Recent content by Jude

I'm not a weightlifter by any stretch of the imagination, but I went through 3 years of intense left shoulder pain. Early on, a specialist said, well, your shoulder doesn't look bad but your neck Xray is so bad you should be in excruciating pain for the rest of your life, but you might get some...

@Jonathan-David Well, this is something I can talk about =) I had RSI in both arms, starting in the 1990s. It came and went. And after a while it got worse. I am an editor and a writer, and one morning in June 2006, I sat down at the computer, knowing I had 8 hours of work to do, and approx 5...

Thanks for your thoughtful response(s). I think ultimately it (whether our thoughts can harm others) is an ontological question. I wasn't motivated by compassion (and not OCD either), but more by the unanswerable question about whether or how much our thoughts have an impact on others. You...

The Ram Dass quote makes me wonder what you think about the power of thought--that violent thoughts in our minds can have an effect on others. I don't have his quote on that. Or maybe it was someone else who said it. In any case, I find that sometimes holds me back from having the kinds of...

Well, one thing is for certain, if it IS really TMS, but you continue to waffle between maybe it's physical maybe it's not, your symptoms will not go away. That kind of waffling is what TMS thrives on

Most of my pain would have been characterized as nerve pain, which had sounds at times and not other times. The important thing here though is that Sarno said you always first need to rule out a recognizable physical injury. Once you have done that, then you can work with it as TMS.

There is more than one form of somatic therapy, but broadly speaking, it refers to therapy with a mind & body approach. What didn't work for me about the particular somatic therapist is that she assumed I had a physical problem and needed to use my mind to deal with it-- for example, learning...

Interesting seeing this old thread. I have been 100% symptom free of my neck pain for >1 year now. It did take some time to get there. The detours where physical therapy and somatic therapy, both of which reinforced the belief I had a physical issue (as the X-rays also reinforced). But when I...

The book might be okay, but beware of his consultations. I did one once and he paid little attention to my situation and just gave one-size-fits-all solutions that didn't help me, but was quick to take my money.

To be clear, I was not speaking about psychotherapy. More to your other point, that everyone is different. And (as I said) I agree with you that a coach can "hit the spot" with many people. And be clueless about how to help others who don't fit the cookie-cutter prescription. Since everyone is...

I haven't actually seen many doctors because I didn't have insurance for many years, so it really wasn't an option. I am grateful for the few I did see who confirmed I didn't have a physical problem when I was afraid I did. But here's who I feel real ANGER at: TMS coaches who take your money...

@Smokey73 I remember reading from Sarno's research that TMS is less prevalent in older people. He used that as an argument for proving TMS pain is not physical, because if it were, then one would expect prevalence to increase with age. When I read that, I thought I must be a bit young for my...

@BonnieLass sounds like you're doing the hard work! I would add from my experience: In TMS it's not that the brain gives these signals because we "might" have something life-threatening; it's because the brain makes a unilateral decision that those pain signals are preferable for us to...

It must feel good, and you are very fortunate, @JanAtheCPA to have found a forum where you can talk freely with peers about the issues that are associated with your TMS (as you mentioned, abandonment, etc)

Thanks for saying that. In fact, after being TMS-free for ~6 years I developed symptoms in the past year and I tied the onset to my reaction to current events/news. When I posted about that here, I was shut down for being "political." But that has still been my reality. And of all the various...