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SteveO
USA
272 Posts |
 Posted - 02/15/2012 : 12:48:59
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Happiness first, and good health will certainly follow..
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Edited by - SteveO on 03/31/2012 22:26:06 |
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Tippy
31 Posts |
Posted - 02/17/2012 : 07:53:37
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I just got your book from Amazon yesterday and its one of the BEST TMS books I have ever seen. Its long but well worth it because this is one of the most descriptive and longest bouts I have seen with TMS. I felt like I was reading about myself back in 1999 and its amazing how many of us have gone through the same thing. All I had heard about was people in pain not people (like myself) who had been partially paralyzed, bruxism, and ringing in the ears. This thing is a monster but once people have the knowledge and accept the diagnosis they can be cured! Thank God for your book and for those who are willing to find Sarno. Sarno and others like yourself have given me my sanity back. I never will forget when I would wake up every morning and the 4th of July started going off in my legs they felt like pinwheels! Oh just the thought angers me. Good Luck I hope you come to Washington DC, or Maryland.
Stephanie |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 02/17/2012 : 10:21:27
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| Thanks for your review Tippy. I've got it coming from Amazon too. It's been a while since I've read a TMS book, time for a "TMS Knowledge Penicillin Booster"! |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 03/31/2012 : 23:07:22
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SteveO I love your book. It is brilliant!
I tried to write you on your website but the contact link wasn't working.
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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CaliBack
USA
16 Posts |
Posted - 03/31/2012 : 23:43:12
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| This looks really interesting, I just browsed the available content on Amazon. Definitely need to buy. Thank you. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2012 : 09:16:49
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quote:
Originally posted by SteveO
Happiness first, and good health will certainly follow..
ALL RIGHT! SteveO is back! I have the book and it is more of a tome. Me being a TMS perfectionist means I've been procrastinating diving into it waiting for all the planets to line up right. I've sampled nuggets of it and it is a gold mine of TMS "knowledge penicillin" wherever I've picked.
Looking forward to some lively discussion here, let it all hang out--no repressing--no supressing. |
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ajm222
15 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2012 : 07:41:41
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| i've just started reading this and steve seems to stick pretty strictly to the sarno theory that the actual pain comes from oxygen-deprived tissue. which is cerainly still a possibility since nothing has been definitely proved about the causes of TMS pain. but i was hoping he would have embraced and mentioned some of the more current theories, like those of howard schubiner. otherwise the book is good so far. still only in the first chapter. |
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SteveO
USA
272 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2012 : 10:34:10
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Thanks for the nice words about the book Wavy and Stephanie. That was sweet of you to say. I'm sorry the link at the site didn't work Wavy. I'm receiving quite a few daily emails there, but now I wonder how many haven't been able to get through. Christiane Northrup has decided to put the book into her "recommended buy" list on her website. Due to her extreme popularity her site gets tens of thousands of hits. She is a huge fan of TMS and integrates it into her ob/gyn practice. When I approached her about reviewing my manuscript she said, "Oh, I love John Sarno's work, yes please send it to me."
But the great snail mail letter I received last week from Dr. Sarno about the book is priceless. I framed it and hung it on my wall and will cherish it forever. It's like having a letter from Ty Cobb telling you that you're a good hitter. But you won't see me pawning it on Pawn Stars.
I'm still in the middle of the radio campaign for TMS. I just finished Dallas, Memphis, NY, Hartford, and Pittsburgh. The hosts are all over the map in understanding TMS but it's tough to explain in 20 second sound bites. I think Frankie Boyer out of Pittsburgh connected the best, she had great responses and great questions. But the last syndicated show in NY was live over 80 stations and had the first MD I spoke to, as host. He understood it at the deepest level, and he gave me some examples of TMS, as I described it to him, that he saw in his office.
Hi AJM, I had my book pretty much done and on its way before Dr. Schubiner came across my radar. I've never read anything he has written. What has he proposed that is causing the pain besides oxygen flow reduction? Curious.
Dr. Sopher worked with me from beginning to end over a 10 year period. He is a great doctor but an even better man. He has some amazing stories of success he had seen in his practice. I wish I could have put all the stories of healing in the book that I saw, and that he relayed to me, but the book was getting so long, as it was, I had to start condensing the matter. It's a very wide topic because it covers all aspects of life/health. Or as Dr. Sarno said, "Virtually all physical disorders have a psycholical element."
I hope Tennis Tom is still energized and doing well. I hope Stephanie is moving around with more confidence and ease.
Healing can take place, the most important factor will always be full belief. Any doubt and the symtpom is fueled. You have to get to your deeper brain in order for this to occur. The problem is that we get bombarded daily with false memes. From TV commercials to grandma's old tales, we are enveloped by a false reality of how our bodies are flawed. The brain then reacts for survival when there is no life threat. The biology then adapts to accomodate the deeper perception of the surroundings. The good news is that there is a mass of evidence proving healing occurs, and so is always possible--based on true belief and unconscious motivations for success or failure.
SteveO
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Stryder
686 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2012 : 15:12:00
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...letter I received last week from Dr. Sarno about the book is priceless
Hi SteveO,
Very nice ! Can you share the content of the letter with us ?
Take care, -Stryder |
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ajm222
15 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2012 : 12:51:59
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hi steveo,
the way i understand schubiner and his thoughts is that pain is the result of learned neural pathways. for example, someone could get in a car accident, or hurt their back, and a pathway gets established when the source of pain sends signals to the brain. these pathways can then be 'remembered' at any time in our lives, for whatever reason (i.e. stress or additional injury, etc.). he points to cases where people have an accident and heal and then seemingly spontaneously years later a relative dies or there is stress at work and all of a sudden they have pain again in that same location, or possibly an area close by. but he goes into much more detail and i think essentially suggests that our bodies can create pain in various ways for various reasons and that pain really is basically just these pathways that area created and doesn't mean that there needs to be any structural damage at all. as long as the pathway is there and the pathway sends a pain signal, you have pain.
he focuses on many of the same things sarno does in terms of the life events and stresses that would cause these pathways to be created or triggered and personality traits that make it more likely. but rather than oxygen-deprivation, again, he seems to think the main reason for pain is these neural pathways. he also goes into great detail about the brain and the amygdala and the various other parts of the brain structurally-speaking that control different feelings, emotions, etc. and how the more primitive parts of the brain interact with the more advanced, newer parts of the brain and how this all works together to create the symptoms so many of us suffer from. ultimately we learn pain, and thus we can unlearn it. but to do that we have to bypass a certain part of the brain that allows the link between the physical body and the sensation of pain we associate with it.
that's it in a nutshell, going on memory and not flipping back through the book. i find it intriguing because of the science involved and how it incorporates a lot of the most recent research. |
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ajm222
15 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2012 : 12:59:14
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| and by the way, you can always reach out to him directly if you have any questions or are looking for someone else to review your book. i sent him several emails and he always responded promptly and was very helpful. i'd check out his website if you get a chance. lots of good info there. |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2012 : 19:00:56
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I realized the other day that I still had a bit of the book to read, and again it's been blowing my mind. This is the book to read this week, people. There is an answer to pretty much anything asked on any thread on this Forum, and extremely deep and well thought-out explanations.
Unfortunately I am in the chapter called Trouble Healers and feeling a bit defensive. My mind keeps saying "I resemble these remarks."
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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wrldtrv
666 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2012 : 19:36:39
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| I'm on my 2nd reading of the book and chapter 3 where Steve catalogs his multitude of conditions, is funnier than hell! Or maybe I've just got a warped sense of humor. Anyway, he does a great job there and elsewhere where he talks about his own TMS. |
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SteveO
USA
272 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2012 : 15:33:04
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Sure Stryder (what does stryder stand for?) the good doctor sent the usual nice job and thank you, but it meant the most when he asked to call me Steve because we were "members of the same fraternity."
Thanks ajm 222 for the nice Shubernopsis. Pain is certainly learned, and we have to get to the prefrontal cortex (which it looks like you called "newer portion" of the brain (which it is), but we only get to this new portion so we can get to the older portion, which is the amygdala.
Also remember, Dr. Sarno is alive and well, and still learning so his work on his own work is the most up to date. There's been nothing new uprooted that isn't conjecture. It is true that the neural pathways are formed immediately and they serve to keep the pain ongoing until the brain is repatterned. But we know a calf cramp is tms, and that is is from oxygen reduction. We also know that heart ischemia and other ischemias are from oxygen reduction because ischemia is a reduction in itself. So tms more than likely is an oxygen flow problem. Cramping, pins n needles, fasciculitis; these all lend themselves nicely to oxygen reduction. But Dr. Sarno is open to anything new that may come along and add value, that's why he's a good doctor. But there's been no evidence to make him believe his first theory is wrong. Plus as you already know he cited 2 very good studies on pain and oxygen reduction at the sites of pain, as well as, the fact that increasing localized oxygen flow eases pain. That's why I only wrote about ox-flow, it's the most viable reason behind pain. But the story will continue to expand, especially if more mainstream physicians get on board. |
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Genshin
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2012 : 10:09:10
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| SteveO, your book is incredible! (Noticed this thread a few days ago and bought it :) ) I discovered Dr. Sarno's books about a year ago after having intense leg pain for years. I've read quite a lot of TMS books (over and over), but I can say now honestly that your book is THE definite book about battling TMS. You've already given me such a boost in my healing process! Thank you! ..And I'm not even half way through the book yet! |
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kstarnes
USA
21 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2012 : 11:46:32
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I read your book twice (no, I didn't purchase another copy for the second reading :)) and really get something different each time. It is like the magnum opus of TMS. I have a question that the book is not able to answer: I have had TMS since age 14 (like yourself) and am now 51. It all started with my low back and progressively got worse, but the low back pain was always around to some extent. I no longer have tennis/golf elbow pain as that was one of my first pain areas to disappear. My neck pain is minimal and improving each day. Yet my back pain is a tough nut to crack. My question is: did the pain you had the longest put up the biggest fight in your battle with TMS? My elbow pain started at age 50 and my neck pain age 46. As I experienced them only in the last few years of my life, they seem to have left quicker. Is there something I can do or you did that got rid of your old foe that you had in your life for 35 years?
kevin starnes |
Edited by - kstarnes on 04/20/2012 11:47:34 |
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Busted
73 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2012 : 11:53:15
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| I'm in the process of reading the sample on Amazon, very nice! I may have to order a copy for myself! |
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Busted
73 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2012 : 13:34:49
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| Just finished the sample, and wanted to say although this is my second major bout with TMS and I've read all of Sarno's books and then some, I don't believe I've ever had such an understanding of how my Id is enraged by my SuperEgo until reading this. I've always taken Sarno's word for the fact that I'm enraged even though I feel no anger. But after reading your words, I was able to relate it to my life and I get it now. Thank you! |
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SteveO
USA
272 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2012 : 20:52:57
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Genshin, I remember the intense leg pain. It all disappeared after the tms healing. I feel great now. It took me quite a bit of hard work but the process works as elegantly as Dr. Sarno described.
I took all of the good doctor's work and tied it into my own story of how I healed (and other pain specialists), hoping other people may benefit from my story. I'm receiving increasingly more emails telling me that my story is helping them greatly. So it's a very nice feeling and worth all the years of writing. But I can't take the credit without Dr. Sarno's work. I showed how his work was true in every fashion, as it related to my own healing, but I wouldn't have been able to write anything without his brilliant insight. You may need to read mine over a few times because it was meant to be a handbook on healing.
Kevin, that's a great question. As you know I wrote that my low back pain, in my opinion, was the toughest to defeat because it started at 14 and was the most frightening symptom. The old "first neural pathways formed" dillema. The brain will use what is in its comfort zone when it needs a diversion from daily anxiety. I remember the day I first got my low back pain to move after 30 years. I began running daily to spread the pain over the entire body. All of the tension gets focused on one area. So I decided to spread "the pain" over my entire body through tough exercise. It worked. Each day I would go to run and force my mind to a feel-great area of my mid-back, and one day the pain jumped to the mid-back where I was riveting my attention. It was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. I knew then that it was my focus on one area that kept it there for 30 years, and that I needed to force my mind elsewhere; and also that Dr. Sarno was correct.
The only thing I can recommend is that you understand that if your back was "bad" that it would have fallen apart after all these years, so your back is fine. Try to force your thoughts, very intensely, to a feel-good area. Don't let your mind wander to your pain. Break that association through hard work. I've recommended it many times and I have people emailing me that it worked for them too.
Those elbow and neck pains are your brain's frantic attempts to keep you in fear because it looks like once you are challenging your back, your brain needs to find an area to keep you afraid. This all takes time, it doesn't happen quickly, the brain changes slowly, which is good, or we would be those highly unstable animals Dr. Sarno mentioned. Lose your fear, focus elsehwere. Try to hold your focus on a feel-good area for about 15 seconds at a time.
Busted, you will probably learn more about the id and the ego than you wanted but it is sometimes necesary for full understanding. It is a literary device for understanding what is going on within the psyche. Freudian-based, but a helpful image tool. The rage that is causing your symptom you will never feel, thus the symtpom, and any rage you do feel is not part of the tms you have. All that repressed rage is hidden in your body. The pain is expressing what you cannot do with your tongue for reasons of ego. This all happens outside of awareness so you will not know any of it. All you will know is that when a symptom appears that you have hidden something from yourself and those around you. So the main objective is not to figure out What you have repressed, but to understand WHY you had to repress it.
Good luck, and know that you can heal, but in your own time, don't hold to someone else's timeframe. Don't put that much stress on yourself. You are fine, just relax and laugh. You will heal much quicker, it is the paraodox of healing. The faster you want to heal the slower you will heal. Stop trying so hard and make it fun, and heal.
SteveO |
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ozagnes
Australia
23 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2012 : 01:41:48
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SteveO, I bought your book last friday and have been reading it since, and I just wanted to give you some feedback on what I found very helpful so far.
I have only been through 1/10th or so, but before I forget, I may say it :)
First thing that amazed me is your description of the FREEZE reaction. That is exactly me, and I had never heard someone describe it before! I heard from neurologists etc that I was in constent fight/flight as he said I had hyperreflexia (and therefore then put me on ketamine to try to reduce my "overstimulated" CNS and pain threshold...). But all along my life and many past and present traumas, my reaction has always been to cope. I felt it very strongly lately when I visited my family and had massive issues, and through this I could feel myself stop any reaction, just take in, absorbe, try to survive. The kangaroo on the side of the road, frozen and not moving, waiting for the speeding car to pass, that's me!
And most amazingly, during this freeze, the pain did not realy increase...it is after, when I came home, that my setback began.
This also explain why I had anorexia AFTER I left home many moons ago. I had always wondered why it did not start when I was living alone with my mother, at the worse of it, having to care for her. No, it started when I went to Uni 800km away and I was finaly free!
The other thing that really helps is that you explain that recovery is often long, tedious, and non-linear. I like the average of 6months-2years, and I think it is vital to know that, because in other books (so far I have read Shubiner and Sarno), we are told about those great cases that recover overnight, or after 4 weeks or so.
Well, that sets a difficult standard for us perfectionist, and what is worse for a perfectionist than having unrealistic expectations? With that comes the feeling of failure if we are not cured in 4 weeks (or a couple of months) and that is the best opportunity for self-doubt to settle.
So thanks a lot for sharing your experience and wisdome.
:) |
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Dr. Zafirides
189 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2012 : 08:33:29
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quote:
Originally posted by SteveO
Happiness first, and good health will certainly follow..
StevoO,
About a quarter of the way through the book. Well done!! You are bringing a larger awareness with your writings and your appearances. Don't worry about the hosts of the shows, you are getting the message out. That is a beautiful thing!
Be safe in your travels, take care and I can't wait to interview you on The Healthy Mind!!!
Go Youngstown!!
-Peter Zafirides
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The Great Pain Deception
