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Bazz
Netherlands
34 Posts |
 Posted - 02/16/2005 : 07:30:44
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Although dr. Sarno emphasizes in his books that TMS-theory in most cases doesn't require a new lifestyle, I have read and heared several stories from people who had made significant new choises in their lifes, after which the pain disappeared really speedy.
A good example of this is the among letter: (source: http://podolsky.everybody.org/rsi/emails.html)
" once i realized that i had not resolved a lot of emotional strife from my past (things like failed friendships, spite toward harvard,
a lost girlfriend), i sought out the sources of that anger and hurt,
and i resolved them somehow (i wrote a letter to the girlfriend, i
accepted the faults i saw in harvard, i reconciled the failed friendship).
as i did this, i felt myself out-witting my own brain's evolutionary
mechanism (designed to shift mental strife to the physical). it
was like untying a knot. once i had out-smarted 'RSI,' the pain
no longer had a purpose (shrouding the strife), and it disappeared
almost instantly. I literally felt my tendons filling up with blood and oxygen."
In my own situation I do not exclude the possibility that I need to make another choise for a job, to stop the pain. But How can I discover that this is essential in my situation? Does anyone have expercience with the correlation between making new choises and TMS?
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Edited by - Bazz on 02/16/2005 07:31:25 |
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Bazz
Netherlands
34 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2005 : 11:37:06
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I don't have had any responses to this subject. Is there nobody on this board who does have the experience that the pain went away after making new choises in life? (for example in work or relationships etc.) I'm really interested in that kind of stories, because I believe it could be necessary in my own working situation.
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2005 : 11:55:17
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I can't speak from personal experience but I can imagine it is true.
Sometimes I simplify the TMS theory for people as follows: TMS symptoms occur because you are being forced to do something you really would rather not do. In some cases, those things are unavoidable, and the resistance is coming from the irrational child inside you, reacting to fears and resentment of responsibility. In some cases, those things are avoidable: a stressful job, a bad marriage. In the latter case, full relief from TMS symptoms might not come without a major life change to eliminate those things. |
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menvert
Australia
133 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2005 : 17:40:21
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Yes I would think you don't HAVE to change your lifestyle.
But changing your lifestyle may in fact be a more rapid solution .
but it depends why you change your lifestyle .
if it's an avoidance pattern, then it may only be a short-term fix.
If you're changing your lifestyle because you have come to understand yourself enough to know that you do not want that part of your life to exist then that sounds like good progress.
It's not like we can all move to a remote village away from the stresses of modern Western life. So , I think Sarno is being practical saying, you don't have to change your lifestyle, because there are many people who are just not in a position to do so.
But those of us who can and want to, I think it is a good option to at least consider. maybe the important part of it is not the change itself, but the fact that you are taking control of your life is probably more significant.
That being said, I left my job, three years ago, and in leaving my job it did practically nothing to ease my TMS I even moved to the country away from the city.
But I have read many posts on this board of people who have changed their lifestyle, and it seems to have empowered them greatly. |
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Baseball65
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2005 : 19:44:08
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This may be relevant:
After becoming indoctrinated in Sarno's stuff,I had no more pain BUT I was slowly becoming aware of the low grade blahhh that was a continuous thread through my life....
Without the mask of pain,I was now depressed,angry and started drifting into substance abuse again....just other forms of distraction.I started looking around in the external situation I lived in and did not like what I saw.
I Moved to Nashville TN from Los Angeles Ca.
You never know how much stuff stresses you until it is removed...I saw a plane today,and it made me remember...here's a quick list of "stressors" that I was subjected to EVERYDAY in Los Angeles.
Planes. I lived in the take off path for Van Nuys airport(Military and private jets flying low) and the Landing path for Burbank airport....constantly being buzzed with 9/11 fresh in my head
Helicopters Living 150 feet from the 101 FWY,My house was buzzed by helicopters at least once an hour,sometimes every 15 minutes
Traffic The 15 mile drives to work were now taking an Hour and a half....at 2:30 in the PM!!! Continuous gridlock means constant tension...bumper to bumper means no leisurely drive home after work,but another harrowing and emotionally exhausting event.The mile and a half trip to my sons elementary school was a 45 minute trip MINIMUM.
Crime There was at least one 'incident' a week on my block....usually the end of a chase,living by a FWY offramp...police,yellow tape,guns drawn(and an occasional gun shot!!)...and I lived in a NICE neighborhood(for LA)
This also had the residual effect of my children NOT being allowed to play outside without adult supervision....they couldn't ride their bike around the corner...GUILTY feelings...coming home exhausted and either fearing the random gunshot,or feeling lazy for not entertaining them.
Housing a crappy fixer upper on my street sold for 800K...I lived in a community I had grown up in,but could never afford to buy a home in...with a 2 income family!!! Recent immigrants from the middle east were buying up all the property,and imposing their cultural values on my neighborhood.I actually began to feel strong feelings of racism and hate...something that was never taught to me and I had never felt before.
Political Correctness I brought a Christmas tree to my sons teacher for the class...She told me she could NOT put it up,as it would show religious bias...I noticed Dreidels and menorrahs and Kwanzaa stuff...even Islamic Icons,but GOD forbid if the MAJORITY were represented....she was the Rule,NOT the exception.....in the attempt to equalize,I feel our culture has lost all sight of reality....the white american male is in danger of being castrated,chastized and punished everywhere and always.This is especially out of balance in the Coastal metropolis'
Economic imbalance No where in the world is the difference in lifestyle between the haves and the have-nots more obvious than in LA and NY....Here I was working 60+ hours a week,my wife the same...to be able to rent an apartment,while the producers and directors I worked for were buying 2nd and 3rd Malibu homes,while my health benefits were cut,and my retirement age went up.
oh yeah.....Earthquakes,fires and riots
Now that I'm out of that TMS Cauldron,I notice I'm not angry all the time.....driving is relaxing,planes don't buzz my head,my kids play outside and I can actually afford to buy a home next year.I can speak common sense without being accused of being a racist,the cops AND ambulance come when you call 911.....and I'm not depressed,stressed or in a low boiling rage.
I didn't have to move to get out of pain,though I did have to move to roll back the clock,so to speak.I make less money,but spend less...I look forward to the weekends and dig this....I go for Sunday DRIVES...it's actually pleasant!!!!
Sarno talks about TMS in terms of a cultural phenomenon ,and in the places where american culture is running at breakneck speed,TMS is spreading like the plague....it would only follow that there is a correspondence of participation in the technological marvel and symptomology of the patient....we're only a century away from an agrarian lifestyle,yet had to evolve through a long laundry list of annoyances and nuisance....all in the name of progress,peace and prosperity.....
Since we moved here from the "great weather" of southern cal,my children,wife and I have collectively had two days of illness(strep throat one day,a cold one day...my youngest).....all from a family that lived at the doctors office with colds,bronchitis,anxiety attacks,fevers,pain(my wife...non-sarno-ite),tumors,rashes etc....
do the math..
excellent topic
Baseball65 |
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n/a
374 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2005 : 02:40:14
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Yes, Bazz, I did make a major change in my life and that gave me the chance to get rid of the TMS (not absolutely completely - it still tries to sneak up on me from time to time). I gave up my full-time job as a school teacher two and a half years ago.
Teaching is no longer the job I loved - the paperwork, most of it unneccesary and useless, has got completely out of hand. Much of the curriculum is set by government, bores the children and does not allow teachers to be creative in their lesson planning.
However, the main stressor was 'inclusion' - children who have major learning and/or behavioural difficulties have to be taught alongside those who do not. Not in separate classes - right there in the same class. It's the ones with extreme behavioural problems that drive teachers to leave the profession or retire early.
Mind you, having said that. I start in two weeks as a relief teacher, two days a week. There is a dire shortage of relief teachers in Scotland - surprise, surprise! So, if I don't like a school, I won't go back there again and, no paperwork - wonderful.
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2005 : 07:39:19
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I think the government plays a great role in creating the climate where TMS is flourishing. The creation of a web of rules, regulations and taxes that are no longer in the best interest of the citizens.
If you are a TMS "goodist/perfectionist" there is a constant battle to operate in accordance with the maze of rules of this legal web and the rules of PC. Every movement we make has to be second guessed as to whether we are breaking a law -- and there are so many that we surely are. There will probably be laws on how we breathe soon. Many people are afraid to breathe, any wonder that TMS, caused by oxygen deprivation, abounds. |
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Kajsa
Denmark
144 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2005 : 03:50:22
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For me it seems crucial to actually change life pattern.
And that is hard.
As I told you -my trip to San Diego was successful . Despite 9 hour jetlag and wine I was (in the end)
more energetic than ever.
I had a good time.
I took that feeling back home to my normal life -and it lasted for a week.
Now I am sleeping through the night on a very ergonomic tempur madras (who change after your body)
And despite that I feel so tired and kind of drained again. (it´s like the cells in my body doesn´t react).
I am back to my work as a librarian witch I do not find stimulating at all- and though I got my book for children published some years ago with good reviews (and even got it out in a second edition)
I can not get a new book out of my hand…! I blame that on my symptoms -my tiredness.
I am know -most of all- tired of myself because I was so sure that I would be able to “hold on” to the energetic
feeling .
I have had quite a lot of “break through” but I have a hard time to stay there. When I relax and go back to
my normal “lazy life” -lazy in the sense that I do not work enough hard to change my life situation -
the symptoms comes back.
And in a way that does make sense. Does it not?!
My body can not rely on me. When it does not react I am back on the library and ignoring my ambitions about
writing a new book and try to find a new job.
So in a way I can say that the only one who really value my life is my symptoms (because they tell me SO FIRM AND CONSEQUENT when I waste my life…)
I believe what Dave says is true. For some people life changes may be necessary.
TMS seems to be an individual thing.
Kajsa
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Kajsa
Denmark
144 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2005 : 03:55:27
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"TMS symptoms occur because you are being forced to do something you really would rather not do."
That is right on spot Dave. You have written those words before.
I will know put them on my wall!
Kajsa |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2005 : 09:32:04
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Quote from Kajsa:
"--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"TMS symptoms occur because you are being forced to do something you really would rather not do."
That is right on spot Dave. You have written those words before.
I will know put them on my wall!
Kajsa
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Hi Kajsa,
Very good post. Feeling "stuck", in a life we feel is not satisfying, is very tiring. We are constantly being pulled to be in some other place. I think this is wearying to our mindbodies. It is a passive loss of energy. Struggling to break-out of the net of the environment we've created or has been imposed on us. The job, the relationships, responsibilities, societal norms, etc., etc., etc.
I congratulate you for being able to make your vacation energy breakthrough last for a whole week--that's a good run--a new plateau. I can feel mine dissipate on the drive home and sitting down at the office chair opening the mail.
I think it's easier to change our inner TMS environment than change our outter environment. Like Voltaire's Candide, we need to travel the world, to find that happiness was always in our own backyard--learning to be happy with what we have.
Kajsa, maybe you need a change of genre. I believe you said you are single and without children, yet you wrote a successful child's book. Realisticly, how many more dhildren's books do you have in you?. Maybe you should switch to tavel writing. Take some travel writing courses. You don't have to go anywhere. You can start by writing about your local tourist attractions. It may help to re-energize your outlook--that raison d"etre thing.
Cheers,
tt
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Stryder
686 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2005 : 20:01:24
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quote:
Originally posted by tennis tom
...We are constantly being pulled to be in some other place. I think this is wearying to our mindbodies. It is a passive loss of energy. ...
Hi Tennis Tom,
You have used the term "mindbodies" as a noun here, and this is very cool. The use is very enlightening, this combined term. How many times has we seen "...this is wearying to our mind." -or- "...this is wearying to our bodies."
It rivals another fab phrase I've read here in the past..."TMSers think and live in the extreme".
Thanks, -Stryder
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2005 : 09:34:00
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| Thank you Stryder. I can't say it is original to me as it's the title of Dr Sarno's book, "The Mindbody Prescription". It has become natural for me to think in those terms though--that the mind and the body are inextricably intertwined and inseprable. The med/industrial complex treats us as 28 cents worth of chemo-commodities. There is a lot more to us than that. Medicine needs more art added to the science. |
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robbokop
United Kingdom
75 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2005 : 15:29:46
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'Medicine needs more art added to the science.'
Ha! Tom you just keep coming out with these fantastic lines!
A friend of mine once told a load of (particularly arrogant) medical students in the pub we were in, 'music has saved far more lives than doctors'. It didn't go down well... |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2005 : 17:26:32
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Hi robbokop,
Thanks again, and FYI regarding the positive health effects of music:
"Don Campbell, in his book The Mozart Effect, shows how music, particularly Mozart’s, has all kinds of beneficial effects for human health. The foetus prefers Mozart and Vivaldi to other composers. When pregnant mothers listened to Mozart and Vivaldi, the babies’ heart rates invariably steadied and kicking declined. Rock music ‘drove most foetuses to distraction’ and they ‘kicked violently’ when it was played to their pregnant mothers. Slower tempo music slows our breathing rate. The human heartbeat will tend to match the rhythm of music. Listening to Pacabel’s Cannon, for instance, at around 64 beats per minute, the rate of a resting heart beat, will slow our breathing rate and heart rate and change our brain wave pattern from beta to alpha. Music will also calm our nervous system and affect metabolism. Music is now used to reduce the pain and anxiety of patients undergoing dental treatment and surgical operations. In a study of 59,000 patients, 97% of patients stated that music really helped them to relax in the post-operative situation and during surgery in regional anaesthesia."
From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/qi/forum/ |
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pault
USA
169 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2005 : 04:50:11
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| Baseball , That move you made was like taking your hand out of boiling water! Wow Paul. |
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Making new choises in life
