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susan828
USA
291 Posts |
 Posted - 11/20/2013 : 19:06:54
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Some of you may remember me. I haven't posted since June. I complained about stomach pains, attributed them to TMS which I certainly have had all of my life. So, I had a colonoscopy and it was fine. Next step was the gynecologist who sent me for a transvaginal sonogram and cat/pet scan. Loads of malignant masses that had spread, stage 3C. Had a hysterectomy and now in chemo. Not a good prognosis.
I am writing this to tell people, please don't ask is this TMS and not get it checked out. Not everything is TMS, even if you argue that I got cancer from stress…the bottom line is that this one cannot just go away by itself and needs to be treated.
I could beat myself up for spending years on the Irritable Bowel Board and not going to see a gyn. Ovarian cancer is considered the silent disease because it doesn't cause many symptoms until it reaches stage 3 and 4. If you are a woman reading this, get the CA-125 test and a transvaginal sonogram once a year. That's the only way to catch it at a much more curable rate.
I see some posts here that are disturbing, urinary tract infections that can go to the kidney and worse. Does it matter if it's TMS caused? Stuff needs to be treated! I have been helped immensely by Sarno and Steve's book but there is a place you have to realize that a cigar is just a cigar and go to the doctor. I waited too long, I couldn't even walk or sit in june, I was in so much pain. I was a dummy. i hope you understand what I am trying to say which is don't rely on checking up on something because you think by practicing TMS techniques, it will disappear. My life as i knew it is now over because i let it go on too long. |
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susan828
USA
291 Posts |
Posted - 11/20/2013 : 19:21:47
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[quote]Originally posted by susan828
Some of you may remember me. I haven't posted since June. I complained about stomach pains, attributed them to TMS which I certainly have had all of my life. So, I had a colonoscopy and it was fine. Next step was the gynecologist who sent me for a transvaginal sonogram and cat/pet scan. Loads of malignant masses that had spread, stage 3C. Had a hysterectomy and now in chemo. Not a good prognosis.
I am writing this to tell people, please don't ask is this TMS and not get it checked out. Not everything is TMS, even if you argue that I got cancer from stress…the bottom line is that this one cannot just go away by itself and needs to be treated.
I could beat myself up for spending years on the Irritable Bowel Board and not going to see a gyn. Ovarian cancer is considered the silent disease because it doesn't cause many symptoms until it reaches stage 3 and 4. If you are a woman reading this, get the CA-125 test and a transvaginal sonogram once a year. That's the only way to catch it at a much more curable rate.
I see some posts here that are disturbing, urinary tract infections that can go to the kidney and worse. Does it matter if it's TMS caused? Stuff needs to be treated! I have been helped immensely by Sarno and Steve's book but there is a place you have to realize that a cigar is just a cigar and go to the doctor. I waited too long, I couldn't even walk or sit in june, I was in so much pain. I was a dummy. i hope you understand what I am trying to say which is don't delay on checking up on something because you think by practicing TMS techniques, it will disappear. My life as i knew it is now over because i let it go on too long. |
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mala
Hong Kong
774 Posts |
Posted - 11/20/2013 : 19:45:52
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Dear Susan, I am so very sorry to hear about your situation & I do hope that the prognosis is good & that you are receiving the best care available.
You are absolutely right that not everything is TMS and that is why it is very important that we do not start becoming 'experts' on other people's illnesses. I could not & will not even get into a discussion as to whether cancer is TMS or not and to tell people who are suffering that it might be in their heads is wrong, even arrogant & misleading .
People here may have the best of intentions but it is dangerous to say that everything is TMS.
Thank you for posting this. Yr post is greatly appreciated & has come at a time when I too have to make some major decisions about my own health.
My thought , my prayers and my best wishes are with you Susan.
take care
Mala
"It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know
what sort of disease a person has." ~ Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)
Mala Singh Barber on Facebook |
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balto
839 Posts |
Posted - 11/20/2013 : 20:33:20
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So sorry for what happened to you Susan. I wish the best for you.
Very good advise you gave there. We always need to have our medical problems check out by a physician we trust. Health advise on the internet is for information purpose only. We need to investigate and do our research carefully. It is our body, it is our responsibility.
This is a pro mind body forum, it is obvious you will receive advises and/or opinions mostly gear toward using mind body methods/solutions when you come here. A simple headache can be a symptoms of hundred of diseases, it can be tms or brain tumor. Got to have everything check out by a doctor. Don't just believe everything you've read here. People have good intention but only you can be responsible for your own health.
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No, I don't know everything. I'm just here to share my experience. |
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altherunner
Canada
511 Posts |
Posted - 11/20/2013 : 21:17:26
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Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I am treating myself for blood
cancer with dca. I am going for tests the end of the month, will post how they are. There are 2 clinics in Canada treating people
with dca, Dr.Lemmo in Vancouver, and Medicor Clinic in Toronto.
I am not reccomending anyone else try it, just wanted to mention it.
I think cancer and tms may be related, as when tms stopped working
on me, the other showed up (uninvited, very rude!)Not to try and
scare anyone, I may just be that odd case where this happens.
I wish you the best and hope you are well soon. There is no
"regular" medical treatment for what I have, that is partly why I am trying this. |
Edited by - altherunner on 11/20/2013 21:24:45 |
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plum
United Kingdom
641 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2013 : 13:43:47
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God Bless You love.
I also learned that my problem is *real* and as potentially derailing as that is, it invites us to envelop ourselves in deeper, kinder, wholistic healing. People talk of mindbody but it is the mind's hubris that often leads to the body's harm. They exist in relationship. To deny that is to inflict awful violence on the denied. I wish you true healing and I pray that you are forever gentle with yourself. Take good care my love. |
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SteveO
USA
272 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2013 : 21:57:52
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One of the benefits of writing a book is that many great people write and tell you the stories of their lives.
I'm privileged to be able to talk to many people, MDs, and psychs, who have witnessed healings of all sorts. One of the topics they don't want to talk about openly is cancer. Cancer seems to be the taboo-topic that they will privately express their opinions on, but don't dare mention in public, for fear of colleague-reprisal.
People have contacted me to say they have healed from cancers, of many sorts. But I would yield to Ace in his experience and compassion. But I will also say, that in what I've read, and have been told, by mindbody practitioners, that anyone can heal from anything.
The cells are constantly receiving signals to either be healthy, or to express deep-seated loneliness.
Cancer appears to be TMS; The Mindbody Syndrome. I remember a while back when Ace said it was obvious that most cancer "experiencers" [my word] had the Type-T personalty--but far beyond that. I took that to mean they were worriers and perfectionists extraordinaire--TMSers on steroids--super-repressors.
Cancer means "expressing." It is, of course, possible to destroy your body by beating it to death, as with smoking for 50 years, or drinking your liver into oblivion. Or there can be extreme dietary deficiencies that anger the body into expression.
But it's clear that many, if not most, expressions of cancer come from a mindbody process. So it is disheartening to hear people say that cancer is not TMS (The Mindbody Syndrome), because it takes all sense of control away from healing, and places it into an uncontrollable realm. This is of course the essence of TMS, in that, the brain creates the symptom to make the person feel as though the body has simply failed, to hide the reason for the symptom, which is the expression of anger, fear, loneliness--unmet needs.
I often wonder what people mean by "cancer is not TMS." I believe it is TMS, from the experts I've spoken to in private, and from the great books I read on the topic. Dr. Sarno feels that cancer is more often TMS, and so do many oncologists. I spoke to Carl Simonton while writing, before he died (he choked to death while eating dinner), and it was clear that he knew cancer was often a mindbody effect. Carl was a cancer-pioneer who wrote a great book called Getting Well Again.
So it all comes down to belief doesn't it? If you believe your cancer is not from an unconscious process then you have lost control over it. If you believe it has come from an unconscious process (signals of discontent that you have unconsciously sent to the cells), then you have some type of personal responsibility--which of course no one wants to own.
As I do more and more shows on TMS, I see more clearly that those who take responsibility for their health are the ones who heal. Those who blame their state of health on a stochastic process are the ones who struggle--for the very reasons that Dr. Sarno described, "to keep them from experiencing unwanted emotions."
One thing is clear, the ones who change are the ones who fare better. Georg Groddeck felt disease was the "It-force" that was unseen, that tried to express itself through the individual in a way that the person could not fully understand. And that if the person could tell the It to "not do that," or that it didn't have to do that (disease) to express itself, then the person could come into balance.
To me,the-It is the spirit. If the spirit is not happy then it expresses It-self through the cells. But It's just my opinion. If I get the expression of cancer, I will head to a psychologist to try to see what I have have blinded myself to. I will also seek out a trained cancer doctor to help balance out the physical with the spiritual.
I would also say that several have contacted me to tell me they healed their cancer with the RAVE diet. So the answers hang between the physical and the spiritual worlds. The body matters.
It's not about healing deeper, it's about seeing deeper.
God bless you Susan, I hope you find what you seek from within yourself. Your body is pushing you to a deeper truth.
Happiness first, and good health will certainly follow...
Steve |
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Ace1
USA
1040 Posts |
Posted - 11/24/2013 : 18:14:33
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| I commend Steve for the courage to put a post up like this despite the original post. I was debating whether or not to respond to the thread. A few points. I agree wholeheartedly with what Steve has said. First, just bc it is mindbody related doesn't mean it can't kill you. Another point is that it can be extremely hard to reverse. Just because someone puts their all into it and fails, does this prove that the person did not have a mindbody disorder? Of course not. Another thing I typically see is that people think they cured themselves of their tms and later wind up with cancer and they think that the cancer is a different beast. I think they never cured themselves in the first place, they just shut their body up and then it led to a life threading disorder. The body has to be your gauge as if you are treating yourself properly. I did not have cancer and I had a difficult, prolonged time pulling myself out. The habits of strain are so entrenched that its like a fish unaware of the water it's swimming in. Cancer is usually a deeper level than just chronic pain, so I assume it must be harder to pull out of. This is not to discourage, but to just address the reality of this disease. So as Steve has said, always seek medical attention in case you need an urgent life saving treatment and add mindbody treatment to this. Don't let the medical establishment sensitize your nerves anymore than they are. Susan I wish you the best. Your stage disease has a reasonable chance for cure with standard medical treatment. The secret is to not let the cancer consume your life. I know it's hard to do, but it is important |
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njoy
Canada
188 Posts |
Posted - 11/24/2013 : 18:18:42
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| Good stuff, Steve, as usual. My husband's cancer surgeon said, "You'll be fine. It's the ones who tell me, 'whatever you say, doctor' who die". That was in 1996. |
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altherunner
Canada
511 Posts |
Posted - 11/24/2013 : 18:35:33
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Great posts. Has anyone read about Dr.Ryke Geerd Hamer?
His son was murdered, and soon after, the doctor got cancer.
He came up with German New Medicine, and was prosecuted in
his own country. Much like tms treatment. |
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plum
United Kingdom
641 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2013 : 06:21:35
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Steve, I also agree with all you say with respect to this. I feel there may have been a misunderstanding at some point so what follows is really for clarification.
Within the TMS community, conventional wisdom states that TMS is benign. Threads like these pull the rug from people's pure Sarno-based belief system. I think everyone would benefit from some form of Mindbody folk taxonomy where the development of theory may expand with ease and where the alternative theories and therapies that have been forgotten, repressed, or distorted can be restored and integrated. Current allopathic paradigms are, after all, really very new.
The belief that unconscious forces create and destroy health has long been part of many alternative healing ideologies. It is not new or a great mystery, and within these wise and compassionate understandings, deep needs are seen and honoured. All the deep, dark aspects typically disavowed, such as sexuality, menstruation, meno and andropause (indeed all rites of passage up to and including death), sin, transgression, taboos etc, are liberated from their horrifying, malevolent mien.
I am grateful for my health woes because they have/are enabling me to spiral back to a part of myself I exiled. I was once a Tantrika and that sweet desire calls me back to a profound relationship with my self. I love the sexual path because it embraces deep need, immense pleasure and the resolution of inner conflict. The ancient tantric traditions are sublime.
The body does matter. The answers certainly hang between the physical and spiritual worlds. |
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chickenbone
Panama
398 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2013 : 12:07:08
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I think the idea of TMS is extremely seductive for a lot of hypochondriacs. It allows them to believe that all of their pain and ills are mind related and don't need to be attended to. My husband, who treated cancer for most of his life, does not think that cancer strikes particular types of personalities.
I am not so sure that Dr. Sarno really thought that cancer was a form of TMS, because I remember him saying that TMS was basically harmless.
Susan, please take good care of yourself and know that we are all thinking of you. |
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susan828
USA
291 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2013 : 16:50:48
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Thank you all so much for your comments. I have read Bernie Siegel's books and he believes cancer comes from stress. I just don't know…I do know that for 2 years prior to my diagnosis, I had to take care of my mother a lot, every time I came home, the answering machine would be blinking and it would be her crying, she fell, or something where I need to get over there. I was a mental wreck, afraid of every phone call. She died at 102 a few months before I was diagnosed and I still haven't processed that and of course, grieving because as difficult as my life was in her last years, a mother is a mother.
But if you attribute cancer to stress, how do you explain children's cancer, children who were really happy with well adjusted parents, etc.?
I am finished with chemo in a week and as many of you know, that's a rough time because one's life has been consumed with chemo and doctor's visits. I lost my job and don't know how to resume my life. I am also petrified of the cat scan which will tell me if there is any cancer left that is visible. You just need one cell to start this up all over again. The recurrence rate with ovarian is 70%, not great odds.
So, Steve, you say my body is pushing me to a greater truth, what do I do? Counseling again, which I have been through scores of times…read your book again? I had so many pre-existing problems before the cancer and now with the fear of recurrence which will always be there, how does one ever feel joy again? I cry every day and have lost interest in everything, my piano, my CDs, I can't focus on a book or TV, I have just been in a cocoon, weak and in pain from the effects of the chemo. I can't see how I will ever smile again. I am reading a lot on nutrition and have changed my eating habits. But how does one change their emotional makeup when I was never a happy person to begin with? I have had health anxiety and general anxiety since childhood. And so for me, my biggest nightmare (what if this pain means something?) came true. I don't want to go back to my old way of life because it stunk, I was lonely, bored, no direction, I don't even know who I am now. I don't know how to begin rebuilding my life and am bummed because the idea of meeting a man is shot. I don't know what man would knowingly, willingly hook up with a woman with a cancer this serious. I was hoping I'd meet someone someday. I sit here feeling like death, no hair, I can't even look in the mirror. I know hair comes back but that is like the final blow, looking like E.T.
I hope it's OK that I am posting this here. I have a cancer community but the TMS aspect is unknown to them and never addressed. I appreciate all of the kind words so far because I know the people here mean it, we all suffer and this is the most compassionate group. I am open to listening to whatever I can do to heal. |
Edited by - susan828 on 11/25/2013 16:53:34 |
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RageSootheRatio
Canada
430 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2013 : 17:35:58
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Susan, thanks so much for your original post and your update, too. I have been thinking about you and your words of caution for others, too. I thank you for your generosity in posting and your honest sharing.
I'm sorry I don't have words of wisdom and am sorry you have lost interest in things and all, given your ordeal and the aftermath.
I know about the stress of caring for an elderly mother ... I haven't processed the passing of my own mother yet either. And I felt so extremely stressed and was worried I would get sick, and have been experiencing a lot of fear too, (especially since I thought I was having a heart attack last week! My ER visit however did rule it out.)
Along with everyone else here I send you best wishes for your healing.
~RSR |
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andy64tms
USA
589 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2013 : 22:16:12
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Hi Susan,
I am so glad to see you back and posting. I have felt very reluctant these past few days to post. What do I say or comment to help or make you feel better? In the mean time I have read most of your posts since you joined the forum and see like me you have read Sarno, Schubiner and indeed SteveO in addition to SteveO advising you in the past and I was so hoping he would comment to you as well as Ace.
I have had cancer in my family this year, my sister in law in England contracted PMP cancer in February, and I made a point of being away from this forum all this year until recently since the details were so horrific to discuss; I just could not handle them, Instead I coped with daily anxiety and worry by “absolute diversion”, I helped my son with his fixer upper house, built a patio cover, and painted most of my house. It was not until the summer and windsurfing that I found solace and happiness again. (I think it was the fun that did it!).
When my sister in law, Maureen had her second surgery this month I really felt inept and unable to accept the events that were unfolding, so I posted here for help and advice. I basically vented my thoughts and concerns, taking note not to ask for specific advice and trying to be light on the details of her very rare and horrific condition. The thread is called “PMP Cancer”.
I agree not everything is TMS. In 2010 I tried to treat a burst appendix with TMS theory. My most important thoughts at that time were around the upcoming 4th July windsurfing trip. At that time I had only read Healing Back Pain with a back pain recovery in 2000, and am not blaming the forum for my ignorance. However this incident highlighted my lack of medical knowledge and reverence for this wonderful skinny body that I have. At the age of 62, I was going to live forever, as in my mind I was still a very young 21 year old enjoying windsurfing, it was my epiphany.
Thank you for reminding us of this with your example. I think our deep belief system in TMS often convolutes our decision making where to apply it. I also feel that our lives are driven daily by psychology; it’s what we do all day long at different levels of our consciousness, in essence as humans we are very “mind body”, and TMS is everywhere if you look for it.
Despite TT suggestion to read Bernie Siegel’s books I have not done so. But I read this very morning of how cancer comes from stress. It was in Andrew Weil’s book “Spontaneous Healing”, where he gives a very reasonable explanation of how the immune system works with cells. This book was written in 1996, so I would imagine this knowledge is now “lore”.
One of the tricks I do regarding accepting new or outlandish ideas is to read them, find a verification or sometimes two, then put it on the back burner, leave it alone. Next time you read it maybe several days or a week later, it will make sense or not. I think the TMS personality wants to argue and refute everything it does not understand as it wants to disbelieve and deny in order to remain!
All the TMS books you have read and many others have one thing in common. They allow you the luxury idea that: “yes you can change, you have control more than you can ever imagine, but you have to dare to believe this in your heart.” Your TMS personality will complain all the way with doubts and questions. You know this is true, since it is shown almost in every thread on this board.
Such a tirade to SteveO in your last paragraph, I really feel for you Susan, I have been to some of those places myself, but not all at once! Is this classic anxiety going from one issue to another without taking a breath, as it contains the past present and future and is quite a mouthful? I did not see much input like this from you in past posts, so perhaps the answer to Steve’s comment is here in this paragraph as your truth reveals itself. Thank you for writing it, it is perfect, now only you know what to do next as you are in control.
Some of what I have written is probably not what you wanted to hear, I apologize for the lack of kind words, I am just another poster with issues similar to you, and in many ways need the same help you do. Please post again I really care.
Andy
Past TMS Experience in 2000, with success.
Charlie Horse on neck for 20 years, is almost gone.
Books:
Healing Back Pain
Unlearn your Pain
The Great Pain Deception |
Edited by - andy64tms on 11/25/2013 22:16:45 |
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chickenbone
Panama
398 Posts |
Posted - 11/26/2013 : 17:21:53
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Susan, I wish I could say or do something to make you feel better.
Let me start by saying that it makes me sad to hear people say that "cancer is TMS". It makes me sad because this is almost the same as saying that, if you get cancer, it is your own fault because you could have prevented it by being other than who you really are. I choose not to believe this. None of us are perfect, nor are we meant to be. I prefer to believe that we are ALLOWED to be who and how we are and the outcome of that is what it is and what it should be. Things are always as they should be.
I guess I am extremely tuned in to this right now because a very dear friend in the US has been diagnosed with cancer, very bad. She is a little younger than I am, about your age. They discovered a brain tumor and operated on it. Then after the surgery, they discovered a tumor in her lung, that is probably the primary cancer. Her prognosis is not good. She is so depressed that she is not even answering her phone calls. We will probably go to see her within the next 6 months.
I so hope that you can come to grips with your fear and bewilderment. Just remember that we will all get sick and die sooner or later. None of us are immortal even though some of us live our lives like we are.
Sometimes I think that if I was facing the uncertainty that you are facing, I would treat myself better than I ever have before and do something that I always wanted to do.
I hope this has helped a little.
HUGS!! |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 11/26/2013 : 19:49:42
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Hi Susan. I'm sending you a wave of love.
I posted a similar thread about 3 years ago - after years and years of working on my TMS, I got the "C" diagnosis (I am now 100% OK).
Your question "what do I do?" is well heard. I know what I had to do was go deep inside myself for guidance. There are always apparently conflicting beliefs floating around these kinds of situations, even though everyone is well-meaning and loving.
SteveO makes the point that anyone can heal from anything. Others make the point that cancer is stress-related. Or that it isn't always. It is said to be TMS, and it is said to be not TMS, because TMS is basically harmless. I can see truth in all these statements.
I sense you already know this, but I want to say that I found that I had to go past the conflicting theories and find my own truth. I have found that there really is an inner guidance that can be accessed, so that I know what to do, or not do, for now. It's more like headlights on a car in the dark that only get you around the next turn, but don't show you the whole road ahead. But if I listen and trust this inner intuition, I get a relaxing clarity about my next move, or non-move, whether it's just to have a bath or a nap or go to a different doctor or fire a doctor or read a certain book.
What isn't guidance is inner conflict, feeling made wrong by yourself or others or your situation. Something being "mindbody" related doesn't mean that we are a f*ckup. It just means we are human. I know that I have been very judged and held in disdain by my family and others, for my mysterious illnesses over the years; yet I couldn't control them and I couldn't just "push through," since the main symptom was debilitating fatigue. It was almost a relief, in a weird way, to get a more mainstream diagnosis. And of course it wasn't a relief at all.
Anyway, I'm really sorry that you are going through it and glad you're holding a boundary and not beating yourself up. If I can help in any way, please email me.
Love Katie
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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plum
United Kingdom
641 Posts |
Posted - 11/27/2013 : 04:11:58
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It would be very helpful if Steve clarified his terms. To pretty much everyone here and at the wiki, TMS is a benign syndrome with an emotional/unconscious genesis. Many great and famous healers and authors graciously acknowledge and include Sarno's work within more expansive healing systems. Off the top of my head, Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Art Brownstein are a couple that do.
However they view it as I do: as one manifestation on the spectrum of mindbody illnesses. This is an extremely important point, TMS does not subsume this spectrum but rather fits within it. It is worth noting that Sarno favoured the incredible work of the late great Candace Pert, who was a fine pioneer of integrative and true mindbody healing. Not either/or. Not my way or the highway. Mind and Body both.
The truly dangerous issue with suggesting that everything is TMS is that people with more serious problems yield to pure TMS protocol and do not get the help they need. I think it is of supreme importance that people realise that the emotional factor is but one part of the healing equation. Our body's possess a natural healing system and this is fired and fueled by all the other systems working optimally and in harmony. Your skin, your endocrine system, your nervous system, your lymphatic system and so on. Your mind and your emotions are part of this not Lord and Master.
When I stated that I had learned my problem was structural and therefore not TMS according to Sarno's original theory I was called a Doubting Thomas. In that same thread I stated that cancer was not TMS (which is why Dr. James Alexander is treating himself more generously than Sarno's prescription allows), and Steve indirectly suggested I was bashing healing. This stung when I reflected on the hundreds of supportive posts made and private emails sent to countless people. It made me question where and in whom I invested my faith. On that day I took all my stock out of callow and muddy opinions and reinvested it in the wisdom I had shucked off while following Sarno.
There are some amazing people within the TMS community and I am confident they would embrace an expansive view and would happily respect the place of TMS within that range, and by return those health issues that fall beyond that realm would be seen and honoured. I fear irreparable damage may be done by bungling terms together because at best it confuses, at worst it blames and shames. A person who needs to heal must be treated as a loved one not as a skittle in the bowling alley of conceit.
I do believe that we have deep, driving needs, including the need to express and to create. But we also need to be accepted and supported not indirectly kicked into touch when we most need that love. |
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chickenbone
Panama
398 Posts |
Posted - 11/27/2013 : 10:46:42
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| Excellent posts, Plum and WavySoul. I think Plum hit the nail on the head. TMS is only one factor in illness - a very important one - but nevertheless only one. I don't think for a moment that all of my issues are TMS, some are, some are not, but most are combination of other factors and TMS. When I embraced TMS, this amounted to the realization that there was a mental component in everything, not that all illness is caused by TMS or it isn't. And most certainly the dangerousness and seductiveness of this TMS theory is that it gives some a way to rationalize not getting checked out. In fact, the original point of Susan's post was not whether her cancer was or was not caused by TMS, but to point out to people that they needed to get checked when they have symptoms. It was very brave of her to do this. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 11/27/2013 : 11:13:08
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I believe the confusion over whether symptoms are benign or not is due to the usual recommendation as to which of Dr. Sarno's books to read. Invariably it's "HEALING BACK PAIN", where he says back-pain is usually benign. If that's the only book you've read you may incorrectly extrapolate that all TMS is benign--WRONG! For the life of me I've never been able to figure out why nine out of ten recommend that one book. I think it's it's been repeated so often it's become one of those memes SteveO mentions. I've read all of the Good Doctor's books several times and he mentions cancer in them, I duly noted it, and the light-bulb went on that this could be serious business. THE MINDBODY SYNDROME is vast encompassing all the term implies.
Dr. Sarno mentions cancer in his books as well as a mryiad of other dis-eases. Speaking to my own pain-spot the hip, he writes of the modern miracle of "hip-replacements"--what am I supposed to take away from that? If he were still practicing and accepted patients outside the Tri-States, maybe I would hop on a jet plane and have him DX me.
Dr. Sarno started his medical career as an exceptional rehab doctor at NYU Rusk looking at a lot of backs no-doubt. His TMS symptom was migrianes and after a fellow doctor tippped him off that they could be psychosomatic, the light-bulb went off in his head and he expanded his TMS theory to other disorders. Once again I think the confusion here is the rote recommendation of "HEALING BACK PAIN" by forum members over his other books. He's written four books, a book about every ten years documenting his emerging insights into TMS. Even the acronym changed to reflect the expansion of his theory from musclel/igament/tendon disorders (Tension Myositis Syndrome), to the more encompassing "THE MINDBODY SYNDROME" which includes affective/emotional dis-eases like depression, OCD, CFS, etc.
It's always been boilerplate to get symptoms dx'ed to discover if they are serious and need treatment allopathicly. If cancer was missed why lay the blame to TMS? Why did the allopathicly oriented doctor(s) not dx it?--that's a question for an oncologist to answer. Maybe it's not that easy to dx deeply, silently, repressed, gestating dis-eases until they become critical? Personally when I see what cancer treatments like chemo do to people, I'm not sure which is worse the disease or the cure? My mother had cancer, the benevolently smiling oncologist told us "The only chance she had of leading a 'normal life' was to HAVE THE SURGERY. We all agreed with the doc and talked her into the SURGERY. She willingly went along with the program and got wheeled into surgery--12 hours later, 150 pints of blood, still on the table, things didn't go as well as the oncologist lead us to believe they would. Her heart burst and all the kings doctors patched her up and after nine months of ICU her earthly body gave up to the ghost. She taught us a lot, doctors don't always know best, we are all ultimately responsible for our own lives and health choices--and another one: life is not always fair.
If you have any questions about TMS--READ THE BOOKS!--the answers are all there--if there are earthly answers. I don't know how anyone can pick one of his books over another since they are an evolution of the Good Doctor's professional learning and scientific observation. I distinctly recall cancer mentioned in them, took note and he didn't say it was benign.
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alix
USA
434 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2013 : 10:46:28
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I agree with chickenbone and plum completely.
Tennis tom, one aspect that keeps the confusion about TMS being completely harmless is the famous 12 daily reminders that you refer to often in your own posts.
3 -- TMS is a harmless condition, caused by my repressed emotions
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Cancer Got Me, Not TMS
