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Sky
USA
96 Posts |
 Posted - 04/23/2009 : 17:19:43
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From my mindbody website: http://themindbodyspot.wordpress.com/
I was a freshman in college during the Spring of 2004 when I developed chronic pain in my hands. I thought the pain was caused by using my laptop, because it started to fester when I began typing my notes in class instead of writing them on paper.
The pain increased in intensity and frequency over time. Eventually if I just gritted through the pain and continued to type for, say, 30 minutes one night, it hurt to put on a T-shirt the next morning.
Over the next two years, I saw several reputable doctors and physical therapists, all of whom concluded that I had Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI) from typing.
They said the pain should disappear if I learned to stretch and exercise my hands, took frequent enough breaks at the computer, used properly ergonomic keyboards, desks, and chairs, and sat with the proper posture while using the computer.
I made each of these changes, and the pain would improve for a little while after many of them, but it always returned and got worse.
My last keyboard struck me as something you’d use to operate a space ship. I placed each hand into a pod of sorts, and each finger only had to move a couple of millimeters in any direction to hit every key on the keyboard. Friends would laugh at it, but it was a brilliant device.
And it still hurt my hands to use it. Having spent two years soliciting and following the advice of conventional medicine, and finding no end to my pain, I was open a few weeks into my Junior Fall (2005) to reading a book that my mom’s friend had passed along to her. Written by a back doctor, it said that emotions, not physical problems, were at the root of chronic pain.
I did feel pretty stressed at the time, and the book restonated deeply with me. It was called The Mindbody Prescription, by John Sarno, an N.Y.U. Professor and physician.
Sarno theorized that repressed emotions cause chronic pain, as well as a number of surprisingly related conditions (skin conditions, irritable bowel syndrome, drug addictions, allergies, and obsessive compulsive disorder, among many others), and he placed them all under the umbrella term of “Tension Myositis Syndrome” (TMS).
He noticed that two types of people were especially prone to developing this stress-induced condition: perfectionists and “goodists” (people who try to be good in the “good person” kind of way), because they’re so likely to put excessive pressure on themselves.
I felt like I checked both boxes in a big way.
Part of putting excess pressure on yourself involves silencing the parts of you that rebell against these pressures, that might somehow realize how debilitating they are to your confidence and ability to enjoy living.mbp-cover
I had so internalized these pressures that I feared thoughts and feelings that went against them. I ignored or tried to suppress these thoughts, so naturally, I avoided talking about and acting on them as well. Stymied in these ways, my “repressed emotions,” as Sarno referred to them, found their expression in physical pain.
This emotion-pain connection may sound too unempirical for you to believe, so here’s a biological explanation:
Tension can be experienced both in our conscious thoughts, and unconsciously. Either way, it activates the brain’s hypothalamus, which controls the autonomic nervous system; the autonomic nervous system maintains homeostasis in the body. It responds to stress with the “fight or flight” response, which alters bloodflow and hormonal patterns in ways that are appropriate for reacting to short-term threats, but unhealthy if maintained over the longterm.
If tension lasts for a long time, so might the related circulation/hormonal changes, resulting in lasting pain or malfunctioning in one or many parts of the body.
Halfway through reading The Mindbody Prescription, I was persuaded that my own repressed emotions were causing my chronic hand pain. I became determined to unlock them, and I immediately decided to take time off from school.
School was a prime arena for my own perfectionism, and I’d taken it to a point to where it wasn’t productive anymore. I increasingly struggled to concentrate during class, spent hours in the library but most of it procrastinating, and beat myself up over grades I considered substandard.
Taking time off from school removed me from this major source of stress. I stayed on campus, though, because I didn’t want to leave my social life as well.
99% of the pain I’d felt from typing immediately vanished. I could type on any keyboard I wanted (the idea of ergonomic keyboards immediately struck me as bull****), for as long as I wanted, in any posture I wanted, and without having done hand exercises or stretches. Without pain.
I was shocked, and I became fascinated by the connection between mind and body. Other health conditions disappeared immediately as well, such as minor knee, abdominal, and shoulder pain, and I was once again able to wear contact lenses throughout the day without my eyes becoming painfully dry.
The book gave me license to be “true to myself.” I might’ve taken this too far at times, but Sarno reminded me how important it could be. I made major gains in my physical health, and I noticed that I was remarkably more healthy psychologically as well. I came to terms with the fact that I wasn’t entirely happy with my living situation and switched to a new group of roommates that felt like a better fit. I found my first serious girlfriend, and felt noticeably better about relationships with friends and family than I ever had before.
John E. Sarno developed his idea that emotions, not physical problems, were at the root of many chronic health conditions, over more than five decades of medical work and experience.
I was eager to return to school the following Fall, and each year since reading The Mindbody Prescription has been more fun, productive, healthy and relaxed than the one before. I’ve certainly had and still have my ups and downs, and I do still face the same fundamental pressures and insecurities that had me reading Sarno’s book in the first place.
But I’ve been lucky to be exposed to the fascinating connection between stress and both physical and emotional health, and ideas relating to it have been bumbling around in my head ever since. Learning to relate to our emotions strikes me as a skill that could benefit all of humanity, sometimes in profound and life/society-changing ways.
I’m just thankful Dr. Sarno got me steered in a better direction as early in my life and experience with chronic pain as he did.
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2009 : 20:35:37
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quote:
Tension can be experienced both in our conscious thoughts, and unconsciously. Either way, it activates the brain’s hypothalamus, which controls the autonomic nervous system; the autonomic nervous system maintains homeostasis in the body. It responds to stress with the “fight or flight” response, which alters bloodflow and hormonal patterns in ways that are appropriate for reacting to short-term threats, but unhealthy if maintained over the longterm.
I don't know where you got this, but it is my strong opinion that you should approach helping others using this definition instead of the bull#$%& explanation Sarno gives about your brain targeting oxygen depravation near a site of injury and such. You're 22 years old and knew better than to reprint that garbage here. You go, young man!
Just for my own curiosity, what made you look for a biological explanation aside from teh one given by Sarno himself? Did that cause you any conflict when trying to employ this theory?
Any time people are in a state of conflict between what they want and what they must do, the body responds with the alarm bells. People who have high expectations of themselves have learned to live by adrenaline jolts and are naturally in a higher state of alarm all the time. The combination of inner and outer pressures eventually shows up with chronic stress symptoms, including, but not limited to, muscle tension and soft tissue pain.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Sky
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2009 : 10:28:32
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Hey Hillbilly,
I got that biological explanation of tension from Dr. Howard Schubiner's videos. He's one of the next generations after Sarno who had lots of success personally and added Sarno's ideas to his own practice.
I'm actually not even sure that Sarno's explanation of the brain targeting oxygen deprivation to certain body parts isn't correct, as well. Can you say why you think it might not be? I'm purely curious.
I got over my RSI pain immediately, pretty much half way through reading Sarno's book. I didn't come across Dr. Schubiner until much later, maybe a year and a half later, so no this explanation didn't get in the way of my own recovery.
At the end of the day, I think TMS is just caused by emotional stress, and addressing and unlocking that is the key to recovery. What it is you're unlocking exactly, be it hormonal changes or brain-targeted oxygen deprivation, doesn't seem as important to me. Though certainly still interesting!
Thanks for your support!
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Site I'm building: I encourage you to pass it on for anyone who might benefit from a brief introduction to Sarno.
http://themindbodyspot.wordpress.com/ |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2009 : 08:22:24
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The fact that you got the explanation of the chemical reactions at the heart of TMS and other like symptoms from Dr. Schubiner is indicative that there is a problem with the explanation given by Sarno. Better to direct the question toward Dr. Schubiner. Since you are compiling information to help others, perhaps an email to him might be in order.
Also, Schubiner's treatment is not aimed merely at uncovering unconscious rage, but more holistically treating stress, its causes, and its well-known and documented antidotes, such as meditation, breath training, and other things. I applaud the efforts of the new generation.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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RSI, mild stomach/knee/shoulder pain, eye dryness
