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Bacchus
USA
10 Posts |
 Posted - 12/18/2007 : 17:31:18
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Hello everyone,
I'm new to this forum...my TMS study finally led me to this amazing site. For the first time I realize how many others with almost identical symptoms to my own have gone bravely before me and have succeded! It's comforting to know I'm not alone...
Anyway, here's my story.
Early November 2006: I attended a lecture given by a Chiropractor on how prone people who do my job are to RSI. He warned that without proper strength training and stretching we were in danger, etc.
Mid Novemeber 2006: My wife and I who were expecting our first child found out that the baby had a serious heart defect and would require several surgeries in her first years of life. Even now it's hard for me to write this.
December 2006: I started to experience mild wrist pain when working but it went away with rest. I remember thinking, wow, that chiropractor really knew what he was talking about...(I now realize that his lecture was a self fullfilling prophecy, and my mind was screaming for a distraction from the grief and fear my wife and I were going through)
January '06: Pain started to become more pronounced, lasted into the weekends...
Then I had a sudden increase in pain that spread up through my right elbow into the trapezius. I lost grip strength in this hand and experienced constant burning in the tricept area....
I was scared of such severe symptoms. Immediately I started worrying about my job...(looking back i realize that this was the point I stopped reading about my baby's heart condition and focused entirely on 'a cure for my own symptoms'
I began to fear physical activities because they might worsen my symptoms and make work impossible... the loss of my job at this point would be more than I could stand.
I started frantically looking for a diagnosis and solution.
Begin the parade of Health Care Providers...
GP...PhyT...Chiropractor...Neurosurgeon...Neurologist #1 and #2...
PT again...Pain clinic...
well, you get the picture, no one had an answer...
I was diagnosed with 1. pinched nerve in my neck 2.ulnar neuritis
3. Myofascial pain synd. and finally, drum roll please...4. RSI
The months ahead were some of the darkest times I can recall. I watched life pass me by and grew more depressed. I became obsessed with my symptoms and getting them to go away. I had a whole list of activities to avoid and the fear/pain cycle spun faster and faster...
Fast fwd to August "07: at this point the pain, burning, weakness had settled into both arms, my traps, and to the front and back of my neck. My symptoms had not improved for 8 months despite my efforts. Thoughts of permanent disability had been floating around in my head and I wanted so bad to believe there was a way out of this hole...
I found and read S. Demany's book on RSI and thought I'd found the cure! I scheduled an appt. with her for Sept. and eagerly awaited my visit. That was a few weeks away so in the mean time I went to Barnes and Noble and looked up a book mentioned in Demany's book...some Sarno character had a different take on all of this pain and suffering...
I found his book
The MindBody Rx. and read it through the course of 2 weeks. As the saying goes "I saw myself on every page" Personality matched, emotional trauma matched. My symptoms went from constant to cyclic... there were actually times when my symptoms were gone (for the first time in 8 months) although it was brief. Oddly, I still clung to the belief that there was a structural problem 
I kept my appt. with the famous PT in Penn. gave it a solid two months driving 8 hours round trip once each week.
My greatest accomplishment during this time was 1. Suparna got me lifting light weights and running again, and 2. I realized that John Sarno was right. However, I did not kick my symptoms
Since then I have devoted my time to reading Dr. Sarno's books. I have increased my activities (F. Amir's book helped) and work is going better, but I still have significant setbacks. I would estimate I am 50 % better, but frustrated that it's not 100% My beautiful daughter was born in March and does not need the surgery yet... she's doing well. I'm journaling and reading Dr. Sarno's books...
I could really use some feedback from all of you warriors out there.
Happy Holidays!
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Edited by - Bacchus on 12/19/2007 05:27:39 |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1397 Posts |
Posted - 12/18/2007 : 17:52:59
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Hi Bacchus,
It sounds like you have had a tough time and gotten through it. Congratulations to you for keeping on with the TMS work! I think you are on the right track. You've really seen the idea and made a lot of connections with your own situation as to how TMS operates.
You have a lot going on in your life so it might take you some time to master the symptoms. Don't push yourself to heal in a certain timespan -- that really increases the pressure on you. Keep in mind that as you progress you are going for a pain-free remainder of your life. What is a few months in that scheme of things?
Have you done much in the way of emotional work, or have you worked more on the more 'technical' aspects of TMS work, like conditioning, etc? Your post is more concentrated on the history, which makes sense for a first post, but if you are looking for advice it would be helpful to know more about your TMS work history, so to speak.
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It's not 100% belief that's required, but 100% commitment. |
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Bacchus
USA
10 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2007 : 05:39:19
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Thanks for your reply armchairlinguist. Beyond trying to decondition myself (pain/fear, etc.) I have been struggling through Dr. Schecter's workbook. Some of the questions in it seem irrelevant but others help me to dig a little. I guess I don't know if I'm focusing on the right things.
A while ago I started to make a list of stresses as mentioned in Dr. Sarno's book...I may return to this as a source of ideas for my journaling.
I've also been trying to think of other things besides my symptoms and the doomed future feeling that comes over me sometimes. When I find myself focusing on my symptoms I say "they're only TMS, let's think of something more important in life"...sometimes it works, other times my thoughts keep drifting back.
I guess I feel like there are some buried emotions that I haven't been able to find or uncover. I'm aware there is something there but I'm not sure what they are...if that makes sense.
oh, almost forgot...I'm definitely guilty of setting time tables...I didn't even realize I was doing it. I even have the weeks marked off on the calender since I've been journaling...whoops.
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Edited by - Bacchus on 12/19/2007 05:56:21 |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1397 Posts |
Posted - 12/19/2007 : 10:54:58
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Hi Bacchus,
I found the same thing with Schechter's workbook. Some of the questions did not resonate for me, but others did. For me, the list of stresses was very helpful. Seeing the list all written out, I began to understand the magnitude of all of them adding up. I tried to be really comprehensive by thinking about different areas of my life (work, family, friends, etc) and also past episodes that I knew I wasn't very happy about, and how I might have been feeling in those cases. For some situations and stresses I later wrote out long essays about them. The list is also good because there is less of a timetable on it, unlike the 30-day workbook. You can do it anytime and for as long as you need. It does take some time, so, like I said, just allow yourself the time and don't put too much pressure.
Your strategy of dismissing your symptom thoughts as 'hey, that's just TMS, let's think about something else' is a really good one. It's a challenge at first but your brain will get the message.
Just FYI, another person on the board at some point also saw Suparna, and so did Nate McNamara, who runs http://conquerrsi.com/ , which is a great RSI-as-TMS site. Both of them had some success with Suparna, but more with TMS.
If you need some inspiration, check out Nate's site or the Success Stories board on this forum -- lots of RSI recoveries just in the year and a half or so I've been around, and plenty before that too.
Best wishes for your success!
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It's not 100% belief that's required, but 100% commitment. |
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HilaryN
United Kingdom
879 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2007 : 16:30:25
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Bacchus,
I'm glad to read of your progress - and that your daughter's doing well, too. Don't worry that you're not quite there yet - you will be!
Hilary N |
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mcone
114 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2007 : 22:34:16
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In the most essential respects, my story reads much like yours...
*Life in crisis (serious job and social issues)
*Onset of physical symptoms
*Overwhelming distress and all-consuming fear over permanent disability
*Series of treatments and assessments (Hand therapists, surgeons, MRI's, Mayo Clinic, etc.)
*Eventually, nearly a half year with Suparna in PA
(I think being an HOH Alum is a badge of honor - and the last stop before "arriving at" Sarno and recovery - as pioneered by the awesome Nate McNamara)
I'm experiencing intermittent periods of challenge and success - I haven't posted in a while (and my particular execution of the model is still evolving), but I'm increasingly convinced that the key to getting out of the forrest lies in the mind.
Just remember, no matter what you've read, or have been told, and no matter how troubling the physical symptoms, what we have is demonstrably reversible.
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Bacchus
USA
10 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2007 : 06:21:43
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Thanks for your support ACL, HilaryN, and mcone. Sarno says you get something from attending his lectures that you can't get alone...something about being near others who are going through the same awful experience. I feel like I've gained that through this site. The success stories are really inspiring!
"(I think being an HOH Alum is a badge of honor - and the last stop before "arriving at" Sarno and recovery - as pioneered by the awesome Nate McNamara)" -quote by mcone
mcone, It's surprising to see how many other HOH alumni(Suparna Demany) there are here. I too consider it a badge of honor. I would say that going to HOH for me represented the pinnacle of physical treatment for RSI. And when it did not resolve my maladies I knew that Sarno was right. As you said, and I couldn't have put it better, "...the last stop before arriving at Sarno..."
For the record I think Suparna is a kind, caring practitioner who was the first to understand my pain. I credit her with starting my deconditioning which was a significant mental block for me...
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koukla
70 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2007 : 10:33:10
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| Although I didn't get treated by Suparna myself, I did go to a PT who did the same kind of treatment on me. I wasted $1000 in one month on it, and it was only after all that treatment that I figured something must be coming from the mind. Otherwise, I would have been seeing some result from it. I don't think I would have come to the TMS conclusion without going through the intensive PT first. |
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mcone
114 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2007 : 23:40:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Bacchus
For the record I think Suparna is a kind, caring practitioner who was the first to understand my pain. I credit her with starting my deconditioning which was a significant mental block for me...
It is very difficult for me personally to comment on Suparna's work. There is not yet enough distance between my experience there and the present - nor have I recovered enough to emphatically and critically pass judgment on the validity of what she does - although with that said, a few points to consider:
No question, Suparna likely has more clinical experience with RSI
than anyone else most of us will ever meet - and she is credited with developing, refining, and putting into practice the leading (progressive) physiolgical models of RSI with varying degrees of success. (Based upon my limited knowledge of her client experiences, this ranges from very little to significant). Her theories are both consistent with the orthodoxy (e.g., ergonomics, posture, etc.) while at the same time they contradict some of the orthodoxy (e.g., surgery almost never indicated in carpal tunnel). In her 2000 book, she also specifically and somewhat positively refers to Dr. Sarno's theory, but places the entire discussion within the context of "breathing" and basically characterizes the psychological dimension as just another of many factors that contribute to RSI.
The questions I often wonder about are: What really are the precise relationships between psychologial disposition, emotions and stress and RSI? Has Suparna's perspective changed since Nate, Rachel and a host of others recovered via mindbody methods? Is her treatment approach (often? sometimes?) successful because of physiological effects or because of its overlap with the TMS model (i.e., the aggressive PT as a means of deconditioning and promoting tissue metabolism, her positive, hopeful and reassuring demeanor as a mechanism for reducing anxiety, massage as a means of reducing stress and increasing blood flow, her counsel to "let go of fear" as a means to... well... reduce fear).
Although the direction I'm moving in is evident, I still struggle with these concepts myself, so Im not yet ready to advance an extensive understanding of Suparna's work - but I hope to do so one day.
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Edited by - mcone on 12/23/2007 00:04:45 |
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DrGUID
United Kingdom
44 Posts |
Posted - 01/08/2008 : 08:19:31
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My RSI success story is here somewhere as well.
Pre-Sarno I could type pain free for just 10 minutes a day, Post-Sarno I can pull a 9 hour day without a lunch break.
Assuming your doctor gives you the all clear for rheumatism and the like, it's likely to be all in the mind, and nothing whatsoever to do with posture or ergonomics.  |
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celloLWF
USA
49 Posts |
Posted - 01/12/2008 : 22:25:53
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I know some of you have met Suparna and gotten PT from her, and I def clung to her book as a source of information and inspiration for over a year, but given my complete lack of progress in using her methods and my instant success with Sarno's approach, I'd say she's completely wrong and making the problem worse with her mis-information. Sorry, I'm sure she's a nice person and all, but she's wrong. Perhaps the only value in her book is the two pages that at least mention Dr. Sarno's theory, but of course she can't bring herself to let go of the physical...afterall, she makes her living that way. It must be impossible to get someone to believe something if there paycheck depends on them not understanding...:)
Loren |
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RSI and TMS
