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Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)
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Location:
Glenview, IL
Occupation:
writer

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Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)

Beloved Grand Eagle, Male, from Glenview, IL

I am a freelance writer of books for preteens and teenagers. A list of them is at www.walteroleksybooks.com Nov 2, 2012

  • My Story

    (moderator edit: we lost our dear Walt in 2021. His obituary is here: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/chicagotribune/name/walter-oleksy-obituary?id=4616539 (Walter G. Oleksy Obituary (2021) Chicago Tribune))

    That's me with my darling Annie, a 70-pound lap dog.

    I was 82 and never had any pain except a few toothaches when I was a teenager. I was never even sick, just had a couple of hernias from lifting my dog the wrong way. Then last fall I lifted a case of 36 cans of beer into a shopping cart at the supermarket and felt excruciating pain in my back. Somehow, I got home, but the pain stayed with me.

    I try never to see a doctor and didn’t with the back ache, figuring he’d want to give me strong pain killers or have an operation. I toughed it out, then after about two weeks I emailed a friend who is a nurse in Hawaii. I asked her advice and she said I should read a book, Healing Back Pain, by Dr. John E. Sarno. She said it helped another friend, a psychiatrist, who had back pain, so I bought a copy and learned that Dr. Sarno says most if not all our back and other pain is not caused by lifting or any structural damage from aging, but from our repressed emotions.

    I read the Sarno book and followed its 12 daily reminders that reinforce the knowledge that the pain is a disorder he calls Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS), a slight deprivation of oxygen to parts of the body that is caused by our repressed emotions. It suggested “journaling,” writing down what we can remember of our youth, since many of our pain problems began back when we were young, from family or other stresses. I certainly fit that description growing up during the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II.

    I grew up with my parents never having much money and drinking too much. They divorced when I was about six years old, Mom remarried, a man who owned his own house, which gave my older brother and sister a roof over our heads. A year later Mom left him and went back to my birth father. Ten years later he died and she married his brother who was very jealous and also a heavy drinker. He made life miserable for my sister and me, but my brother had run away and joined the navy.

    I went to college, then the army, and had no anxiety, but that returned when I became a newspaper reporter and then freelance writer, never having regular income. You want a stressful job, be a reporter on a Chicago newspaper and cover crime and violence. And being self-employed brings its own stresses, for me mostly financial uncertainties.

    During my freelance years, I also tried caring for my mother but learned the hard way how difficult it is to be a caretaker. After two years I asked my brother to find another place for Mom to live, and that left me with a lot of guilt. I thought I had repressed it, but lifting that case of beer gave me back pain to tell me I hadn’t put that guilt to rest.

    Sarno’s book helped me to get rid of about 95 percent of my back pain, but I still felt lower back pain. I refused to believe that 100 percent of my pain came from TMS repressed emotions. It took me more than six months before I decided Sarno was
    100 percent right and the pain went away.

    I attribute my pain relief mainly to Dr. Sarno and the web site www.TMSWiki.org. I found that many others became free of pain by following advice and posts on that web site and I highly recommend it to everyone, even if they are not in pain. It is an amazing treasure house of information and help on healing.

    Along the way over the past year I’ve felt some pain relief from reading another Sarno book, The Mindbody Prescription, as well as The Great Pain Deception by Steven Ray Ozanich, Pain Free for Life by Dr. Scott Brady, MD, You Can Heal Yourself by Louise L. Hay, Hope and Help for Your Nerves by Claire Weekes, Loving What Is by Byron Katie, and Instant Self-Hypnosis by Forbes Robbins Blair. Most recently

    I have found more great healing techniques by following the advice and writings of Dr. James Alexander, psychologist and author of The Hidden Psychology of Pain, and Dr. Alan Gordon, psychotherapist, following his Recovery Program free on www.TMSWiki.org.

    I also believe I have been helped to be pain-free by daily playing a hypnosis DVD, “Stress Relief for Life,” by London psychotherapist and hypnotherapist Susan Hepburn.

    Mainly, I believe I finally stopped feeling back pain because I convinced my subconscious mind that it was 100 percent from TMS repressed emotions. That, and deep breathing, relaxed me and enabled me to learn the pain was all in my head.

    Also, last but probably not least, I added the spiritual element to my healing, which Dr. Brady suggests in his book. I began reading The Bible and began walking more closely with God, following His own advice: “Ask and you shall receive.” I asked to be pain-free and for release from guilt and anxiety and to achieve some steady income, and He answered my prayers.

    One or more of the techniques suggested by Dr. Sarno and the others I have read could help you to overcome your pain, whatever it is. And ask whatever God you worship to help you and He will. “Believe and you shall receive.”
    1. 0208mad
      0208mad
      Hi we chatted a while back. Want to start the TMS programme again but it seems to have changed. Could you give me the link to get back on it. Thanks.
    2. Wendyc
      Wendyc
      Thank you for sharing. Also I'm happy to see a recommendation for a hypnosis cd. I was wondering if it would help.
    3. Saoirse
      Saoirse
      WOW thats a great inspirational story and fills me with hope for the future
    4. douggie
      douggie
      Thanks for sharing your story Walt and being a continued support to my recovery
    5. Lady Phoenix
      Lady Phoenix
      Thank you Walt for sharing your story. You certainly have done your research!
    6. riverrat
      riverrat
      Awesome story Walt! Thank you so much!
    7. Joely
      Joely
      Y am I not getting any replies to my question I asked by the therapist section?
    8. Nanna7
      Nanna7
      Hi Walt, I'm new and have written my story. Where do I go to share it and get help with my tms symptoms that's at the end of my story please?
    9. Loraine121
      Loraine121
      Walt thanks for sharing your beautiful story, I so enjoyed reading the similarities of my own story.
    10. jimmylaw9
      jimmylaw9
      gr8 bio thanks
    11. jayMck
      jayMck
      Great story.

      I found this quote of yours particularly helpful:

      "Sarno’s book helped me to get rid of about 95 percent of my back pain, but I still felt lower back pain. I refused to believe that 100 percent of my pain came from TMS repressed emotions. It took me more than six months before I decided Sarno was
      100 percent right and the pain went away."

      The idea that it took some time is encouraging to me.

      Jay
      1. bachman and Loraine121 like this.
    12. FredAmir
      FredAmir
      What an inspirational story Walt. Thanks for sharing.

      My dad passed away 3 years ago and helping my mom deal with loss and loneliness is challenging at times. They never got along and fought until the last days. But my mom really misses him, and although when he was alive she constantly complained and wanted to leave him, I guess at a deep level they loved each other.
    13. aces0730
      aces0730
      You're story is so inspirational.
    14. Back-To-Golf
      Back-To-Golf
      Inspiring as always, Walt.
    15. levfin003
      levfin003
      "I asked to be pain-free and for release from guilt and anxiety and to achieve some steady income, and He answered my prayers." Inspiring words!
      1. IrishSceptic likes this.
    16. LindaStu
      LindaStu
      Very inspiring story - as are your encouraging responses to mine and other's posts. Thank you for sharing additional resources. I love that you have not only received, but are giving - May the good Lord continue to bless you, as you are such a blessing to others!
      1. lavendertealatte likes this.
      2. Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)
        Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)
        Hi, LindaStu. Thanks so much for the nice words. I'm 85 and guess I am the old man guru of the TMSWiki. I draw upon a lifetime of life experiences.I feel that the good Lord blessed me greatly by giving me back pain two years ago which led to me discovering Dr. Sarno, his and others books on TMS, and this wonderful web site
        Aug 18, 2015
        Meggy8868 likes this.
    17. alicemae1
      alicemae1
      I read your first messages and could relate, so thanks.
      1. Forest likes this.
      2. Forest
        Forest
        Walt is really wonderful... a beacon of hope for so many!
        Aug 15, 2015
      3. Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)
        Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)
        Hi, alicemae. Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you find my posts helpful.
        Aug 17, 2015
    18. Stef
      Stef
      Your story is beautiful & just what I needed. Thank you Walt. PS: that hypnosis DVD sounds very intriguing.
      1. Eric "Herbie" Watson likes this.
      2. Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)
        Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)
        Hi, Stef. The self-hypnosis DVD is "Stress Relief for Live" by Susan Hepburn, a London psychologist. It may be available in a Google or amazon.com search. If not, there are others.
        Aug 17, 2015
    19. JoeB1
      JoeB1
      Encouraging and inspirational, Walt! I've also just finished Instant Self-Hypnosis. I've been reading Sarno's daily 12 while under hypnosis in an effort to get my subconscious to fully believe. And that's amazing that your prayers were answered! I'm praying as well!
      1. Eric "Herbie" Watson and Stef like this.
    20. vanessa
      vanessa
      This was really inspiring. I work free lance too, and had so many childhood and adult issues such as yourself. I also took so many ot the paths to wellness with the tmswiki/ to all the books, breathing, and meditation.
      1. Eric "Herbie" Watson likes this.
  • Loading...
  • My Story

    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Glenview, IL
    Occupation:
    writer
    (moderator edit: we lost our dear Walt in 2021. His obituary is here: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/chicagotribune/name/walter-oleksy-obituary?id=4616539 (Walter G. Oleksy Obituary (2021) Chicago Tribune))

    That's me with my darling Annie, a 70-pound lap dog.

    I was 82 and never had any pain except a few toothaches when I was a teenager. I was never even sick, just had a couple of hernias from lifting my dog the wrong way. Then last fall I lifted a case of 36 cans of beer into a shopping cart at the supermarket and felt excruciating pain in my back. Somehow, I got home, but the pain stayed with me.

    I try never to see a doctor and didn’t with the back ache, figuring he’d want to give me strong pain killers or have an operation. I toughed it out, then after about two weeks I emailed a friend who is a nurse in Hawaii. I asked her advice and she said I should read a book, Healing Back Pain, by Dr. John E. Sarno. She said it helped another friend, a psychiatrist, who had back pain, so I bought a copy and learned that Dr. Sarno says most if not all our back and other pain is not caused by lifting or any structural damage from aging, but from our repressed emotions.

    I read the Sarno book and followed its 12 daily reminders that reinforce the knowledge that the pain is a disorder he calls Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS), a slight deprivation of oxygen to parts of the body that is caused by our repressed emotions. It suggested “journaling,” writing down what we can remember of our youth, since many of our pain problems began back when we were young, from family or other stresses. I certainly fit that description growing up during the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II.

    I grew up with my parents never having much money and drinking too much. They divorced when I was about six years old, Mom remarried, a man who owned his own house, which gave my older brother and sister a roof over our heads. A year later Mom left him and went back to my birth father. Ten years later he died and she married his brother who was very jealous and also a heavy drinker. He made life miserable for my sister and me, but my brother had run away and joined the navy.

    I went to college, then the army, and had no anxiety, but that returned when I became a newspaper reporter and then freelance writer, never having regular income. You want a stressful job, be a reporter on a Chicago newspaper and cover crime and violence. And being self-employed brings its own stresses, for me mostly financial uncertainties.

    During my freelance years, I also tried caring for my mother but learned the hard way how difficult it is to be a caretaker. After two years I asked my brother to find another place for Mom to live, and that left me with a lot of guilt. I thought I had repressed it, but lifting that case of beer gave me back pain to tell me I hadn’t put that guilt to rest.

    Sarno’s book helped me to get rid of about 95 percent of my back pain, but I still felt lower back pain. I refused to believe that 100 percent of my pain came from TMS repressed emotions. It took me more than six months before I decided Sarno was
    100 percent right and the pain went away.

    I attribute my pain relief mainly to Dr. Sarno and the web site www.TMSWiki.org. I found that many others became free of pain by following advice and posts on that web site and I highly recommend it to everyone, even if they are not in pain. It is an amazing treasure house of information and help on healing.

    Along the way over the past year I’ve felt some pain relief from reading another Sarno book, The Mindbody Prescription, as well as The Great Pain Deception by Steven Ray Ozanich, Pain Free for Life by Dr. Scott Brady, MD, You Can Heal Yourself by Louise L. Hay, Hope and Help for Your Nerves by Claire Weekes, Loving What Is by Byron Katie, and Instant Self-Hypnosis by Forbes Robbins Blair. Most recently

    I have found more great healing techniques by following the advice and writings of Dr. James Alexander, psychologist and author of The Hidden Psychology of Pain, and Dr. Alan Gordon, psychotherapist, following his Recovery Program free on www.TMSWiki.org.

    I also believe I have been helped to be pain-free by daily playing a hypnosis DVD, “Stress Relief for Life,” by London psychotherapist and hypnotherapist Susan Hepburn.

    Mainly, I believe I finally stopped feeling back pain because I convinced my subconscious mind that it was 100 percent from TMS repressed emotions. That, and deep breathing, relaxed me and enabled me to learn the pain was all in my head.

    Also, last but probably not least, I added the spiritual element to my healing, which Dr. Brady suggests in his book. I began reading The Bible and began walking more closely with God, following His own advice: “Ask and you shall receive.” I asked to be pain-free and for release from guilt and anxiety and to achieve some steady income, and He answered my prayers.

    One or more of the techniques suggested by Dr. Sarno and the others I have read could help you to overcome your pain, whatever it is. And ask whatever God you worship to help you and He will. “Believe and you shall receive.”