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Cath
116 Posts |
 Posted - 09/18/2011 : 06:32:07
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Hi all, I am very new to Dr Sarno's treatment and was told about his books by a Physiotherapist who had given me some treatment. I was diagnosed with myofascial pain syndrome and TMD 3 years ago and Fibromyalgia earlier this year. I have all three of his books and a couple of CDs, and I immediately recognized myself in his descriptions of TMS.
My problem is that I have been receiving Myofascial Release for the last 2 years and if anyone out there has had this form of treatment they will know that unwinding is a by-product of the treatment. In his books Dr Sarno advises to stop all physical treatment, but although I haven't had ant treatment for a couple of months now I can't stop unwinding. These unwindings are very physical and my sub-conscious will not let go of them, but I'm not sure that they are doing me any good any more as they seem to increase my nerve pain and also make me focus on my body rather than my emotions.
Just wondered if anyone out there has had a similar problem or whether I am the only one with this problem.
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guej
115 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2011 : 08:28:04
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Cath,
I was diagnosed with chronic myofascial pain for the non-stop stabbing pain in my upper right gluet/ hip area, and fibromyalgia for the spread of pain into the shoulders and neck area and pretty much all over and other weird symptoms. I tried every physical treatment under the sun. The last physical treatment I underwent was myofascial release therapy, twice a week for about 4 months. I would get mild symptom relief from time to time, but definitely nothing sustaining. In hindsight, I think I just relaxed a bit when I was on the massage table, and the 2 people who worked on me were so understanding and kind. I was in such severe pain, and just being there for an hour twice a week was a form of therapy.
I used to buy 100% into the whole trigger points as source of pain theory so I thought if I could just massage out and release these painful knots, the pain would go away. Unfortunately, I really think the whole treatment series made me focus even more on the physical even though the massage therapists were very much of the mindset that trauma and stress causes us to hold pain internally. They were not wrong philosophically, but they were treating it physically.
After I saw Dr. Sarno in person, I stopped going for myofascial release. It was hard to stop. These therapists were my lifesavers when I was at my all time low. I can't even count the number of tears I cried in their office, and they were always so positive and encouraging, but they also understood what I was doing. Ironically, I found Dr. Sarno's "Mind Over Back Pain" book in their waiting room book shelves one night and that's what put me on the TMS road to recovery. They have to make a living, and they truly believe in what they are doing, but in my opinion, when someone is doing work on your body, they are reinforcing a belief that there is a physical cause.
Today, I'm pain-free. If I press down on where my "trigger-points" supposedly are, they would hurt a little. Thus, they are still there but not active or causing me any pain. To me, this type of pain is imprinted in the nervous system and in how the brain interprets physical sensations. As you learn to get on with your life, not stress over the sensations, and make the connection between life-events and pain, those nerve pathways should quiet down. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2011 : 09:12:11
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Hi Cath and NO you are not the ONLY one! That thinking is part of what the Good Doctor terms the "universal inferiority complex"--which the majority of people who aren't complete a-holes share--part of the "human condition".
I just overcame a "frozen" left shoulder. I am totally versed in TMS "knowledge penicillin" but it took me months. I can't tell you how long it took because tracking a symptom is called the "calendar effect", akin to waiting for water to boil. I'm estimating three or more months.
All I cared about was if it affected my ball toss, once I found out it didn't I just lived with the pain. It did make it painful to lift my laptop with one hand to and from my nightstand. That was my gauge for the pain and now it's gone and I have also returned to swimming the backstroke which I thought may have been the physical trigger.
Emotional triggers were death of my father in February after years of decline and caregiving, death of my cat from kidney disease several months ago, more care giving and big expense, and a long term reltionship issues which is undoubtedly the greatest cause.
So that's my personal example of the timeline for one TMS symptom. It also demonstrates why TMS is so difficult to scientifically quantify. I didn't go to a doctor for it and I ignored a PA's suggestion to get PT for it. If I'd gone to one, he'd probably sent me to an ortho who may have given me nocebos and suggested arthro.
Due to the great advances in alopathic medicine and surgical techniques, we have in the US, you can get almost instant surgical attention to symptoms such as I had. I could have gotten scoped and percodan and probably had to lay off of tennis and swimming for months. Instead I muddled through with pain and am here to attest to the "miracle" of TMS healing. MY results are not part of any clinical study, not very scientific and I'm not even sure if my "frozen shoulder" was due to emotional issues or too much back-stroke--ah the sweet (and sometimes painful) mystery of life.
So those are my results, yours and everyone else's will vary. You may want to look at the links in my sig below for some useful TMS tools.
Cheers & G'luck!
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DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0dKBFwGR0g
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Jiddu Krishnamurti
"Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional." Author Unknown
"Happy People Are Happy Putters." Frank Nobilo, Golf Analyst
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Edited by - tennis tom on 09/18/2011 15:14:26 |
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golden_girl
United Kingdom
128 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2011 : 17:12:25
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I just want to say Cath, that it's great that you are even beginning to consider the idea that TMS (emotions, stress, anxiety) might be the cause of your fibromyalgia. It is a condition I hear and read so many times these days on the internet, and I really want to point sufferers in this direction - but I fear it will be met with derision and horror, and denial. You are on a healthy road already.
I wish you all the best in your recovery - good luck!
"F.E.A.R.
Forgive Everyone And Remember
For Everything A Reason"
Ian Brown |
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Joy_I_Am
United Kingdom
138 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 03:59:06
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Hi Cath!
So glad to hear you've found Dr Sarno's work. It was life-changing for me. I was also 'diagnosed' with fibromyalgia a few years ago. I don't have it now. What changed? My attitude. Not the years of expensive and useless massage and PT and acupuncture and osteopathy, but an understanding of what my brain and body were trying to do to me. I don't believe in FM, but both I and my doctors were so happy to have a label to pin on it at the time.
I think, if you've been having a treatment for two years and it hasn't worked, you're allowed to stop! Instead, I would recommend Nancy Selfridge's book 'Freedom From Fibromyalgia', a five-week programme that you take yourself through, using Sarno-compatible techniques.
BTW I agree with guej - a lot of the time I felt 'better' after a treatment, because I'd just spent an hour with nice people being attentive to me! I am trying to learn to be nice to myself instead...
You're on a wonderful path, Cath! Good luck!
Joy |
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Cath
116 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 07:10:26
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Many thanks to everyone here who took time to post a reply and who gave me an insight into their own problems with chronic pain - I am truly overwhelmed and honestly didn't expect so many.
My own problems began when I could no longer relieve stress by running. I had a year of exercise -induced migraines (having at least 1 a week). I've had classic migraines since I was a child of about 10 years old, so I have begun to realize that my stress may have started very early in life even though I thought my childhood was a fairly happy one. However, I digress, running was my passion and not only made me feel great, but gave me confidence. It was a sort of meditation, a time when I could let go of all my troubles (and there were quite a few, ie broken first marriage, then a teenage son who went off the rails for a while, topped off by my mother dying 3 years ago with cancer). I remember saying to my husband (2nd marriage to a wonderful, gentle and kind man) when I was having a particularly painful day, I feel like I have a sackful of sorrows on my back weighing me down and I don't know how to offload them. So in this respect journalling has been a lifeline. The TMS therapist I contacted here in the North of England said that some people find it hard at first, but others take to it straight away and it's like taking the top off a cola bottle and letting the fizz out. Well I have been fizzing and have almost filled my first book after just 3 weeks.
All of your comments here have resonated with me - I too have had a frozen shoulder and tried every therapy I could have access to. I even had minor surgery on my jaw even though the surgeon told me there was essentially nothing wrong with my jaw joint, but I could only open my mouth a finger-width wide because the muscles were so tight (this incidentally made my pain much worse and I will never pursue surgery again) I have been myofascially released in every part of my body, many times and think I may be more flexible than I ever was previously, but still this neural pain
persists, which is stark evidence to me that it must have more of an emotional root. I too believed whole-heartedly that if all my trigger points were eliminated surely I would be cured.
So here's hoping - I am truly encouraged by all of your comments, many thanks.
Cath |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 07:51:17
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Thanks for the update Cath, your list of stressful life situations are certainly TMS creators as listed in the Holmes-Rahe test. I've had almost every form of bodywork over the years including over 90 Rolfing sessions. The results from these last about as long as it takes to get out of the parking lot. FYI, migraines were Dr. Sarno's personal symptom, as a young physician, that lead him to discover his TMS theory.
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DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0dKBFwGR0g
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Jiddu Krishnamurti
"Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional." Author Unknown
"Happy People Are Happy Putters." Frank Nobilo, Golf Analyst
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Edited by - tennis tom on 09/19/2011 07:51:43 |
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guej
115 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 09:16:43
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Tom, your response made me laugh. I could walk out of physical therapy or myofascial release feeling slightly better, but as soon as I got in my car and started feeling some familiar pangs of pain, I could feel my heart drop with disappointment. As for my 12 rolfing sessions, I never had that disappointment because I never had any relief! In fact, those sessions were so painful, it was a relief when they were over.
Cath, I was a runner too before pain. One of the things I realized with the benefit of hindsight, and after I had read Dr. Sarno's books, was that pain was keeping me from an activity that I loved and through which I relieved a lot of stress. I was so resentful that I couldn't run anymore that it just added to the overall suffering I felt while being in chronic pain. I didn't feel like myself in so many ways. What Dr. Sarno's books did was to help me re-gain my life through lost activities, even though I was still in pain. I was so afraid to run again, but I did, very slowly. 1/2 the battle for me was what I was allowing pain to do to my life. If you take back your life, pain or not pain, the mental suffering diminishes, and ironically, so did the pain. I highly recommend Fred Amir's book or "Back Sense" by Ron Siegel for getting up the courage to re-engage in physical activities that we really need mentally, but which we're afraid to engage in. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 09:45:10
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quote:
Originally posted by guej
Tom, your response made me laugh. I could walk out of physical therapy or myofascial release feeling slightly better, but as soon as I got in my car and started feeling some familiar pangs of pain, I could feel my heart drop with disappointment. As for my 12 rolfing sessions, I never had that disappointment because I never had any relief! In fact, those sessions were so painful, it was a relief when they were over.
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Another newbie requesting help please
