", "My pain will be worse if I don't get enough sleep", "I need 8 hours of sleep a night"....Well, I can tell you that my pain goes up and down regardless of how much sleep I get. I function just fine. I now no longer worry that lack of sleep is going to cause cancer, immune deficiency, etc. Those were my fears.
The book was also very good in helping to understand that the more I try to fall asleep, the less likely it is I will. It laid out all my bad sleeping habits in print, and I could relate immediately to what I was doing wrong.
It's so interesting, because I found that the book is very similar to Sarno's philosophy about pain in that when we stop worrying so much about it, it won't be such an issue anymore. I'm no longer afraid of insomnia, and as a result, I sleep better. I probably get about 6 hours a night, without sleeping pills, which is huge for me considering I was on pills for over a year, and sometime sleeping 3-4 hours even with medication. My body has adjusted to less sleep. I still wish I could nod off in a minute and sleep 8 hrs like I used to, but my nervous system is still in overdrive. It is what it is. I can't say that I follow the instructions in the book to a tee (although I found them to be very helpful), but it helped me lose the fear. Good luck. |
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sborthwick
87 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2010 : 14:17:37
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Thank you Guej....I have been reading that book over the last few days. Intellectually I get it....there is nothing wrong with me and it is the fear alone keeping me awake. For some reason, I am very slow to put this in practice. I am still bluffed by the fear.....maybe if I keep focusing on the outcome that it doesn't matter if I don't sleep....that is where I get stuck.
You see..I think it does matter. I feel tired and drag all day and am not as focused at work when I don't sleep. I can't pretend that I don't get these feelings so the fear of not sleeping keeps going. I know that I won't get any serious health problems....but I won't have as good a day....and I don't like that.
I have even adjusted my work in life to be much less challenging because I don't know if I am going to sleep or not and could never handle a demanding job. It is sad because I am smart and talented. This insomnia has ruled my life for the last 4 years or so.
I don't understand where it says in the book - that you will be fine with no sleep. I disagree entirely. Of course, there are no long term health affects....but a miserable day. Who wants a miserable day??
This is my dilemma. The absurd irony is the only reason I am not sleeping is because I keep dwelling on not sleeping........
So how do you turn the thoughts off??? I think Claire Weeks says to let them come and just ignore them....not get phased by them. Just like ignoring the back pain |
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Any takers?
