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GTfan
USA
84 Posts |
 Posted - 05/28/2013 : 14:50:15
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I was wondering how some of the veterans handled the constant changing of TMS symptoms.
My brain is cycling between the groin pain, TMJ, anxiety-related tight chest feeling, GERD, esphagus spasms. The symptoms change daily so I would say that I have my TMS "on the run" so to speak.
But I was thinking, Sarno says that simply knowing that a symptom is TMS is usualy good enough to eliminate it. However, if the same TMS-inducing behavior continues then our brain will just find a different symptom. Can a goal of zero TMS symptoms realistically be reached? How have others dealt with the constant change and emergence of new TMS symptoms?
You’ll fall down, you stumble, you land square on your face. And every time that happens, you get back on your feet. You get up just as fast as you can, no matter how many times you need to do it |
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icelikeaninja
USA
316 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2013 : 17:55:19
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With me I eliminated all my tms pain symptoms. What happened to me after the pain left I had OCD and constant thoughts about why I wasnt more financially prepared for my future.
I would rather ocd and thoughts than pain so I guess I never paid anything other than the pain any mind.
Right now after having a marvelous two days of no pain I have groin, rib, and alternating low back pain.
Also one could argue that for some to beat it for good, people like us might need therapy.
I have gone to a Sarno therapist and didn't really notice it doing anything at first other than lifting a heavy weight off my chest. It wasnt until a year into therapy that my symptoms faded but I was always left with the OCD which I prefer over pain.
Because of my perfect pain free days I can conclude this is how it happened with the worst of my pain. A few hours no pain, a half day, full day, full week.
It happens really spontaneous and I think it was around the time I just accepted this fact that TMS is me and truly let go.
Stopped going on the health message boards, even stopped going on here, but only because I felt like I no longer needed validation or to see what other people are going through.
Even when I first came to this board 6 or 7 years ago I saw alot of people have not posted in awhile. I assume most of them got better, I know when my pain left I was off of this site for a few years.
When I last spoke to Sarno around the same week he retired, I had pink eye that would not go away. Eye dr's said it was a virus and that it would take awhile to get better. 3 months exactly lol.
Who gets pink eye for three months?!? I am so clean etc
The last thing Sarno said to me was "...the pink eye is tms, there are so many things little and big that are tms, I wouldn't have time to write about all of them".
Made me feel better because I knew the pink eye was just a reminder. |
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forestfortrees
393 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 08:47:30
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As long as you are alive, your mind and body will be connected, so every once in a while a new symptom may pop up. The difference is how you react to these symptoms. Do you let fear take control and stress out about them or do you recognize them as benign and go about living your life? I tend to do the latter and the symptoms always go away in a day or two. I say I tend to do this because it is only natural to have a little bit of stress about some of these symptoms.
Yes, knowing that a symptom is TMS will go a long way in having it fade away, but you also need to ask yourself if you are resisting any emotions. If you allow and accept your emotions, then you will not need the symptoms to distract you. When I have a new symptom pop up it is always at a time when I am stressed out. The difference is that I now use these symptoms as a sign that I need to become more in tune with my emotional state.
My Video Success Story
www.thankyoudrsarno.org
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 10:17:47
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That's a GREAT answer FFT!!!
GTF, you're young consider yourself lucky you've found Dr. Sarno's books on psychosomatic issues early on, some people will never get it because they need their TMS symptoms for PROTECTION from dealing with life head-on. As long as you are a part of the HUMAN CONDITION, you may need to use your TMS tools as part of your mental medicine cabinet, if and when your life path presents you with some overwhelming vicissitudes.
Cheers and Keep the Faith,
tt |
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icelikeaninja
USA
316 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 10:35:47
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Indeed, well said. As long as you are human you will have something but does extreme back pain vs allergys mean what ever is causing those thoughts is stronger than the other?
For instance, could my deceased issues with my father cause me extreme back pain and the lady who just cut me off on the highway almost causing me to crash cause me allergy?
Yes, it is all in the mind but can one repressed emotion cause a myrid of things? I'd be interested to see the one common thing back pain people go through to get it more so than other tms equiv.
Does this make sense what I am asking? |
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apace41
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 10:53:27
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Ice,
I think Sarno would say that people with back pain have in common only that back pain is ubiquitous and therefore the perfect foil for TMS. "Everyone" has a bad back so it is a great way for your subconcious to divert your attention. I don't think your personal TMS equivalent is really a matter of "better or worse" but merely a matter of what your mind has determined is most plausible to get you to focus on it rather than what is behind it. For those not predisposed to anything else, back pain is a great one. If, however, you have, say, a family history of cardiac issues, your TMS equivalent might well be chest pain.
At least that's how I think it works.
Andy |
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icelikeaninja
USA
316 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 11:33:35
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| Very very interesting |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 11:34:36
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It's going to be a different combination of stressors based on a total of past, present and worry about the future. The tension builds up until it fills the reservoir of rage to overflowing. This creates TMS symptoms for a distraction, preventing the rage from exploding into socially unacceptable behavior. The symptoms are whatever the subconscious has determined will be currently socially acceptable and safe to discuss in public like back-pain. When it's figured out to be psychosomatic by the public like ulcers were, the symptoms will change to suit the need of the general population. To discover the true underlying life situations creating symptoms, and their weighting, see the Rahe-Holmes list below.
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TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
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Edited by - tennis tom on 05/29/2013 11:42:56 |
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icelikeaninja
USA
316 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 12:00:39
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Damn, I fit 2,3,and 5. Recently to.
I can read what this scale is about but do you or someone you know personally benefited from knowing these might be the issues you need to work on? |
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GTfan
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 12:20:32
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I feel like my brain has chosen whatever TMS symptom that would get my attention the most at the time. I now look back on my issues a few years ago with chest pain and high blood pressure as merely a TMS distraction. I used to have a minor irregular cardiac condition that was corrected through surgery. The chest pain came shortly after my surgery and surely got my attention.
I have come to the conclusion that I think my recent groin pain came from what actually was an infection of my "manhood" some how or another. The infection was cleared up, but my subconscious knew how much that process terrified me and saw an oppurtunity at a great TMS distraction and brought the groin pain back despite the fact that the infection was gone.
You’ll fall down, you stumble, you land square on your face. And every time that happens, you get back on your feet. You get up just as fast as you can, no matter how many times you need to do it |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 12:55:55
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quote:
Originally posted by icelikeaninja
Damn, I fit 2,3,and 5. Recently to.
I can read what this scale is about but do you or someone you know personally benefited from knowing these might be the issues you need to work on?
I have benefited by the Rahe/Holmes and observed others who I know are undergoing tension filled life situations listed and developed TMS symptoms. Dr. Sarno mentions the RH list in his books and is scientific proof for his theory. The main benefit would be to understand the relationship between emotionally charged situations and psychosomatic symptoms. Remembering the pain is benign and to focus thoughts to the emotional issues, resolving or accepting them. |
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Lou
USA
41 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 13:14:13
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| I've had a bit of a set back lately and have been cycling through symptoms. I lost my way a bit and got caught up in the pain and had my ankle x-rayed to rule out a stress fracture only to be told it could be arthritic changes (at age 42 not likely) but it got in my head and I'm still working on banishing it, but it's tough! Plus my back and big toes have been jumping in... Had to get back to basics, start journaling and get my head around what's really going on in my life. |
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forestfortrees
393 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 14:21:02
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quote:
Originally posted by tennis tom
That's a GREAT answer FFT!!!
GTF, you're young consider yourself lucky you've found Dr. Sarno's books on psychosomatic issues early on, some people will never get it because they need their TMS symptoms for PROTECTION from dealing with life head-on. As long as you are a part of the HUMAN CONDITION, you may need to use your TMS tools as part of your mental medicine cabinet, if and when your life path presents you with some overwhelming vicissitudes.
Cheers and Keep the Faith,
tt
Thank Tom. I am glad you get that. I have learned a lot from reading your posts in the past. The Holmes/Rahe is a great tool out there for anyone who is having trouble recognize the stresses in their life. It really does help you understand just how many things in your life could be contributing to the reservoir of rage. You don't have to resolve all of these things either. Simply knowing the effect they are having and accepting the emotions you have about them, may be enough to limit their effect on your overall health.
My Video Success Story
www.thankyoudrsarno.org
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bryan3000
USA
513 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2013 : 17:24:47
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quote:
Originally posted by GTfan
I have come to the conclusion that I think my recent groin pain came from what actually was an infection of my "manhood" some how or another. The infection was cleared up, but my subconscious knew how much that process terrified me and saw an oppurtunity at a great TMS distraction and brought the groin pain back despite the fact that the infection was gone.
Hi GT,
As a long-time sufferer of morphing symptoms, I can certainly relate to your troubles.
My list of symptoms and affected body/mind symptoms is literally too long for me to list.
No exaggeration, in the past three years... I've had 50-100 regular, changing symptoms from headaches to panic attacks to random pains in man parts like yours... to GERD and and endless others. And I don't mean annoying, I mean life-altering symptoms.
I might offer a slightly different advice than some on this, but personally... I think creating elaborate scenarios to explain each symptom that comes up may add more stress than it removes. For one, none of us has any idea what the brain is up to. So, we may believe the brain has this detailed plot to keep us in suffering... when the truth may be nothing like that.
My problems had nothing to do with "rage" or my brain concocting distraction strategies.
It had to do with stress build-up, negative life circumstances... worry and at the top of the list, FEAR.
I personally believe that trying to chase your symptoms in circles to explain them away creates more fear, and hence more stress. In my opinion, IF and that's a big IF.... the mind is creating these things as a distraction, I also wonder if paying the whole thing so much attention validates the process?
More importantly, the distraction theory is relatively new. People have healed from nervous illness for decades before it ever existed. You can read of scores of people losing fear and regaining normalcy by reducing stress and worry... long before we had the theory presented that there was built up rage or any other notion.
If you feel it's working for you, I encourage you to continue getting your "TMS on the run."
For me, as soon as I boiled it down to a fear of symptoms and decided to rest my strained, worried body... my life started getting back on track.
Just a thought. I wish you the best, no matter what your course.
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balto
839 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2013 : 05:38:46
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I think we can still use the fear of the symptoms is what keep the symptoms alive to explain dr Sarno's distraction theory.
To distract us from something that distraction need to be able to grab our attention and hold our attention. What all these different tms/anxiety symptoms have in common is fear. They all different in their physical nature but they all produced fear. That fear is what hold our attention and "distract" us from those strong negative emotion that Sarno talked about.
So it really doesn't matter what we believe is the cause of our symptoms, all we have to do is find way to stop our fear of the symptoms in order to heal.
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No, I don't know everything. I'm just here to share my experience. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2013 : 09:52:29
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Regarding FEAR, the fear is created by going to doctors, listening to old wives tales by well meaning friends and researching "dis-eases" on the internet (except here of course). These are the sources creating fear, it's called the NOCEBO effect. Dr. Sarno, through great genius and courage to buck the vast majority of his colleagues in the med/industrial system, has preached to psychosomatic pain sufferers, NOT to fear their TMS symptom. That they are BENIGN, harmless, a PROTECTOR--a DEFENSE MECHANISM. The pain is real, caused by their "heads" and it can be reversed by thinking PSYCHOLOGICALLY. Dr. Sarno says don't chase the symptoms, and don't let them chase you--JUST DO IT! Be you own best PLACEBO!
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DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8D7w0IUIPU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0dKBFwGR0g
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Edited by - tennis tom on 05/30/2013 09:52:59 |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2013 : 09:57:14
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quote:
Originally posted by icelikeaninja
When I last spoke to Sarno around the same week he retired, I had pink eye that would not go away. Eye dr's said it was a virus and that it would take awhile to get better. 3 months exactly lol.
Who gets pink eye for three months?!? I am so clean etc
The last thing Sarno said to me was "...the pink eye is tms, there are so many things little and big that are tms, I wouldn't have time to write about all of them".
Made me feel better because I knew the pink eye was just a reminder.
THIS IS A TMS GOLD NUGGET, THANKS FOR POSTING IT, UNEARTHED DIRECTLY FROM THE SOURCE!
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DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8D7w0IUIPU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0dKBFwGR0g
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Edited by - tennis tom on 05/30/2013 09:58:36 |
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Cycling and Changing of Symptoms
