Healing from Inside

I have just read your story and its amazing! I know what back pain is like I have been living with it for over 20 years! I bought John Sarno's audio CD & listened to it & I am pretty sure that it totally relates to me but i'm having trouble in getting it to actually sink in my head & work! I believe it but seeing I have chronic pain everyday I dont get respite no matter what. I keep questioning still whether something else could be wrong. What can I do to make this work?? Any suggestions?? Anna

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:10:28 -0400

Hi Anna,

Thanks for your message. Tons of people are in the same situation. I would recommend buying Sarno’s other books and reading them, reading reviews on Amazon, or talking to other people who have been through a similar process.

It basically comes down to you taking responsibility for your health and whether there is something structurally wrong with your back. Many doctors told me there was something structurally wrong with me, and I suffered in pain, until I decided they were wrong and didn’t know what they were talking about, and found the REAL cause of my pain.

If you decide that your pain is caused by repressed emotions, this will be a very freeing experience since a whole new world of options opens up. But making the decision is difficult and can’t happen if you still believe on some level that there is a structural cause.

This is why Dr. Sarno recommends returning to all normal physical activity, and talking to your brain when you feel the pain to remind it that it can’t keep you down.

Also I’d recommend trying to pinpoint what the pain is distracting you from, and to focus on THAT when you feel the pain. This will start to change your response to the pain and treat it more as a message to deal with what you haven’t been dealing with, rather than a disability.

So in summary I’d suggest:

i) reading and talking more about TMS so you understand it better

ii) take responsibility for your back. Decide if there is a structural problem or not.

iii) If you decide there isn’t a structural problem, return to all physical activity and think about what you might be repressing every time you feel the pain.

This is what I did, and gradually the pain faded away, only to return when I’m not dealing with something :)

Good luck and I’d love to support you any way I can.

Best,

Will

I am a pediatric nurse who has been working with a 9 year old boy who has migraines. He has had a headache now for over 2 weeks without relieve, dispite several attempts at medications, including DHE, was on that for over 72 hours no relief. Now after seeing some of his behavior I wonder how much is pain and how much is attention seeking behavior. Family doesn't have money for counsoling, any suggestions? He has missed a great deal of school as well.

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:24:00 -0400

Good Question. My advice would be to refer him to a doctor that deals with these kind of mindbody syndromes. Here’s a list: http://www.mindbodymedicine.com/doctors.html

Also more info here: http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6558

You could also refer his parents to The Mindbody Syndrome by Dr. John Sarno. Actually Migraines were what Dr. Sarno dealt with and what led him to discover and characterize TMS.

Hope that helps.

Will.

From Wheelchair to Iceskates

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:05:17 -0400

Recovery from Chronic Pain Excerpt from the TMS Wiki: “Despite having a spinal fusion from T2 to L2 (for severe scoliosis when I was 17) I used to be very active, I played football every week and used to love horse riding, skiing, walking and hiking. Then in 1998 I pushed a sofa that was extremely heavy and I put my back out: I couldn’t stand up straight and was taken to hospital by ambulance and given pain killing injections. This was very scary (especially because of my surgery) and it took me several weeks to recover, I took a course of anti-inflammatory drugs and seemed to get better.

However this was the beginning of 10 years of back-pain episodes which became more and more frequent; usually I had pain with walking or movement, never when sitting and never with sciatica.”

This is amazing. It’s a syndrome called Foreign Accent...

Thu, 26 May 2011 20:23:17 -0400

This is amazing. It’s a syndrome called Foreign Accent Syndrome with less than 100 known cases. Wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_accent_syndrome

thank you

Mon, 02 May 2011 11:53:24 -0400

Hi Will, My name is Shelley and I am in Mississauga. I stumbled across your site after doing a search on psychosomatic illness today. I have been dealing with chronic pain since 2005, most of which has been lumped under the heading of fibromyalgia. Today I was thinking that it must be all in my head. In fact, for some reason I was convinced and decided to google it. Reading your story LITERALLY brought me tears of joy. My husband didn’t know what to make of my silly blathering, but I just wanted to extend a huge THANK YOU for sharing your story. I am now convinced more than ever that this is what I have and I feel hope for the first time in years that I will not have to spend the rest of my life in pain. I am so excited to read more about this and get to work on my brain! :)

Story #11 - Pre-Wedding Back Pain

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 23:20:05 -0500

This story comes from an old friend of mine who asked that her name be kept confidential. My friend (let’s call her Julia) is a physiotherapist who works in spinal cord rehabilitation. In 2007 she called me a week before her wedding in a panic because her back was hurting so much. I told her my story, and referred her to Dr. Sarno’s book Healing Back Pain. A week later she did a tap-dance routine with her father at her wedding. I reconnected with her recently and interviewed her about her experience for this site:

Will Sacks at Healing From Inside (HFI): What is your name, and what do you do for a living?

Julia: My name is Julia, I’m a physiotherapist in spinal cord rehabilitation

HFI: When did your back pain start?

J: My back pain began just after starting my dream job at a spinal cord rehab hospital.

HFI: What was going on in your life at the time?

J: At the time I was still a relatively new graduate working with patients who had very recently gone through the life changing experience of spinal cord injury. They would often be looking to me as their only hope of walking again. I was also newly engaged and planning a wedding for the summer of 2007. I started to have on and off back pain for a few months that I would describe as a more vague ache, about 3/10 in intensity.

HFI: How did you feel about where you were at in your life when the back pain started?

J: I was elated to finally have this job, while at the same time feeling enormous pressure to help my patients and perform well. I was also struggling with planning my wedding; one of the biggest days of my life. Given that planning small gatherings with my closest friends brings me an abnormal amount of anxiety, planning a wedding was like my personal Stress Olympics lasting a whole year.

HFI: What did it feel like?

J: It all felt exciting but also nerve-wracking. As my wedding date neared, I started having more regular emotional breakdowns. It got to the point where I just wanted it all to be over. We even considered canceling the wedding and buying a house with the money instead.

HFI: What happened next?

J: As it happened, the week before our big day, I was finishing up with my final patient on a Friday afternoon. She was a larger woman who required moderate assistance to transfer from the therapy mat back into her wheelchair. We had been working together for months and performed this transfer many times before. I counted us in, 1,2,3, and she didn’t budge. As I started lifting she unexpectedly didn’t. I suddenly felt unbearable pain in my lower back. Working in the field that I do, the worst started going through my mind. I couldn’t move. It took about 4 physios to lay me down on the mat as tears streamed down my face (very embarrassing). My manager showed up and sent me home immediately instructing me to take entire next week off. Three more physios walked me very gingerly to the car and drove me to the doctor. There I was prescribed a dangerous dose of painkillers that left me laughing and crying on my dinning room floor before passing out until the next day.

HFI: What were your symptoms the next day?

J: The next day I was not much better off and now had visions of being wheeled down the aisle in a wheelchair borrowed from work.

HFI: What did you think had happened?

J: As my spinal cord injury rehab brain was on overdrive, I pictured my disc herniating, and at any moment ready to paralyze me for the rest of my life.

HFI: Why did you decide to read Dr. Sarno’s book?

J: I was a mess and willing to try anything. I remembered talking to a friend weeks earlier about his experience with back pain. I recalled him recommending a book that helped. In a state of panic I called him, got the name of the book, and had my husband buy it that day.

HFI: What did you think about the book before you started it?

J: I was skeptical but willing to try anything.

HFI: What did you think while you were reading it?

J: I thought I was crazy. I hoped I was crazy! At least then the cure in the book seemed a little less daunting.

HFI: What did you think after you finished it?

J: It gave me hope.

HFI: How did you apply what Dr. Sarno talks about in his book to your life at the time?

J: I tried to calm myself down and acknowledge that there were currently huge stresses in my life and that there was likely no significant trauma to my back. I tried changing my whole psychological approach to the situation. I became more positive and less scared.

HFI: What were the results (if any) in your body and in your mind?

J: I quickly started to feel less and less pain until the third day, when I was back to “normal.”

HFI: How did this experience affect your wedding?

J: I did a tap routine with my father at my wedding!

HFI: What other thoughts (if any) do you have about mind-body illness and mind-body healing since this experience?

J: Although I knew there was a huge psychological component to feeling pain, I never realized what an enormous role it could play in my own life. It is also hard to admit to yourself that maybe some of the pain your feeling is not stemming directly from a physical injury. Once I was able to grasp this concept it was quite liberating in the sense that I felt I had more control over the situation.

Thanks to Julia for sharing her story! Her’s is similar to mine in that the pain appeared during a period of high stress. Her mind manifested the pain as a defense mechanism against the intense stress brought on by her job and upcoming wedding. Once she understood that the pain wasn’t physical, she was able to deal with it.

Allergies still not well understood

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 10:22:29 -0500

From the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/health/research/12allergies.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=food%20allergies&st=cse

Feeling Despite Pharmaceutical Drugs?

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:55:45 -0400

My friend Ivan Staroversky found this great quote from Hippocrates: “It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.”

Ivan is an alternative health care consultant who helps people get over their illnesses and find their purpose in life. In a recent blog post Ivan writes of the Pharmaceutical industry by quoting the movie Equalibrium:

“In the first years of the 21st century, a third World War broke out. Those of us who survived knew mankind could never survive a fourth; that our own volatile natures could simply no longer be risked. So we have created a new arm of the law: The Grammaton Cleric, whose sole task it is to seek out and eradicate the true source of man’s inhumanity to man - his ability to feel.

“Prozium - The great nepenthe. Opiate of our masses. Glue of our great society. Salve and salvation, it has delivered us from pathos, from sorrow, the deepest chasms of melancholy and hate. With it, we anesthetize grief, annihilate jealousy, obliterate rage. Those sister impulses towards joy, love, and elation are anesthetized in stride, we accept as fair sacrifice. For we embrace Prozium in its unifying fullness and all that it has done to make us great.” - Equalibrium

Ivan goes on to say “Reread the above quote from the movie and replace The Grammaton Cleric with the pharmaceutical industry and prozium with pharmaceutical drugs.” Read the full post here.

Story #10 - Wil Carlos, Recovery from Chronic Shoulder Pain

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 19:43:31 -0400

Hi, I’m Wil and I am excited to share with you all about my experience of shoulder pain, and the impact of reading Dr. Sarno’s book Healing Back Pain has had on my experience of my pain.

First a bit about me: I am a Success Coach living in Toronto. I have really found what I love to do as a Coach in that I support people to do what they’ve never done, or thought possible. My mission is to help people get clear on who they really are and what they really want to create in this life. I coach people past their barriers and help move them towards the success they’ve always wanted.

Most of these barriers (if not all) are actually in people’s minds. It’s not the circumstances of their lives, but what my clients make up about their circumstances that impedes their success. The same event could happen to 5 different people, and each would have their own interpretation of that event which would cause 5 different actions. Some would see loosing their business as terrible and go into depression, whereas others would see it as that opportunity to travel the world they’ve been waiting for.

The physical pain that I have had since I was a child was one of those big barriers to living a life I love all the time. The only thing was that I couldn’t see it for what it was, a mental barrier. The book “Healing Back Pain” by Dr. John Sarno really opened my eyes to that.

Specifically I have had shoulder pain all my life, as long as I can remember. It’s been a dull aching kind of pain, never sharp. It was the worst in my right shoulder underneath the flat bone on the shoulder blade. Right in that place you can’t really massage easily. It would also come on the outside muscle of my arm and on the front of my peck muscle when it got really bad. It would always come when I stood up for a long time, went for slow walks, or did a lot of downward dogs in yoga.

When I was about 15 or so the pain became really noticeable because I was in a lot of theatre productions where I had to stand up for long periods of time. My mom always said that I must have something physically wrong with me somewhere. We had lots of possible explanations; the imbalances in my muscles caused it, the slight deformity in my chest bones caused it, (I didn’t have a lot of space in the womb as a baby and this was my mom’s favourite explanation), I wore my back-pack on one side too much (which I only did because of the pain), I fell out of trees a lot when I was a kid that could have impacted my spine, various accidents I got in as a kid (I was a little hellion as my mom described me), etc.

I went to doctors: nothing. I only had physical examinations for the most part. They didn’t seem to think that my pain was that important so as a kid I didn’t even get referrals to specialists. So the pain just continued and I curtailed my activities accordingly. I wouldn’t go for long walks as often, I would sit down as much as possible when standing up for long periods of time, I would massage my shoulder constantly and get others to massage it. Sometimes when it got really bad I would throw my shoulder into the wall or door or corner of something to try to dull the pain. I knew mentally that this probably wouldn’t do anything, but I can remember the sheer desperation of trying to make the pain stop that I would literally hit my shoulder with anything and everything to try to make the pain disappear.

As I got older and started going to the gym and doing different activities as an actor, I just modified exercises to fit to my shoulder’s pain threshold. I didn’t do overhead lifts for example. I also started going to see osteopaths, massage therapists, Chinese meridian therapists, physiotherapists, energy healers of numerous backgrounds, acupuncturists, bio-feedback healers and past life healers. They were all eye opening for other areas of my life (like how to manage my energy and not be so sensitive to my life circumstances). They taught me all about eating properly and actually resting when I needed to (I have always been a little stubborn). I learned that the whole world is really a flow of energy and that I’m part of that energy. This was all combined with my intense curiosity about life and how I would use this information to make a difference for others. This all eventually led me to my work as a Success Coach.

What they told me about my shoulder ranged from troubles in past lives, to the idea that my shoulder was where I stored all my negative emotions, like an anger and failure receptacle. I was told to do specific meditations every day, visualize, get regular energy healing sessions, go for walks with specific intentions, take specific herbal remedies and supplements from the essence of different flowers or herbs that had been blessed by different saints or spiritual gurus. Again, all of this opened my eyes to a whole new world I had never known before and it all has been a part of informing me about who I really am and how I want to contribute to others, but in terms of my shoulder, none of it did anything.

I did have one 3-month period of being pain free after seeing a great specialty acupuncturist who was also an M.D. and an Osteopath. It was one of the best 3 months of my life because I had no pain at all. It was unbelievable. I felt like I was on cloud 9! I didn’t have to think about it anymore, modify anything or make all those changes I used to. But slowly the pain came back. I tried addressing the issue with postural analysis, corrective Yoga and other exercises. They all helped me get stronger, but I still had pain.

Slowly I was getting more and more hopeless with my shoulder pain. I assumed I would always have it and worse I would always have this huge emotional attachment to it. Like I was being punished, picked on mercilessly and without just cause. The pain often triggered minor depression, huge anger and outbursts of different kinds that I usually internalized, as well as melancholy and withdrawal from the world and others. I got a lot of sympathy from the people closest to me, and not much sympathy from people who had no experience of it.

Then I met Will Sacks and he told me a similar story about back pain he used to have. Then he told me that he read this book by Dr. John Sarno MD and 6 weeks later the pain was gone. Although I was very skeptical because of everything I had already tried and all the unfulfilled promises I’d had over the years, I ordered a book by Dr. Sarno online. I thought “well, I’ll just read it, can’t hurt, probably won’t work, but it worked for one other person and that is enough for me to try one more thing.” Thank God I did.

Reading this book was at first just like any other. I read it, understood it and started to apply it. I decided I would come at this book like I came at anything, open and hopeful. There is no point in reading something new if you just bring all your past with you to prove it all wrong before you really try it. I tried it out, applied it to myself, and didn’t even finish reading the whole book. I just did what the book said and had the realization of what my pain really was.

I realized that my pain was a physical response to emotions I was feeling. You see, in my family growing up, it wasn’t acceptable to not do things for emotional reasons, you had to have physical ones. Like it is for most of the world, I was allowed to stay home from school if I was sick, but not if I was scared. Some of us even had to be deathly ill before our parents would let us stay home. So I created a physical limitation that I could always use when it was really for emotional reasons that I wanted to back down, not more forward, or not do something.

Although I may not be pain free like I had always imagined I would be, I am pain free. It looks different in that I do still get pain sometimes. It’s just as random as it ever was: still following some patterns like slow walks or standing up for long periods of time. The difference is that I now know what that pain is. The pain is emotional baggage that I’ve carried around for so long that it’s become un-conscious and as a result un-expressed.

For me this emotional baggage is the feeling of not doing enough. That’s why the long walks used to kill me, or standing up for too long. I was usually waiting around if I was standing up and if I was on a long walk, even with friends or my fiancé, there was still life purpose stuff that I “should” have been doing.

I’ve decided to apply what I apply to my coaching and business life to this phantom pain. That is the simple lesson of “Don’t listen to your brain, it likes to lie to you.” I’m trying to exist in this awesome place of “no mind” where you just do what you said you would do, cause you said you would do it. Or you enjoy the present moment cause you choose to. Like my walks with my fiancé, I accept in the moment that I could go back to my office and work on my Coaching practice and making a difference in the world, or I could accept that right in this moment of being in love, being with my love and enjoying the moment, I am making a difference.

Now when the pain comes up, I remind myself what the pain really is and why it’s there. It’s all in my mind. For a good reason: it’s a reminder of the power my mind has over my body. It’s a reminder that I really do want to have a huge impact on the world. Most importantly it’s a reminder that I can live my life and create what I create, and I can choose to suffer about it, or not. It’s my choice. I’m not at the mercy of some cruel God who takes pleasure in giving me pain, I don’t have an incurable disease. What I have is a choice. To live with constant incurable pain and be a victim, or to live with a mind that likes to trick me and sometimes gets the better of me and reminds me the power of my past beliefs.

Knowing I have the choice has made all the difference in the world. I hope you make the choice to keep looking for the answer, to never give up. Nothing is written in stone except your epitaph. But you’re not dead yet!

Will Carlos
Toronto, Canada
(647) 214 1848
www.thegroupofonethousand.com

Story #9 - Hives in a Patient with Multiple Personalities

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:53:00 -0400

An amazing 1988 article from the New York Times pays testament to the power that the mind exerts over the body:

“WHEN Timmy drinks orange juice he has no problem. But Timmy is just one of close to a dozen personalities who alternate control over a patient with multiple personality disorder. And if those other personalities drink orange juice, the result is a case of hives.

The hives will occur even if Timmy drinks orange juice and another personality appears while the juice is still being digested. What’s more, if Timmy comes back while the allergic reaction is present, the itching of the hives will cease immediately, and the water-filled blisters will begin to subside..”

Read the full article here

Story #8 - Jonathan Van Ee's story about finger pain

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:21:04 -0400

Excerpt from http://www.mindisbody.com/story.html: “For about two and a half years my fingers were in continual pain from typing on a computer. I visited a variety of highly regarded doctors, took anti inflamatory medications, went to physical therapy, iced my hands, and more. My condition progressively worsened, even though I stopped typing completely. Eventually, I effectively lost the use of my hands. From that low point, I rapidly recovered by pushing through the pain. Today I am back to living the intense life I’m used to, typing for several hours at a time, and do not feel the same debilitating pain.” Read More…

Story #7 - Tom Haliburton, After over 25 years with chronic back pain finally a solution!

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:17:00 -0400

Thanks to Dr. SARNO’s book - Healing Back Pain - The Mindbody Prescription where Dr. SARNO shares his thinking about psychosomatic disorders, introduces Tension Myoneural Syndrome (TMS), and explains how the brain and emotions are the source of most of the misunderstood symptoms which people experience today, I can actually say that my pain is all but gone.

My Story,

In 1982 while playing a game of flag football with other students in my 1^st year of university I was knocked to the ground (yes I missed the catch). I wasn’t able to get back to my feet because of immense pain in my lower back. When I finally was able to stand, the pain in my lower back was so intense that I could not take more than a baby step to move. The pain was so intense that tears were flowing from my eyes. I was rushed to the hospital and after waiting for what seemed hours (I couldn’t bend to sit down) they sent an intern in to see me. After X-rays were taken, she pulled and pushed my legs, all while I was screaming in pain (picture a 6ft. 1in. 20 year old man screaming). At the end, the diagnosis was that nothing was wrong, just get more exercise. (At the time I was as fit as any athletic 20 year old).

I left the hospital still not able to walk and suffered for the next few days, crawling to the washroom and otherwise laying on my bed. After several days, a friend in my dorm gave me the name of a chiropractor he had used. I had never visited a chiropractor before but anything to reduce the pain & allow me to walk was worth trying.

When I got to the chiropractor with my X-rays he immediately diagnosed that I had displaced vertebrae in my lower back and twisted vertebrae in my upper back. He had me lie on his table and within minutes I felt immense relief. It was a miracle so I returned to him every day for the next month and then every other day for the rest of the school year. He also prescribed 3 months of bed rest. (Imagine being in a University dorm 1^st year of university and told you had to be in bed for 3 months!!). Well I did it but the pain never really subsided. Instead I built up a tolerance (Thanks to Robaxacet –C with Codeine) and just lived my life but with much less physical activity and always being cautious that I might hurt my back further.

For the next 25 years I would continue seeing chiropractors. It started at 3 times a week and slowly it became once a month, once every 3 months, or as needed. Basically every time I felt my back getting to a point of unmanageable pain that I couldn’t control I would visit. Each visit brought minor relief but it only lasted 1-2 days. Throughout this time I would have major flare-ups where my back would go into spasm so intensely that I would again find myself unable to stand and need to crawl to the washroom or to get a drink, etc. Each episode lasted 3-4 days and took weeks for the pain to actually subside back to its ‘normal’ level. These episodes would occur at least once a month for many years. Only in the past 4-5 have they subsided to approximately 1-2 per year.

Over the years I tried massage, infrared therapy, stretch therapy, many muscle creams and other treatments, all with very temporary or no relief.

After 25 years I was getting to the end of my rope with the nagging pain. I asked my doctor to get me a MRI. He did and the results showed a degenerated disc in my lower back. (AHA! Proof something was at the root of all of this.). The prognosis: normal degeneration for someone in their late 40s. No relief.

I was resigned to keep taking Robaxacet-C when needed, and continue to live with the pain.

Then I met Will Sacks in June 2010!

After a brief conversation with Will the topic turned to back pain and he told me about Dr. SARNO’s book - Healing Back Pain - The Mindbody Prescription. I was very intrigued. (I got my degree in psychology. No not what I started out for, but what can you do when in bed for 3 months other than learn a lot about people.) Since I think no option should be ignored, I took down the name and was planning to pick up the book in a few days. The following week when I saw Will again he gave me a copy of the book. I sat down the next evening and read ½ the book. Wow what a concept. The mind actually causes the body to have a real physical problem (e.g. back spasms) in order to manage stress. Well my life was full of negative stress from a million things (…but that’s another story). Interestingly as I looked back in time I could map some of my major pain episodes to increases in negative stress.

DR SARNO’s explanation was that the pain was real, and that my body was probably storing lactose acid in and around where I was hurting. It seemed logical.

The following evening I finished Dr. SARNO’s book.

I let myself believe it wasn’t all in my head (it just started in there). I took some time to look back at my life and identified a number of times I could remember having major pain episodes. Being a guy that believes I have to do 110% in everything I do, and expect that others won’t necessarily get it done when working on something with me, it was easy to notice a link between my pain and times when I was frustrated with my progress or worried about something. I reflected on my past and the way I was thinking about how I always expected to have to pick up the pieces for everyone. This created a mental breakthrough for me around my continuous tension. Perhaps I was being unrealistic with myself and others.

Over the next 2 weeks an interesting thing began to occur. I noticed my pain had subsided yet nothing in my world had changed. My stress level is still very high (I am in the early stages of starting my own business).The only real change was reading Dr. SARNO’s book.

It has been 2 months since I read the book and I am thrilled to say that I have been virtually pain free for that time. When an occasional symptom arises I simply tell myself to stop and look at what might be stressing me out and ask myself to believe it may simply be my mind trying to tell me to relax and the pain begins to go away!

I give credit to Dr. Sarno’s book and its straight forward approach to understanding stress in creating the opportunity to unlock the strange but real pain I was experiencing. I hope my story will encourage others to explore the book and see if it can help them in managing their pain. It has been a godsend for me.

Wishing you good health!

Tom Haliburton

Toronto Ontario Canada

(416) 402 0364

Fibromyalgia

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:59:00 -0400

Guest Author: Tatyana Staroverska from www.StarOverSky.com

What is Fibromyalgia?

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

Causes of Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia takes the form of chronic musculoskeletal pain that occurs in different parts of the body and at different intensities. This sensitivity of the tissues is not accompanied by any inflammation, nor does it damage the internal organs.

For the most part, fibromyalgia affects people of a certain psychological type: emotional but with good self-control. Fibromyalgia is most common among middle-aged women, although recently it has been known to affect children and men.

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia’s primary symptom is a migrating, chronic musculoskeletal pain. The pain is usually accompanied by a feeling of stiffness in the morning, a sensation of swelling in the arms and legs, and muscles that tire rapidly. Changes in the weather, fatigue, and stress worsen the symptoms.

Sufferers of fibromyalgia frequently have emotional disorders, ranging from slight mood swings to pronounced depression and anxiety.

Chronic fatigue – frequently accompanies fibromyalgia. This is a state of exhaustion of the nervous system when there is chronic stress or chronic infection. One of the most common complaints is that of becomingly quickly fatigued, which afflicts 87% of fibromyalgia victims.

Sleep disturbances: 79% of patients report difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or not feeling refreshed after sleeping. Those afflicted with fibromyalgia experience deterioration of their REM sleep (which probably explains the common symptoms of morning tiredness and lethargy). More than half of fibromyalgia patients suffer frequent migraine headaches.

Fibromyalgia (FMS) is associated with digestive disorders, bloating, and abdominal pain as well as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), and patients may have difficulty swallowing food.

Those afflicted with FMS may experience increased frequency of urination, without having a bladder infection. Some may develop damage to their bladder lining, called interstitial cystitis (IC).

Women with FMS may have painful menstrual cycles or a worsening of their FMS symptoms at this time.

FMS patients often have concerns about their balance. Since it is believed that fibromyalgia affects the eye muscles, nausea or blurred vision can occur when driving, reading, or trying to follow an object with one’s eyes. The weakening of the neck muscles can cause dizziness or loss of balance. In some cases, FMS causes a decrease in blood pressure and heart rate after rising from a lying position.

FMS may be accompanied by a skin disorder called ichthyosis, dryness, or mottled skin. Often there is dryness of the eyes and mouth.

Those afflicted with fibromyalgia may have swollen fingers. The usual complaint is that their rings will not fit.

Hypersensitivity to light, noise, smells and weather are common to fibromyalgia, as are allergic reactions to various substances (drugs, chemicals, food additives, etc.).

Patients may experience irritation and inflammation of the nose that is not related to allergies, similar to the symptoms of a cold, and there may be sinus pain, but without the immune response that is characteristic of allergies.

Although sufferers of FMS are often mistakenly diagnosed with depression or anxiety (”it’s all in your head”), studies have repeatedly shown that fibromyalgia is not a form of depression or hypochondria. However, it is important to treat any accompanying depression or anxiety, since they may worsen the symptoms of FMS and it is not possible to successfully control the symptoms of fibromyalgia without treating these symptoms.

Causes of Fibromyalgia

Although fibromyalgia is one of the most common diseases that affects the muscles, its causes are currently unknown.Most often the disease begins when the nervous system is in a prolonged state of tension, which act as a trigger for individuals who are predisposed to this condition. This trigger can be psychological stress or fatigue, surgery or serious illness, infection, accident or injury.

Under normal conditions, stress is a healthy response of the nervous system – for a short time it increases the body’s ability to respond physically to danger. When under stress, there is a strong discharge by the nervous system of its accumulated “emergency reserves,” such as: hormones, immune factors, heat, and various bioactive substances. If the stress continues for too long, then these reserves are depleted, and the nervous, immune and endocrine systems are strongly affected.

Prolonged stress (such as long-term irresolvable situations, unsatisfied desires, ambition, conflict, loss of a loved one, work, etc.) interferes with the functioning of the hypothalamic hormones, the pituitary and adrenal glands (somatotropin, norepinephrine, endorphins, dopamine, histamine, and gammaaminobuturovoy acid), which are directly related to the perception of pain. It has been found that patients with fibromyalgia have lowered levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. In fact, many current fibromyalgia therapies are aimed at increasing these levels. Some studies have found that patients with fibromyalgia actually suffered from forms of subclinical hypothyroidism, which was not detected during routine laboratory tests. It has been suggested that hypothyroidism may have caused this dysfunction of the central nervous system.

Prolonged stress lowers the body’s immunity, allowing previously dormant infectious agents to attack. These infectious agents can include:

herpes, types 1, 2, and 6
cytomegalovirus;
Epstein-Barr virus;
varicella-zoster virus;
chlamydia;
mycoplasma;
toxoplasmosis;
streptococcus.

With fibromyalgia, the immune system might respond powerfully to an active infection, but without sufficient focus. A large number of antibodies appear in the blood, attacking not only the sources of the infection, but, mistakenly, the body’s own tissue, especially the muscles and tendons, causing fibromyalgia’s migrating pain.

Fibromyalgia shares many symptoms, clinical characteristics, and physiological mechanisms with other diseases, including: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), migraines, primary dysmenorrhea, Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMS) or Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), pain resulting from Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMJ) and Myofascial Pain Syndrome. Anyone suffering from these afflictions gets the best results with a systematic course of treatment (an entire set of strategies). Recent studies have confirmed that the best treatment option is a combination of different therapeutic approaches, including an individualized treatment plan.

Guest Author: Tatyana Staroverska from www.StarOverSky.com

The Danger of Chronic Stress

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:50:00 -0400

Guest Author: Ivan Staroversky from www.StarOverSky.com

Did you know?

What is Stress?

What Happens Under Acute Stress?

What Happens Under Chronic Stress?

What can be done about stress?

Sleep disturbances, eczema, headache, chest pain, high blood pressure, muscle aches, back pain, clenched jaws, tooth grinding, upset stomach, constipation, diarrhea, tiredness, sex problems, anxiety, panic attacks, restlessness, worrying, irritability, anger, feeling insecure, forgetfulness, inability to concentrate, overeating, increased smoking, relationship conflicts, decreased productivity, blaming others…

Do you know that the cause of all these problems can be chronic stress, or stress that occurs frequently?

It is known today that almost 80% of all diseases are linked to psychological and/or emotional disorders.
Stress accounts for adverse health effects in 43% of all adults.
In fact, it’s been estimated that as many as 90% of doctor’s visits are for symptoms that are at least partially stress-related!
Stress is linked to the six leading causes of death – heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide.

Stress symptoms often mimic the symptoms of other disorders. You may think an illness is to blame for that nagging headache, your frequent forgetfulness or your decreased productivity at work. But the common denominator may be stress. Indeed, stress symptoms can affect your body, your thoughts and feelings, and your behavior. Stress may be affecting your health, and you may not even realize it.

There’s no escaping it: stress is a part of our lives. Many people consider stress to be something that happens to them – an event or an accident. But in fact, the critical factor is how we think about the situations in which we find ourselves. How we perceive a stress-provoking event and how we react to it determines its impact on our health.

What is Stress?

Stress is a failure to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats whether they are real or imagined. A Stressor can be anything that disturbs the body’s homeostasis. A stressor (that which causes stress) can be:

Psychological and Emotional – job loss, relationship problems, work environment;
Chemical – poisoning, environmental intoxication;
Physical – injury, trauma, hot, cold, noise;

What Happens Under Acute Stress?

Acute stress is anything that threatens survival at a present moment. For example, sudden noise, fire, dark place, physical threat, falling, an animal chasing you or anything else that can potentially harm or kill you.

Acute Stress is based on the fight or flight response which is a mechanism evolutionary designed to ensure your survival. Stress is a quick response to danger. It is characterized by change in brain function and physiological arousal. Your brain shifts into survival mentality and operates based on instinct.

Symptoms of physical arousal include increased heart rate and blood pressure, sweat, pupil dilation. Hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are released into the body. Adrenaline increases the heart rate, contracts blood vessels, dilates air passages and participates in the fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system. Cortisol is a steroid produced by the adrenal gland. It is released in response to stress, and to a low level of blood glucocorticoids. Its primary functions are to increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis, suppress the immune system, and aid in fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism. Digestion slows down and blood flows towards arms and legs so that the person can fight or run.

What Happens Under Chronic Stress?

Chronic or prolonged stress is anything or anyone that disturbs the mind over a long period of time. Family problems, a difficult class at school, a schedule that is too busy, a death, divorce, project deadlines, conflict, mortgage payments, unemployment, long commuting, unresolved life problems, work environment, phobias; all of these can cause chronic stress.

Under chronic stress the mind switches into survival mentality. A person falls back on what they already know and stop exploring new ideas. Creativity and critical thinking are shot down. Perception changes from future oriented thinking towards present oriented thinking.

Creative new ideas can elicit a feeling uncertainty or even aggression because they are unfamiliar and require changes. Change requires energy. The brain will resist any change because it needs all the energy there is to cope with stress. Remember that the brain does not know the difference between what it sees in the environment and what it imagines. If a person thinks about something stressful or unpleasant, the body will react accordingly.

In small amounts stress can be stimulating. But if we repeatedly react to situations beyond our control in a negative way, our health and happiness may suffer. Frequent and Prolonged Stress is potentially damaging.

Chronic stress can raise cortisol levels and weaken our immune system due to its immunosuppressive action. Higher and more prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream have been shown to have negative effects; they can cause serious health problems such as: impaired cognitive performance, suppressed thyroid function, blood sugar imbalances such as hyperglycemia, decreased bone density, decrease in muscle tissue, and high blood pressure.

The immune system is a collection of mechanisms within an organism that protects it against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. The immune system detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism’s own healthy cells and tissues in order to function properly.

Stress could be one of many components in lowering the immune system, thereby making us more susceptible to a large array of diseases. Let’s take cancer, for example. Every day, our bodies are exposed to cancer causing agents in the air, food and water. Under normal circumstances, our immune system recognizes abnormal cells and kills them before they produce a tumor. However, research has shown that stress can hamper the ability of the immune system to do this.

Chronic stress makes you more susceptible to infections. It also increases your risk of autoimmune diseases, in which your immune system attacks your body’s own healthy cells, as in the case of rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, etc.

In an attempt to relieve stress some can even become physically violent, most often with family members. Instead of exercising to relieve stress, some people respond by overeating, eating unhealthy foods or smoking.

What can be done about this?

Knowing that stress may have a negative impact on our health, we still need to admit that we will never be able to be completely rid of it in our daily lives. The key is not to do away with all of life’s pressures, but to handle them properly on a daily basis.

There is a big difference between silencing and dealing with stress. Unfortunately most people prefer to silence their stress, ignore it, take prescription to relax, overeat unhealthy foods, smoke, consume alcohol and use other harmful ways of coping with stress.

Real stress management is about recognizing your problems and dealing with them effectively. Sometimes you can solve them on your own and other times you need someone who can help you solve the problem.

Chronic stress is one of the leading causes of major diseases and death. Many people experience symptoms of chronic stressed daily without being aware of it. Guilt, unresolved personal and family problems, boredom, lack of purpose, not doing what you want to do and doing what you don’t want to do as well as other problems could cause chronic stress.

Overall, people end up spending more time and money on fixing serious psychological and physiological problems than time and money on preventing stressful reactions. If you care about a healthy future for yourself and your family members, take care of stress now while you still can.

“Health is not just the absence of disease. It is a feeling of total well-being on the Physical, Mental, Emotional & Spiritual levels of a person’s life.“ - The World Health Organization

Guest Author: Ivan Staroversky from www.StarOverSky.com

Story # 6 - Rachel's RSI Homage to Dr. Sarno

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:57:46 -0400

Excerpt from http://podolsky.everybody.org/rsi/: “I had RSI for about a year and a half. By random luck, a stranger (actually, two of them) referred me to The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno. This was September 1999. I had chronic arm pain, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I treated my arms like they were made of fragile glass, I didn’t type at all (I used voice recognition software to do most of my work). I saw myself in the book, but I was afraid — afraid that if I believed in Sarno’s theory I might get worse…”

Story #5. Psychosomatic Conversion Disorder in Children

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:07:00 -0400

By Dr. Jorina Elbers, MD

I’m a Child Neurologist, and have been seeing children with psychosomatic symptoms for 6 years. I have seen children with symptoms including non-epileptic seizures, weakness, blindness, unstready gait, migraines, dizziness and sensory disturbances, with no underlying medical explanation. With the proper education and support these children have had full recoveries.

As a child neurologist, I have developed a particular interest in psychosomatic illness. I truly believe that these children need as much support and rehabilitation as any child with an underlying structural brain or nerve problem. The difficulty is, many physicians still don’t recognize psychosomatic illness for what it really is, and many children undergo test after test, and procedure after procedure, with no answers. I have found that once a family is given some information about psychosomatic symptoms, most of them will recognize this as occurring in their child, and be open to the proper treatment and support.

I hope you find the information provided helpful. This information is entirely from my own experience, with which I have had good success. It may not reflect the opinion of physicians elsewhere.

What is conversion disorder?

Conversion disorder is a complex of symptoms experienced by a patient that, instead of being attributable to a structural problem in the brain, spinal cord, nerves, muscles, or other tissues of the body, is caused by unresolved stress and psychological unrest. These symptoms are the body’s way of “converting” underlying stress into physical symptoms that, in effect, distract the individual from dealing with their underlying issues.

What is known about conversion disorder?

Neurobiologists have hypothesized that conversion disorder stems from two protective, instinctive and adaptive behavioural responses present throughout the animal kingdom – called the “violent motor reaction” and “immobilization reflex.” The belief is that animals experience symptoms such as a flurry of uncoordinated movement, or an immobilization response (or sham-death) in response to danger. This action presents a state of helplessness and defenselessness which would help to ward off the attack of a predator (Kretschmer, 1961 and Ludwig, 1972)

With the advent of new neuroimaging techniques, we are now able to not only visualize the structure of the brain, but also the function. Since most patients with conversion disorder will have a normal MRI, indicating no structural abnormality, there must be a functional abnormality to account for these symptoms. In fact, it appears this is the case. Studies using functional MRI, which measures regional changes in blood flow related to neural activity, have identified the pre-frontal cortex as a key player in patients with psychosomatic symptoms. While the studies have some limitations, there is a suggestion that the pre-frontal cortex, which is normally involved in organizing, planning and executing behaviour, is active in patients with conversion disorder and may be inhibiting certain parts of the brain responsible for movement and sensation. When the patient has been treated, these regions are no longer active (Vuilleumier , 2001)

Myths about conversion disorder

Patients with conversion disorder are not malingering, nor are they “faking it”.

Just as someone with an underlying structural abnormality such as multiple sclerosis or brain tumor experiences symptoms, the symptoms of conversion disorder are REAL. Patients with conversion disorder often experience their body functions in distressing and disturbing ways. Symptoms may consist of both subjective and objective sensations such as dizziness, headaches, body pain, weakness, visual changes/tunnel vision, and even seizures. Patients with conversion disorder require a comprehensive medical, psychiatric and psychological evaluation. Once a medical diagnosis is ruled out, a proper diagnosis of conversion disorder should be made, including explanation of their symptoms, and treatment should commence, which may include rehabilitation and counseling.

The stress underlying conversion disorder does not have to be a mental illness or major psychological distress. It is not necessarily the amount of stress that accounts for symptoms, and certainly childhood stress is different than adult stress. More importantly is the fact that the stress is unresolved. Stresses may include school difficulties, bullying, the death of a loved one (this includes pets!), or parental divorce. Physical and sexual abuse should also be considered in children, but is often not disclosed.

Can children develop conversion disorder?

Children are a very particular subgroup of patients that are at risk for conversion disorder. Children in our current society are under great amounts of stress, and are particularly vulnerable to develop conversion disorder due to their inability to manage underlying stress. As a pediatric neurologist, approximately 10% of the patients I see have conversion symptoms.

While any person is at risk for developing psychosomatic symptoms or conversion disorder, there is a trend towards high-achieving and successful adolescents. While females are probably more commonly affected, males are also at risk, especially since they have been taught to suppress their emotions at a young age. Younger children, between 5-10 years of age, may also manifest conversion symptoms.

What are symptoms of conversion disorder in children?

The most common, and socially acceptable, conversion symptom is headache. There are few people who will argue that headaches are not a sign of stress. Young children, even under the age of 5 years, can develop headaches which may be resulting from unresolved stress. While children this age require thorough investigation to rule out an underlying structural lesion in the brain, conversion disorder should not be discounted based on young age.

Other symptoms which may be expressed in response to unresolved stress include dizziness, abdominal pain, tinnitus, ataxia, generalized weakness, focal weakness, paresthesias, blurry vision, vision loss, tunnel vision, and non-epileptic seizures. Virtually any neurological symptom can be a manifestation of psychosomatic origin, and often multiple symptoms will co-exist.

There are several interesting features of conversion disorder and psychosomatic symptoms. The first is that symptoms often manifest in a manner which has already been established as a weakened part of the body. For example, a child may present with focal arm weakness in the same arm that was fractured several years prior. As another example, children with known epilepsy may present with additional seizures that are non-epileptic in nature, that is to say, they are not caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain that can be picked up on EEG.

The other interesting feature of conversion disorder is symptom substitution or symptom imperative. Over time, if the underlying stress is not resolved, some symptoms may resolve, only to be replaced by different symptoms that still remain unexplained. It is only with proper treatment and counseling, that a child may be completely free of these symptoms.

Red Flags

As a physician, there are several red flags that alert me to the severity of the disorder, and the difficulty of treating it. Children who have stayed home from school due to the symptoms will have additional stress associated with returning to school, having other children tease and bully them because of their symptoms, and the amount of work that will be required of them to catch up academically.

Another red flag for the severity of the conversion disorder is the number of hospital admissions and repeated investigations to find the cause. This causes additional stress on the child, on the family and on the health care system. While a thorough evaluation may be necessary, repeated MRI’s and other investigations do not help the family. Once conversion disorder is confirmed, the family should be educated and the child should be “normalized”. This means “made as normal as possible”. The child should be encouraged to go back to school, to socialize, to engage in activities they enjoy, and the child should not be asked at every instant how they are feeling.

Parents can be highly invested in their children’s illness and in finding a structural cause for the symptoms. This can also make it difficult for a child to return to normal life. Obviously the parent is concerned about their child, and wants everything possible to be done, with no stone left unturned. Parents need to be reassured and reminded that not finding an underlying structural problem is a good thing, and that more trips to the hospital are not necessarily in their child’s best interest. Occasionally, parents may also exhibit psychosomatic symptoms or conversion disorder. Their frustration at not finding a cause for their own symptoms may be magnified in their child, and they may lose faith in the medical team altogether. It is important not to alienate these families, and to listen to their concerns. With time and trust, these symptoms can be overcome, and families can return to their normal life.

The good news

Once a child has been diagnosed with psychosomatic symptoms or conversion disorder, the good news is there is not an incurable, underlying structural problem that is causing the symptoms. Patients should be reassured of this, and reminded of this frequently. The concern that there is an underlying medical problem may often contribute to the stress. Young children will often not recognize the unresolved stress, but older children are able to acknowledge that their symptoms may be due to something unidentifiable.

How is conversion disorder treated?

The key to treatment of conversion disorder is not so much the identification of the stressor (which is often difficult in children), as it is to identify the unresolved feelings. Whether or not the stressor can be identified, it is necessary for the child to identify and talk about their feelings. There are many books that help children identify their feelings of anger, sadness and fear. Art or music therapy may also be of benefit as an outlet for the child. Overly anxious children should be taught skills of relaxation, and other tools they can use to alleviate their anxiety. It is important for children to learn these skills as they get older, otherwise new psychosomatic symptoms may emerge over time.

For children who are severely disabled due to their symptoms, and have weeks or even months off from school, it is imperative that they return to school as soon as possible. This should be done in a gradual manner, with small goals to be achieved every few days. It is important for the child to set his/her goals, and to acknowledge individual achievement for these goals. For example, a child with chronic daily headache who has not been to school for several months, may decide to attend lunch hour for the first few days back to school. After that goal is achieved, the child decides whether they can manage a full class or half a class, and which class that will be. Occasionally, some children will have such an aversion to school, that the first goal may be just to get into the car and drive to the front door of the school. Again, the child should be responsible for setting the goals they believe will be achievable. The parents may guide and offer suggestions, and encourage the child, once a goal has been reached, to set a new goal.

I have often referred patients to Dr. John Sarno’s book “The Divided Mind” (Sarno, 2006). Even though this deals primarily with Tension Myositis Sydrome, I feel that the principles described in this book are important for any patient or parent to understand psychosomatic symptoms. It also describes a treatment protocol which may or may not be appropriate, depending on the age of the child.

References
Kretschmer E. Hysteria, Reflex and Instinct. Transl. Baskin V & W. London. Peter Owen, 1961.

Ludwig AM. Hysteria: A neurobiological theory. Archives of General Psychiatry 1972;27:771-777.

Vuilleumier P, Chicherio C, Assal F. Functional neuroanatomical correlates of hysterical sensorimotor loss. Brain 2001;124(6):1077-1090.

Sarno JE. The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders. Harper Collins, New York, 2006.

(Picture courtesy of http://alittleinsanity.com/)

Stay Free! published an interview with Edward Shorter on the...

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:01:00 -0400

Stay Free! published an interview with Edward Shorter on the history of psychosomatic illness in the modern era: http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/electronic-publications/stay-free/archives/21/edward_shorter.html

Story #4 - Interview with Ivan Staroversky

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:28:00 -0400

Last month I interviewed Ivan Staroversky about psychosomatic medicine. Ivan is a member of the American Psychological Association, an Neuro-Linguistic Programming Trainer, and an alternative health care consultant based in Toronto Canada. Ivan has his own story over-coming the Mumps virus and now uses innovative methods to help people deal with their illness and get well again. For more information, check out Ivan’s website at www.staroversky.com. The text of the interview follows (click “Read More” below). To watch the video of the interview, click “Read More” and scroll down or visit our youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/healingfrominside www.staroversky.com. The text of the interview follows (click “Read More” below). To watch the video of the interview, click “Read More” and scroll down or visit our youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/healingfrominside

WS: What’s the difference between somatic and psychosomatic medicine?

IS: Somatic medicine involves the cells of the body and is based on physical and biological aspects of the problem. The somatic approach is the traditional approach of western medicine and it usually deals with the symptoms of the problem. For example, a person comes to see a doctor and describes his/her symptoms. The doctor writes a drug prescription to get rid of the symptoms.

Psychosomatic means that a physical condition is caused or greatly influenced by psychological factors.

The psychosomatic approach to health views illness as a form of communication between the conscious and the unconscious mind through the body. The psychosomatic approach sees Illness as a person’s way of adapting to an environment. It is a message that communicates a need for change. However, very few people interpret their illness as a form of communication or symptom of a deeper problem that needs to be dealt with. The most common solution today is to ignore the message and try to get rid of the symptoms.

Examples of psychosomatic illness include:

1. Illness as a socially accepted way of avoiding something unpleasant.

2. Illness as a subconscious mechanism of defense. There are many situations that people would rather avoid rather than deal with.

3. Illness as a cry for love, attention and warmth. When people get sick, they get attention, love and warmth from family members or friends.

4. Illness that signals a purpose crisis. There is a point in time when people begin to ask the question - What is the purpose of my life? Unable to answer this question, some people turn their illness into their purpose in life. Everything begins to revolve around it.

WS: Can you tell your own story with psychosomatic illness?

IS: At the age of 10 years old, I got infected with the Mumps virus. It was summer and all of my friends were outside playing and having fun. I had a strong desire to cure my illness and go play with my friends.

When I asked my mother for advice, she told me to think of the mumps virus that I had as an intruder or “bad guys” inside my body and that I must use my own army to defeat the “bad guys”. Without any doubts, and with strong desire and full belief in the story, I made a firm decision to beat the “bad guys” inside my body. My method was simple - lie down and visualize a huge battlefield between the good army and the “bad guys”. After intense visualization I got up and just continued my usual day. The next day the mumps symptoms disappeared without any complications.

At the age of 20, I had a skin problem where red spots were appearing on my chest and neck. For the most part it was a cosmetic discomfort that brought certain limitations to my life. The skin problem had a strong correlation with my mood and body temperature. Unable to solve the problem through traditional cosmetic solutions, I examined t he problem from the psychosomatic perspective. After intensive personal development, I was able to overcome some of my psychological issues that were causing the red spots. As a result, the skin problem disappeared forever.

These are just a few personal examples from my life. The main lesson that I have learned from these experiences is that we all have the power to change ourselves.

WS: What did you own experience teach you about the western “Somatic” approach to medicine?

IS: The western approach to medicine has tunnel vision. People are examined as “cases” with “symptoms”. Very few doctors spend enough time to really understand each person as a whole. The entire system is based on profit rather than true health care. People are processed as case numbers who will consume drugs and deduct money from insurance companies.

Doctors practicing western medicine are very important and knowledgeable and can be crucial in life. However for many illnesses, most western doctors can help but not ultimately cure the patient. By no means do I say that western medicine is bad. I think that western medicine is some of the best medicine in the world when it comes to emergencies and surgery. I just think that the healthcare system has some major flaws in it that are not helping people, and in some cases cause more harm than good.

WS: What percentage of illness in Western society do you think is psychosomatic in nature?

IS: I have not run any scientific experiments or collected statistical data to give an exact number. However, based on my experience and research I would say that about 85% to 90% of all health problems in our society are psychosomatic. I grew up in a family of doctors and I have seen many cases. Most people have health problems related to their mind. In order to fix their mind or their life, we need to start fixing their grandparents.

There are three main causes of illness:

1. Trauma - often serious and body-altering physical injury. For example, removal of a limb or a broken rib.

2. Toxicity - chemical disturbance that causes the nervous system to send “bad” signals to the cells and the tissue. (Lipton, 2009) The sources of intoxication can include GMO, various food additives, pollution, radiation, beauty products, drugs and other sources.

3. Thoughts - accurate perception encourages success and misperception threatens survival. It is important to remember that cells, tissue and organs of the body do not question the information that is sent to them from the nervous system. Thus, we respond to life-affirming perceptions or self-destructive misperceptions every day. Our perception influences our fate. (Lipton, 2009) Our thoughts have the power to change our body chemistry. Some thoughts cause stress and some thoughts cause relaxation and self-rehabilitation.

WS: Why is psychosomatic illness so misunderstood and ignored in our society?

IS: I think that it is important to look back at our history. There was a point in time when the church had all the answers to all the questions. Everything was based on what the Bible said. However from monotheism we moved to reformation and scientific materialism where the universe and the human body was viewed at as a machine. These were the times of Isaac Newton and mathematics. The next phase of our evolution was deism where there was balance between God and nature.

Scientific materialism began to shift attention away from God when Charles Darwin published his famous work - The Origin of Species. Our interpretation of reality shifted to natural selection, random mutation and the survival of the fittest. We then progressed to the DNA era where we started to see ourselves as the victims of our genes. Our fate was at the mercy of our genetic predisposition. Next came the human genome project which found that we have 23,000 genes which make us who we are. The genome project is an amazing opportunity for capitalists and the pharmaceutical companies to make huge profits. If the pharmaceutical companies can patent the technology to alter genes then they become in control of fixing and creating human bodies.

During the evolution of medicine many high ranking educational, medical and government institutions were formed. The foundation of these institutions was based on the material world - physiology, biology and genes. There was no room for psychosomatic approaches to health problems. However, we are now shifting towards holism where science considers both the body and the mind. Human beings are viewed as something greater than just a collection of organized cells. Unfortunately holism faces great resistance from well-established institutions that are based on the material view of the body and the world. The psychosomatic approach does not make profits for the pharmaceutical companies and would result in much lower consumption of drugs that treat only the symptoms.

WS: How can healthcare practitioners diagnose psychosomatic illness?

IS: I think the first step is to look at the person as a whole human being and not just as his/her symptoms. It is important to examine the lifestyle, family history, social circle, past, present and the future. I am not saying that we have to go into every single detail about their life, but we should at least give each person a chance to explain their situation.

There is also a placebo test that a health care practitioner can do to test for a psychosomatic illness. Take out some sugar pills and put them into a small glass bottle that will look like a remedy bottle. Explain to your patient that this is one of the most powerful remedies there is and that they should follow the instructions precisely. Tell them that the problem should go away in about a week. See what happens to them in a week. If their problem is solved, then it was probably a psychosomatic illness. If their problem remains the same, then you probably did not convince them well enough or the problem is somatic. Some recent research has shown that actual cures of diagnosed problems have occurred in this manner also.

WS: What are the best ways to treat psychosomatic illness?

IS: Think outside the box and examine people holistically. Ask questions and try to understand the problem. A good healthcare practitioner will help a person to understand the meaning of the illness so that it can be dealt with now and avoided in the future. A person cannot wake up in the morning and become ill for no reason. There is always something that the person did or did not do that caused the problem.

People should ask these questions:

What is the meaning of my illness?

What is the illness trying to communicate?

What can be changed?

What is the secondary gain from my illness?

One of the techniques that can be used when working with psychosomatic illness is to ask the person to imagine his/her problem. See if he/she can give that problem color, shape or movement. If the problem would look like something, what would it look like? Place it in a chair in front of you and ask the illness the following questions: What is it that you want to communicate to me? What is the point of my problem?

Listen to yourself without any judgment and notice the first thing that comes to your mind. What is it trying to communicate to you? Do not censor your answers.

When I asked one of my clients to place the problem in a chair, after a few minutes she had her eyes wide open. She saw her family member. She quickly confessed that her family member is a source of stress in her life, and that her health problem was a way to deal with this stress.

WS: How would our world be different if psychosomatic illness was better understood by patients and their health-care practitioners?

IS: I think that our society would take the next step in conscious evolution and conscious awareness. People would focus on progress and cooperation rather than destruction and competition. People would become more aware about their lifestyle and how much their thoughts influence their health. If adults would become more conscious about what they say, how they say and what they do, their children would have better lives. Most of the negative programming happens before the age of 6. Usually by that age, beliefs, values, attitude, outlook on life and life scenario are programmed by family members. If we could give our children the right programs for their minds, they would have a much better future.

Unfortunately we are still operating on principles such as survival of the fittest and profit making. It will take time but we have the power to change ourselves and make the next step in conscious evolution.

Reference:

Bhaerman, S., & Ph.D., B. H. (2009). Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future (and a Way to Get There from Here). Carlsbad: Hay House.

Story #3 - Pain in the Guts

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:18:00 -0400

(Mike is a talented stand-up comedian who describes here a mystery pain in his guts that developed after he moved to a new country, and his meditation technique to get rid of it forever - WS)

I was walking down the street one day on my way to work and all of a sudden had a stabbing pain in my guts region. Ow! I thought, darn is this a hernia or ulcer or something? I knew very nothing about health matters.

The pain was on the lower left side of my guts. I got on with the day, and that week went in to see a doctor. Hmm, he couldn’t feel anything weird - and sent me to get an x-ray. Hmm, they couldn’t find anything weird.

It’s worth noting that this all happened in my first weeks in a strange country doing a job that was quite daunting. Also worth noting that since I was in a strange country, I was paying heavily for all this medical treatment. Also worth noting that I was close to being homeless in this strange country, and the daunting job was the only way away from this.

The stabbing pain came back many times over the next year, an eventful and stressful one, and I had visited the x-rayer a few more times. Ka-ching, ka-ching.

Then time passed, as in years, and one night I found myself lying in bed having reached a sort of general peace. The pain came back and I got to thinking about it deeply. What the Heck was up with this weird pain? I had recently done a meditation course that had taught me to analyze physical pain from an outside perspective, and I gave this old ‘friend’ such a treatment. I mentally boarded a tiny inner submarine and shot down from my mind to my guts. And lo and behold, the thing dissolved like mist under the glare of sunshine. Utterly gone. Once a monster, now a coward - like all devils.

If it ever came back again, I don’t remember.

Mike Sheer

June 29th, 2010

London UK

Story #2 - A Tale of Psychosomatic Tendonitis from Alex Cole

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:29:00 -0400

Will asked me to share my story of tension myositis syndrome (TMS) about a month ago, and I couldn’t be happier to do so. Discovering TMS, learning about it, and applying self-treatment techniques was one of the most interesting, rewarding, and important experiences of my life. It was also a lot of fun at times!

I started experiencing pain in my left knee around February 2007. I was in 2^nd year university at the time. A couple of my roommates were serious basketball players and I fell in love with the game. I started playing about 3 times a week. I was in some of the best shape of my life.

Although I thought absolutely nothing of it at the time, I do remember exactly the first time I felt my TMS. I lived in the basement at that point, and had to walk up the stairs every morning. One morning I had quite noticeable pain on left knee while walking up the stairs. Little did I know it would dictate the next year of my life, GRRRR!

The knee cap, also called the platella bone, is held in place by a tendon above and below the knee: the platellar tendon. The section above the knee cap is where I felt the pain, and also slightly under the knee cap was sore. The pain wasn’t severe, so I shrugged it off as I had with a whole mess of pulled muscles and similar pains over the course of my life. I actually kept playing basketball. It would hurt at first, but once I warmed up, I felt as loose as a goose and there was zero pain.

Over the next 2 or three weeks the pain got worse, and it started bothering me in more situations than just walking up stairs. My knee would be uncomfortable when I sat for long periods of time. I had to keep my leg straight or I felt pulling on the tendon, and an aching would start. I took the hint, stopped playing basketball, and also started icing my knee regularly to try to calm down ‘inflammation’ that I assumed was there. It got better to a point where it didn’t bother me at all, but I could still feel it walking up stairs and bending. The pain stayed at this level for the spring and all summer. I played basketball on and off and never really took the ‘injury’ seriously. I assumed it was some mild tendonitis.

Cut to September 2007: I’m back in school having a great time. Right around the 3^rd week of school, when the work and assignments started off, my knee pain rapidly increased. It got so bad that I had to completely stop going to classes. I simply cold not sit for that long. The aching would start after 5 minutes of being in a chair and would get worse the longer I sat. By November life was really tough. I would basically sit in my bed all day, icing my knees and studying.

Not going to class was really affecting my marks and I couldn’t even go to the pub and sit though a dinner with my friends. Part of what made it so frustrating was that I had completely ceased all physical activity that could strain my knee, was icing regularly, seeing a physio, and stretching for 30 minutes everyday, but it was still slowly getting worse. I was following to the book what conventional medicine prescribes, and the results were abysmal. My doctor said the next step was an MRI, and the word surgery entered the equation. But my MRI showed nothing remarkable, so physiotherapy continued. In Early November I decided to take a leave of absence from school, and I came back to Toronto to live with my parents.

I went to a new physio in Toronto, at a large sports medicine clinic. With no improvement after about a month and a half, they switched my to their most experienced physio on the staff. They also had me see their chiropodist, to see if the problem was in my feet or orthodics, but this turned up nothing. At this point I also started seeing a physio/naturopath, who had recently helped my dad very successfully with his back. She looked at my body as whole and tried to find areas that needed to be strengthened and/or loosened to keep the body in balance. By February I was starting to lose my mind. All my efforts everyday went to healing, with no positive results. It was hard to tell, because the pain was there everyday, but I was convinced the pain was getting worse over time. I also had mild pain in the same region on the other knee. This was not at the same level, but it was noticeable.

Enter Dr. Sarno

I had heard Will’s story a few months earlier from my older brother Mike (a good friend of Will). Basically my brother said Will had crippling back pain for ages, read this book and the pain disappeared. As practically everyone does when they hear of Dr. Sarno, I dismissed Will’s story as mumbo jumbo. However, after months of no improvements, you become more receptive to ideas, even ones that once seemed far fetched. I gave Will a call and he urged me to read Dr. Sarno’s books. I started with an audio-book of Dr. Sarno’s: The Divided Mind. I would listen to the audio while I stretched everyday. I immediately took to the ideas and principles the book spoke of. As soon as I heard the explanation of what Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS) was, and how it worked, I was convinced this was what I was dealing with. There was just no other explanation. It was a weird feeling. I had been in my healing routine for months upon months now, and pretty much all I thought about was my rehabilitation program. Now according to Dr. Sarno I was supposed to completely stop it.

After finishing the book, I jumped into Dr. Sarno’s method head-first. I stopped stretching and stopped icing. Within in 2 weeks the pain was cut in half. All I had done was accept that my pain was coming from a mental process in my head, and that I had no physical injuries. It was amazing. Next I started working on the introspection exercises in the book. Trying to realize the subconscious issues I had, and find out why my brain was producing TMS. I also read The Mindbody Prescription at this point, another book by Dr. Sarno. The analysis I did was very interesting, and I’m glad I did it, regardless of my “injury”.

I realized that I used to be a very self-conscious person, and still am to an extent, but have worked hard to rationally stop this thought process. I always seek to be liked by others, and irrationally thought that people judged me, and I had to work hard to keep my social connections. Since the Sarno process, I have gained loads of self-confidence.

Deep down I was also fretting entering the next stages of my life. I was really trying to get good marks at this point, and thinking about how to start my career. Although on the surface I was excited about these prospects, I was able to see that deep down, a large part of me just wanted to mess around, watch movies or play sports all day. Basically there was an urge to do nothing. There was an obvious clash between this feeling and my drive to succeed at school that was showing up as pain in my knees.

On top of working through these issues, I started testing my knees. When the pain would act up I would do a squat and say to myself “look: there is no injury, you can do a squat”. I started running again as well. I also would also try to find things about my ‘injury’ that didn’t make sense. I would say “look man, your MRI showed perfect knees, you stopped playing sports months ago which is what caused the ‘injury’, how could the pain have gotten worse?”. I reminded myself that basically the body heals itself. When you give the body ample opportunity to do so, and it doesn’t, it becomes clear that there are mental factors at play. Within 2 weeks of reading/listening to the books my pain was half gone, and it was totally gone in one month.

The Symptom Imperative

As I was getting better, perhaps 3 weeks after reading the first book, when the pain in my knee was almost gone, I experienced the “symptom imperative” phenomenon that Dr. Sarno talks about. (ed: This is when repressed emotions manifest as different physical symptoms after the primary symptoms have been consciously recognized as psychosomatic) First it was shin-splints. Often the brain pinpoints problems that your body has had before, because it has experienced this feeling and can thus reproduce it effectively. I had gotten shin-splints from running a couple times before in my life, but they would usually dissapear within a day or two, and they would only happen when I was in an intense training period. After the shin splints wouldn’t go away I realized that they were in fact another manifestation of TMS, and I got over them quickly. Next, tendonitis in my elbow that I had had on and off for years came back intensely out of nowhere. This too disappeared once I realized it was TMS.

More recently, (this being years after my initial TMS self-diagnosis) I’ve had a new and recurring on and off TMS symptom. This latest one is quite strange and was difficult to tackle. What happens is my eye or eyes will turn red, just on the inner half of the eye, and they will feel sort of like I have been up for two days straight. I first got it during an exam period, so I figured that it was from a lack of sleep.

The brain has a real knack for picking symptoms you believe are real. Dr. Sarno says this is why back pain is the one of the most common forms of TMS. Everyone believes in back pain, there are numerous products and treatments advertised for it all the time from beds to chairs. People do not question it.

So back to my eyes: What tipped me off that this was TMS was that sometimes I would wake up after a great night sleep and would already have the eye symptom showing. After I finished studying, got home and cracked a beer, it would quickly disappear. I decided that it is clearly my subconscious reacting negatively to certain activities. It comes back on and off, like when I started my job this summer I had to battle it for a couple weeks. It’s amazing the variety of TMS symptoms out there.

Tips to Dealing with Psychosomatic Pain:

You can’t half commit. You have to believe and know that there is nothing physically wrong with you. This can be really difficult because you have never known or thought anything else than “I am physical injured in such and such a way”. Think of any ways that your injury doesn’t make sense, and why on earth it hasn’t healed or is getting worse even though you are taking care of it, or maybe you never really had a specific injury and the pain just started and slowly got worse. All of these can be tip-offs that you are dealing with something psychosomatic.
Put effort into the introspection process so you can deal with what is causing the pain.
Stop referring to the pain as an injury. Call it TMS or a psychosomatic symptom. If you write about it (for example in an email) you can put it in quotes: “injury”.
Don’t feel embarrassed or weak because you are experiencing TMS, you are not copping-out. It is a process in your brain that you didn’t create, but you can beat it fairly easily.
Start by reading The Divided Mind by Dr. John Sarno MD. This is his most recent book and it explains in detail how he discovered TMS and created a program to cure it. It was important for me to really understand what it was in order for me to believe that I had it, and be able to realize I had no physical problems. I read The Mindbody Prescription next. This was great because it explains certain aspects differently, and has different anecdotes that I found helpful.
You don’t have to tell everyone about your TMS. I try to tell as many people as I can, because it has changed my life and people deserve to know. But at the same time, I never told people at work, just because some people refuse to educate themselves on certain things and could think you are a little coo-ckoo. To these people I just said it finally got better.
A lot of physiotherapists blame pain on prolonged inflammation, as was the case with my tendonitis. I think this is completely untrue. Inflammation definitely does happen, but if you take care of an injury by icing and resting it, inflammation goes away. This can be a good indication of TMS.
The body heals itself. This is how we survive. When you give the body ample opportunity to do so, and it doesn’t, it becomes clear that there are mental factors at play.

Good Luck!

Alex Cole

Toronto Canada

June 24^th 2010