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2scoops
USA
386 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2005 : 22:40:15
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Has anyone used the TMS diagnosis for fibro. It would be nice to hear if somone has been "cured" of this pain syndrome using Sarno's method. I talk to people who have fibro, and when i tell them that the problem originates in the psyche they think I'm crazy. They believe what their doctors tells them 100%, although their doctors still cannot find the cure. If anyone has been helped, it may help someone else gain confidence in the TMS diagnosis for fibro. I tell a lot of people to come to this site. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2005 : 09:00:01
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Hi 2Scoops,
Just did a search on my eBooks version of MBP and found 50 citations for "fibro". Sarno says that fibromyalgia is TMS.
I feel people who blindly accept a diagnosis and think people who suggest alternatives are "crazy", perhaps need their "dis-ease" and may be acquiring some secondary gain from their disability. |
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Baseball65
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2005 : 11:25:30
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Hi 2scoops.
I think that Fibromyalgia is sort of a diagnosis by subtraction rather than addition.That is,a person comes in with a series of unusual pain and related symptoms(TMS equivalents...chronic fatigue,epstein-Barr,lymph problems etc.)
They MRI the patient for structural problems and find none(darn...no surgery!)...the symptoms persist and multiply and the doctors having no structural problem to pinpoint and 'fix',diagnoses Fibromyalgia.
I've looked on many fibro symptom lists,and have had or do have virtually all of the symtpoms.I Imagine if I had stuck around the chronic pain center a little while longer,I might have got that diagnosis...thank god I found Sarno.
I remember reading a diagnostic report on myself from my very first ortho-surgeon who had sent me to PT rather than cut me(he was later fired)...he was very humble ,likable and honest.I asked him what MYOFASCIAL pain was.
He told me it was a common diagnosis that was given when the structural diagnosis did not match the observed symptomology...that is,for the amount of 'damage' and malformation I had,I was in way too much pain.He said Myofascial pain just meant a sort of "regional pain area" that was outside the scope of his ability to pinpoint.
I'm certain all you have to do to get the Fibro diagnosis is to stick around the system,get no results and have no major structural problem.....mystery problem sent to the mystery scrap heap...Fibromyalgia aka advanced and acute TMS.
As far as spreading the Gospel of TMS,most people get really angry when it is proposed.I remember before I read Sarno being told of the 'psychological' origin of pain and assuming that meant "it was all in my head"...sort of like the secondary gain theory that the pain center I was in operated by....almost implying we are making it up or want it...when people proposed this to me ,I wanted to smash their head in....IT HURT!!!
I did give the book to a co-workers wife who had had several surgeries following a very bad car accident.After 6 or 7 years,she was relegated to the Fibro pile.The surgeons decided her pain was beyond their ability to deal with...she hurt their batting average...a failure,so to speak.
She read the book and was pain free almost instantaneously....I have a feeling hers was a lot of conditioning and less rage than most. None the less,I've lost touch with them,though the last time I saw her she was a Sarno evangelist extraordinaire.
Fibro is TMS dark....the thicker,richer european TMS with a more dynamic complex flavor.
peace
Baseball65 |
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Jackie
27 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2005 : 17:24:47
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Hi Baseball65
quote: I'm certain all you have to do to get the Fibro diagnosis is to stick around the system,get no results and have no major structural problem.....mystery problem sent to the mystery scrap heap...Fibromyalgia aka advanced and acute TMS.
I agree with you 100%...Fibromyalgia is one of those diseases that fits TMS so well. No medically obvious cause...only symptoms. I can't understand why more doctors haven't joined the TMS push. Wouldn't you think they would be curious enough to look into it?
I'm not pain free yet, but I am getting better and Dr. Sarno's book has helped me more in 2 months than the previous eight years of doctors...who shrugged their shoulders! The first orthopedic doctor looked at my xray and said yep you have wear and tear ..arthritis...seems that you have more pain than I would expect...but that's it alright! No thinking outside the box there!
Jackie |
Edited by - Jackie on 04/10/2005 17:47:01 |
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2scoops
USA
386 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2005 : 07:57:36
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Thank you for all your replies. I have been trying to help some others from a different message board that I go to. One of them titled a thread that was titled Fibromyalgia, so I thought these people have been suffering and fibro is TMS. So I responded, and boy did some people rip into me. I got some messages that stated your crazy if you thinks this is in my head, and maybe God should you this pain and make you suffer like us. So I responded, well I have suffered like you with over 2 years of chronic back pain, and over 10 years with back problems. I guess that's the goodist in me. I probably should just let the people suffer and go on my way. |
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2005 : 08:29:58
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Fibromyalgia is TMS.
The flames you receive when you try to explain this on other message boards is confirmation. These people have extreme forms of TMS and have little or no chance of recovery because they are unable (and unconsciously unwilling) to let go of the diagnosis.
Instead, they have found a community of fellow sufferers who can share their need for the pain.
I liken this to morbidly obese people who see nothing wrong with their bodies, thumb their nose at society, and stick to socializing with other obese people. I do not mean any offense towards these people, but clearly food obsession = TMS for them. |
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2scoops
USA
386 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2005 : 10:23:53
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Dave you are so right. My own aunt will not even read Sarno. She has chronic back pain and fibro. I bought her HBP and TMBP. She has seen the success in me but will not read it. It blows my mind that people do not want to own up to the fact that worry, repressed anger, fear and anxiety can cause changes in the body that will produce chronic pain. I have been reading more lately and I am convinced one thing that contributed to my TMS symptoms was fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection and not being accepted. The news is all about provoking fear, which btw I do not watch anymore. I remeber a post by Baseball a while back ago that he stated he did not watch T.V anymore, which I totally understand why. I know Sarno mentions low-self esteem in TMBP, but I believe fear is the root for the low-self esteem.
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Scottydog
United Kingdom
330 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2005 : 13:37:56
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I think it's unlikely that anyone will accept a psychological explanation unless they have an obvious rage causing event in their past which was the case for me. Three of my family have had a lifetime of insomnia and various other aches and pains - but we had an alcoholic father. When I read Sarno it all fell into place!
Scottydog |
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n/a
374 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2005 : 16:12:01
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OK - I'm sticking my neck out here and I mean no offence to anyone, but could it be that intelligence is a factor in acceptance of the TMS diagnosis?
To recover, most of us have to undertake a great deal of self-analysis and a willingness to change our way of thinking.
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Darla
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2005 : 18:46:17
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I was diagnosed with Fibro 3 years ago, although I had the symptoms much longer. I purchased the book Freedom From Fibromyalgia by Dr. Nancy Selfridge. The rheumatologist who diagnosed me recomended the book amazingly enough. Nancy Selfridge herself suffered from fibromyalgia and she uses a Sarno approach to healing. It was amazing really. Infact, I use that book when I feel I need to really work on TMS. I was without fibro pain after a few weeks.
Yes, Fibro is TMS, it is, as Dr. Sarno believes, a complicated case of TMS It requires more work and perhpas a longer healing period.
Hope that helps Darla |
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menvert
Australia
133 Posts |
Posted - 04/13/2005 : 03:13:27
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hi all, yes my last physical diiagnoses was one of fybro. & yes it fits TMS well....
Not once did my doctors ever find a structural reason for my pain, yet i keept getting more pain in more locations.....
after the pain for about a year i pretty much Knew it was psychological in origin.
but without reading sarno (maybe a year later) i couldnt do anything regarding the fact I thought it was psychological in origin. Sarno gave me the confirmation & direction I needed.
Now i am back at work part-time, I have a Girlfriend!, My pain though still exists at the moment but ... RARELY stops me from doing anything now. I still have many activities/pain areas to fully de-condition to be pain free. but I am SO MUCH BETTER NOW. at least 60% pain-free but probably like 80% ABLE(ie not avoiding things because of pain)
And yes i know in many ways my PAIN was WANTED! it was a wonderfull excuse to get out of social situations :) ppl can accept 'I can't my arms hurt' they wouldn't accept 'I can't my social anxiety is acting up' hehe.
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Laura
USA
655 Posts |
Posted - 04/13/2005 : 09:51:06
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Hi, everyone-
I have a friend who has all the symptoms of "fibromyalgia." When I've tried to explain Dr. Sarno's work and TMS she just doesn't want to hear it, so I stopped preaching. I wanted to help her but like the saying goes, God helps those who help themselves. This woman clearly enjoys wallowing in her mysery and accepts no responsibility for her problems. Yesterday when I spoke to her, she started telling me how depressed she is (her symptoms flip flop between pain and depression) and that she needs to be on Lexipro for her depression. Stupid me tried to tell her about some other ways of dealing with the depression but I know it all falls on deaf ears. She NEEDS her pain and she NEEDS to be depressed. She just had her second miscarriage and I tried to tell her that it's normal to feel depressed after that and to let her hormones stabilize before running off to medicate herself. You can lead a horse to water...
Personally, I agree with Dave and everyone else who says fibromyalgia is TMS. Clearly, they are one in the same. I'm sure if you took a poll and asked the people on this board, they would have had many if not all of the symptoms of fibromyalgia at one time or another. I saw a questionnaire for fibromyalgia once and I was able to pretty much check off everything on there. It's freakin TMS, to an extreme!!!!
Laura
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