CFS, e.g. myalgic encephalomyelitis-

Viewed a Ted Talk where the presenter, Jennifer Brea, spoke of her condition called, CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or Myalgic encephalomyelitis. Very moving, a good speaker, some of the audience was in tears. She presented her illness, from onset to current day. It struck me as something that is so like the classic TMS suggested by Sarno and others following, but she clearly did not believe that this is a creation of her brain but has some other means of physical creation, that has yet to be determined. I am curious if others have viewed this, and what your thoughts may be. Here is the link if you care to watch. She is a good speaker.

https://www.ted.com/talks/jen_brea_what_happens_when_you_have_a_disease_doctors_can_t_diagnose?utm_campaign=tedspread-b&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare (What happens when you have a disease doctors can't diagnose)

 

CFS is one of the symptoms that made my life a living hell for years. It is gone now, it is tms. I have seen thousand and thousand of people cured their CFS by using their tms knowledge. Jennifer is a good speaker but too bad she doesn't know about tms.

 

Balto,
What a wonderful outcome! I thought her symptoms appeared so like TMS. At one point she mentioned that a psychiatrist had told her that this was "all in her head." Not a helpful comment from a professional to someone who is apparently very "into" the classic medical model that had been presented and was being investigated. Too bad the psychiatrist could not have promoted his "theory" in a more easily digestible manner. Well, I guess that each of us has to come to our knowing in our own time.
I am curious about your story. How you came to TMS, etc. Have you elaborated elsewhere on this site? Would you share it with us?
Kindly
Lainey

 

Here is my first post on this forum Lainey:
http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/healed-for-10-years.3556/#post-21391 (healed for 10+ years)

 

Here is a link to an article Dr. Schubiner wrote for Psychology Today on CFS. He took a lot of heat for this article.

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/article-on-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-by-dr-schubiner.12744/ (Article on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by Dr. Schubiner)

 

Thanks for reposting your healing story. Your advice of letting go of the fear and the suggestions offered on various ways to do this are great. I will think about them and incorporate many of your suggestions into my life. The only thing I disagree with is your comment that "I'm not a very smart guy," I would beg to differ with you on this.
The best to you and your family.
Lainey

 

Thank you Ellen, I just read you post of your healing story posted a while back, along with Dr. Schubiner's article. Your story is very inspiring and you advice is well-taken. My pain floats, sometimes neck, sometimes shoulders, arms, hip, back, knees, legs, sciatica reoccurs from time to time, but overall, in the last 5 months I have improved. Letting fear take over is an undercurrent I worry about some, but I am also making myself stay in the mainstream of activities rather than reclusing myself. Sometimes I can't do as much as I would like but I am pushing forward nevertheless, but honoring my need to stop every so often, and regroup my physical and mental resources. I went back to my pottery just this week, and today I am recovering from a large, picnic party I planned and orchestrated for my spouse just yesterday. I pushed myself yesterday and today I am recharging, quietly, and happily.
Posts like yours and Baltos give me hope.
Lainey

 

I think the term " is all in your head" is misused so many times by doctors. What they fail to explain to any patient is that what is on your head or what you feel emotionally, can be transformed by your brain into physical pain. Just saying is all in your head gives the impression that is just a though, and most people dont know the connection between mind and body. I dont think many doctors would actually like to tell patients that they could get cured by dealing with their emotions and mind.

 

Hi all,

Just wanted to add something in here- there has been a lot of literature in the medical community recently about how CFS is "not a psychological illness" but a "real, physiological condition." It can certainly be tough to navigate from a TMS perspective. I think we all know the signs...lack the medical/scientific community's ability to find a specific cause or treatment for a condition usually equals TMS.

I just read (and notably not from a TMS perspective) that the term "myalgic encephalomyelitis" is misleading and often untrue and they are trying to change the name. This is because "myalgic" means muscle soreness is involved (it isn't always) and "encephalomyelitis" indicates that there is an inflammatory component (there isn't necessarily). Just some things to keep in mind.

Another thing I was thinking about- just because there are biological MARKERS for CFS doesn't mean there is a structural/biological CAUSE. Obviously people with chronic pain have certain things in their bodies that could look different than people without chronic pain (more weakness in the area, maybe less range of motion, etc). I've also seen some articles about depression floating around recently that are trying to link it to chronic inflammation or the immune system and possible treatment with steroids/anti-inflammatories. This seems again to be barking up the wrong tree...unfortunately the medical community is seriously getting cause and effect (and causation and correlation) messed up here. Certainly severe depression could contribute to a depressed immune response and inflammation but I seriously doubt it as a sole cause.

 

Jennifer Brea finally healed following structural surgery. The TMS-approach would probably never have done anything for her.

 

Hi Lainey...I'm another one. I got over 16 months of CFS, or Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (it's new name per the US CDC). It was definitely TMS. I have also mostly beaten headaches and IBS-C. For the record, over 16 months and 20+ doctors, the only thing a doctor found on me was slightly elevated IgE levels, which apparently is fairly common.

 

ssxl4000
Congratulations on your recovery. So many suffer CFS (or the newly named SETD). I also believe this is TMS, despite the myriad studies by researchers.
It makes me happy to hear your story of recovery.
Lainey

 

I do wonder how much the placebo effect played a role in her healing. I used to experience fewer symptoms after changing up my diet, going to an acupuncturist, using neuropathy lotions for my allodynia, etc., but these were merely placebos.

Even sham surgeries have been found to alleviate many symptoms in many people. I would need to know more about her story.