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Thizznick
USA
5 Posts |
 Posted - 09/11/2009 : 03:09:49
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I'm happy to report I am now 90% pain free. Four months ago I wrote on this site asking for confirmation of my TMS self-diagnosis and wanting to know if Sarno's prescribed treatment was as effective as he claimed. Well, I'm happy to report I now have all the confirmation I need. I am almost completely pain free! My newfound happiness has translated into some pretty big changes: I am moving to the Bay Area, I am studying once again for the LSAT (and doing well) and I am finally typing, exercising and doing all those things I've been afraid to do (god that sounded cheesy). I admit I'm not 100% recovered--there's still some pain in right hand as I type--I'm doing worlds better.
Let me recap a little. About five months ago I awoke to find both my hands had gone numb. I experienced shooting pains from my fingers in both hands all the way up to my neck. My upper back felt like someone had a lodged a knife in it. My thoughts were something along the lines of "Jesus Christ! What is going on with my body?" The pain was so bad the first week I had a difficult time getting out of bed. I went to GP who told me that the pain was probably the result of a fall that occurred ten days prior. Unlikely, I thought, but I couldn't identify any alternative explanations so I contented myself to think that I had a "sprained back", as the doc put it (albeit she must have had a unusually broad conception of a back). Well, the pain didn't relent so I decided to go to my family doctor. This doctor was in such a rush that he didn't even listen to what I was saying and kept repeating "you need to go to the emergency room. We can't treat broken wrists." When I described the unusual, widespread pain I was experiencing he responded "oh, sprained wrist, they take three weeks to heal."
About a month into my TMS I visited a physical therapist. The pain was receding by this time and I thought with a little physical activity it would leave permanently. Just after one session, however, I was in more pain than I've ever been in my life. I literally couldn't move my right arm and knew that the PT had reinjured me. From hereon I became desperate. Every morning I'd go for a walk (I've been unemployed since December--the significance of which was lost on me at the time)and I would say to myself "what if this lasts another month? What if it never goes away? What if I have (fill in the blank) disease?" A particular feature of my TMS was obsessing over what terrible disease I might have. I spent hours surfing WebMd reading FAQs about rheumatoid arthritis, I visited the doctors office numerous times to get blood tests, X-Rays; I even flirted with the idea of getting an MRI, but the saner part of me talked me out of it. Then one day I saw an ad on Youtube for an "active release therapist" in my area. The guy in the video droned on about scar tissue and pressure points. It didn't seem overly scientific but I was willing to give anything a try. When I met the chiropractor I discovered he was only 24, a year younger than me! He strecthed my body in all these strange contortions, rambled on about "tissue release" and managed to isolate the most painful parts of my body just so he could squeeze, poke and stretch them. After five sessions of subjecting myself to this sadism, I decided enough. Unfortunately, I had already lost $300.
These were dark days indeed. But as Sarno has said before, the obsession over the condition was far more destructive than the actual pain itself. The pain was of a more or less predictable intensity but it seemed to elicit the most irrational, terrified elements of my personality. Do I have cancer? What if I can never work again? Maybe I missed a possible worst case diagnosis described by some anonymous guy on the web, etc.
Then one day while perusing Rachel's RSI page I stumbled on a section about John Sarno. I was deeply skeptical from the start but after reading the reviews on Amazon I decided to give it a try. After reading Healing Back Pain, I discovered this message forum and began reading the posts everyday. Pretty soon my obesession over TMS replaced my obsession over the pain. Why isn't it going away? What feelings am I repressing now? What if I was abused as a child and can't remember it? What did Freud say about such and such? Such obsessive thoughts, of which I am prone to, were really not more assuring than wondering what was afflicitng me so three months into my syndrome I decided to make an appointment to see Dr. Schlecter, a TMS doctor in Beverly Hills. Schlecter was adamant that I had TMS--"a classic case"--and told me to stop worrying so much and to keep a journal to organize my thoughts. Throughout the next two months, after journaling, reading and resuming physical activity, the pain gradually eroded. Today the pain is a mere vestige of what it was just two months ago. It doesn't stop me from doing ANYTHING, not even weight lifting. Moreover, I've learned that the real problems in my life are emotional and I am now much more emotionally attuned than I ever was.
My message to my fellow sufferers is that the TMS treatment works. You've heard it before and I'm sure you're tired of third-party confirmations. But please keep at it. You will see results, maybe not as quickly as you'd like but results nonetheless. I am deeply indebted to the people that posted on this site. They gave me the mental strength to keep at it. I hope I can do the same for somebody.
David |
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LuvtoSew
USA
327 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2009 : 11:26:27
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Dave,
thank you for your post, its always good to hear success stories.
gives us all hope. |
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Capn Spanky
112 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2009 : 11:41:38
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Great success story, David! I could really relate to it.
Congratulations!  |
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HilaryN
United Kingdom
879 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2009 : 14:36:52
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Great post, David. I've added a link to the Success Stories forum and the Arm Pain page on the TMS wiki.
I never tire of reading success stories!
Hilary N |
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fibri
Belgium
56 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2009 : 08:08:44
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quote:
I never tire of reading success stories!
Me neither. Good to hear yout story David! |
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Success!
