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Scout
USA
20 Posts |
 Posted - 06/29/2004 : 20:35:14
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I have been in back pain for the last year. I started reading Sarno's books a couple of months ago. I have resumed exercise and a lot of the activities required to take care of my two year old. However I find that I fight the same battle every morning when I get up in the morning, after exercising, and activity with my daughter. I am constantly going between physical explanations and emotional. Just when I convince myself that it is definitely TMS I doubt myself. Any techniques that people use would be greatly appreciated (especially when in pain).
Scout |
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Sadiesue
19 Posts |
Posted - 06/30/2004 : 17:26:24
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I can't think of a good reply, so I'll just plagarize some things I have saved off of this forum in the past:
"The problem with setting goals in treating TMS is that you really do not have direct control. TMS is an unconscious process, and recovery is different for everybody.
When you set an athletic goal, such as running a marathon, you can train hard and achieve that goal through physical and mental discipline. The same cannot be said for treating TMS. Sure, you must do the work diligently, and you must have discipline. But just because you work hard doesn't mean you will get results faster.
Treating TMS is all about reconditioning your unconscious mind to change the way it reacts to repressed emotions. Your unconscious mind is stubborn, it will learn at its own pace, it will resist, it will fight. If you set a goal to be pain-free in a month, when that month comes and your symptoms do not improve, you are likely to get discouraged, or even to doubt the TMS diagnosis.
So I believe it is important to stay the course and treat TMS as a process that takes time. How much time, you really don't know. Hopefully, if you do the psychological work, truly believe in the diagnosis, and resume physical activity, relief will come in weeks or months. But during that time you are likely to experience more pain, different symptoms, that can easily derail your recovery if you view it as a "failure" to achieve your goals."
"Back in my senior yr of college I suffered my first serious depression, marked by a severe headache that lasted for 9 months. I thought I had a brain tumor (all tests were negative). I sought counseling and was put on meds. As the funk started to lift I got involved in the campus musical production. One day on the way to rehearsals I noticed my headache was bad and I said to myself, "Self, if you are going to die from this thing you might as well have some fun on the way out!" Then I stopped worrying about it. A month later it was gone for good."
"Many people say, "I tried to think about what's bothering me but I can't come up with anything." You can't stop there. You have to keep trying. It's the trying that eventually will foil TMS because it will have you focusing on your emotions rather than on the pain.
Have you really been open and honest with yourself, tried to figure out the things about your life of which you are embarrassed of, frightened of, wish you could run away from?
Treating TMS is not about finding a magic bullet that cures your symptoms. It's about introspection -- really taking a close look at your life: at your personality, at how you react to life's pressures, at the events in your life that led you to develop psychological defenses."
I don't remember who posted these, but they have been helpful to me. Another thing I try to comfort myself with is that it took me 5 years to develop my pain, so it will probably take more than a few months to get better. If your back has been hurting for a year, you might try the Sarno work for at least a year, really try it and then if you aren't better, you can always go back to thinking about "physical" causes. I have a feeling that in a year, you will be totally healed of your pain.
Oh, and if you have a two-year-old you are taking care of, I can see why you might be in a blind rage inside!
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Irish Jimmy
USA
52 Posts |
Posted - 07/01/2004 : 22:43:40
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| Scout, don't give up, the fact that you've returned to activities shows improvement. I go through the same things with the doubts, but I won't give up, I will be pain free, and so won't you if you remain positive and keep plugging. |
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2004 : 08:53:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Scout
However I find that I fight the same battle every morning when I get up in the morning, after exercising, and activity with my daughter.
This is coniditioning. You get the symptoms when and where you expect them.
About thinking physical ... ask yourself, what might be physically wrong, and if it is something, then what would you do about it? How would you solve it?
In many cases, the answer is, you can't solve it. So what's the big deal if you treat it as TMS? You have nothing to lose. |
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Scout
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2004 : 22:02:10
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Thank you for your replies--they are helping me a lot
Scout |
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JohnD
USA
371 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2004 : 22:59:41
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I think it is necessary to have reasonable expectations about how you are going to re-act to the pain. There are going to be times when the pain scares you, even if you are pretty sure it is tms. If you are aware of this ahead of time it can greatly decrease the amount of distress that the pain causes.
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sjonesb
2 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2004 : 22:54:14
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A question for SadieSue- I found your response comforting and wanted to ask. If Dr. Sarno says our pain is repressed anger coming from our unconscious- will we be able to reach it through therapy and self-reflection? I'm new to Sarno and this site--- and keep fumbling along ... do I need to find out what is in my unconscious (if that's possible) or should i focus more on introspection -- e.g. what you said about "taking a close look at your life: at your personality, at how you react to life's pressures, at the events in your life that led you to develop psychological defenses." What you describe as introspection sounds like the more conscious part of us?? Any insight would be helpful.
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Susie
USA
319 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2004 : 07:38:39
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| You will generally not be able to research your unconscious. The fact that you realize that is the culprit of your problems is sometimes enough to lessen your symptoms. Dr. Sarno suggests searching your past and present for episodes of anger, saddness, dissapointment. etc. I think the fact and reason you search helps express to your brain that you know your problems are psycologocal rather then psysical. I believe, for me, the process was as important as the findings. I have found that once I have what I think is an awareness of which triggers cause my symptoms, I notice the same triggers surface everytime with symptom results. They become more recognizable, therefore, easier to defeat. Kinda like," hey, I know what you really are so get the heck out of here. I don't have time for you." Pretty simplistic, but it works for me. |
Edited by - Susie on 07/17/2004 07:39:40 |
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Sadiesue
19 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2004 : 14:21:27
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sjonesb
Hey thanks! Most of that stuff were posts from other people that I saved from the old site. You might want to go back and read through those old posts. I especially like what Dave and SarahJacoba have to say.
As far as the old unconscious goes, I think the general consensus is that you can't access much of that stuff. I try to use my TMS pain as an excuse or prompting to think about what MIGHT be making me angry, anxious, or afraid. After all, Sarno thinks the pain is a distraction from unconscious rage threatening to "break through" or "rise" to consciousness. So when we are in pain, that might be the best time to try to figure it out.
A book I really like is "Taming Your Gremlin" by Rick Carson. It has given me some more clues about how my personality might be adding to my rage. I don't know that there is much we can do about the unconscious part of ourselves. I think it is much less important to determine what exactly is in there than the exercise of looking in there, consciously focusing on emotional and psychological things rather that on the pain or the physical.
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