David Hanscom's Website Has Freaked Me Out

I have a mild disc buldge according to MRI with no nerv impingement so i'm happily going along improving with my TMS studies and i discovered his site. I'm not sure i've read it right or wrong but under surgery tab and decision making he has thing listed which are "structural problems" and "more likely to be painful" < why has he wrote it like that, people viewing this part of the site can give people an excuse to feel pain. I've had a 24 hour freak out since i found that site. However my MRI only states "mild disc buldge" with "annular tear" - I've been told this is normal.

http://www.backincontrol.com/ (Back in Control – The DOC (Direct your Own Care) Project) was the website, i really think he should just ditch that surgery tab, what a nightmare. I'm an idiot and just click straight for the surgery tab. I have concluded i would avoid surgery however i dont need that freak out.

Anyway should i read his book, anyone read back in control? is it good to read for disc buldges? or is he going to say stuff like... yeah it may or may not be a problem etc. Maybe i've got this all wrong.

Sarno was perfect, he just basically says doesn't matter whats up with your back.

 

You are in the stage where your belief that you have TMS is tenuous and can be easily undermined. Are you keeping an evidence sheet? Personal experience is the best way to shore up your belief. You've stated that you have been improving. This is a sure sign you have TMS. List this with all other validating experiences on your evidence sheet, and re-read that when your belief weakens. What matters is that you have TMS. Your specific type of symptom is not relevant. When your belief is more solidified, what you read will not impact you so much. In the meantime, stick with Sarno since that has been helpful for you. If your hope and optimism wanes, read Success Stories, as they are great for increasing hope of recovery.

Best wishes.......

 

Hello ThatBookThatBlewMyMind,

@Ellen has given some superb advice as usual. An evidence sheet and absorbing as many success stories as you possibly can, is the way forward.

I haven't read Dr Hanscoms book, so cannot pass comment on the use of language. But I understand how important tone and language is because it can hinder ones journey, as can the use of Google to search for symptoms.

I want to point you to the following thread which discusses disc bulges and perhaps, you can discuss with a member on this thread...

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/disc-bulge-or-tms.10197/ (Disc bulge or Tms?)

I've also run a search for all threads with the word disc bulges, you may wish to trawl through at your own pace, to alleviate any fears...

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/search/1159983/?q=Disc+bulges&o=date (Search Results for Query: Disc bulges | TMS Forum (The Mindbody Syndrome))

@Steve Ozanich has also written a book on back pain which should also help eliminate any fears...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0996586601/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491065255&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=steve+ozanich&dpPl=1&dpID=51OLSyLYbAL&ref=plSrch (Back Pain Permanent Healing: Understanding the Myths, Lies, and Confusion:Amazon.co.uk:Books)

I hope this is of some help.

Regards,

Mike

 

Don't pay attention to that website stuff.

Stick with TMS and heal. Dr. Hanscom doesn't understand TMS and the extent that Dr. Sarno changed the world. He sees a very narrow view of mindbody healing, most likely as Dr. Sarno said many times due to the burden of his medical training. It is the anchor around the MDs necks that prevents them from fully buying in. But in Hanscom's defense, they often have to cover their behinds for insurance. But from what I've seen and heard from him he just doesn't get it. He sometimes sends people to physical therapy, which is a big no no, he says "there's no way out unless you journal," that's not true, he says it's a neurological disorder, it isn't, he says the pain will return, but it doesn't always, he says scar tissue makes it harder to heal, but it doesn't. He has said that numbness, weakness, sciatica and foot drop are signs of a pinched nerve, but not necessarily, these are also common signs of TMS. Paralysis and loss of objective movement are signs of a pinched nerve, but I had those too and it was still TMS.

Healing comes on belief. You have to have confidence, and the structural doubts only hinder the changes necessary. You don't have "to do" anything to heal. But the mindset is often that we do; which is a societal meme. So be careful of listening to certain people, especially MDs with acronyms after their names other than TMS. They don't seem to get it, and they hinder healing in many people. I have proof because I keep good records. But they are doctors, and so people believe them more, and they get on TV and in magazines more easily, and they confuse the message, and sometimes hurt more people.

Stick with Dr. Sarno and heal. That doesn't mean there aren't other things you might need to do,

SteveO

 

I will do this, im not keeping an evidence sheet atm, i would love to not be impacted when reading "negative" stuff. I was thinking the fact that just reading some website made me feel worse is evidence of TMS itself. TY

Hi Mike im checking out your links thanks

@Steve Ozanich it all makes sense, thanks for taking the time to write. Yes its very hard to have perspective on opinions coming from someone in that position.

I dont really have much to offer, im just rereading posts.

 

Hi 'thatbook..

I've been in exact same situation (and maybe most here ) When a doctor and even real specialist told me 'what theorie that had about my pain.
A couple of years ago and i went over them again again again
I thought it was impossible that they could be wrong, but what made me doubt was the fact that they could not agree too .. one said this and the other said that. So it was possible too that they all did not really knew why i got into pain. When i got to that point i started to 'try other theories for myself
It is hard i totally can relate to that , and still is
But keeping a evidencesheet is a good plan. To start from
Wish you Well
Karina

 

The problem seems to stem from the notion that things like MBS, NPD, AOS, DPS, and all the new labels are somehow a keener insight, or progressions of TMS. They are not. If you follow them through they are narrower insights, much less comprehensive than TMS. People seem to think that because they came out after TMS that they are somehow advancing Dr. Sarno's work, but they're reducing it. He took us from 0 to 100, and these new notions appear to see only from 1 to 10. That's the only reason I even responded here. The newer acronyms are taking Dr. Sarno's work backwards. He had hoped that time would move TMS forward.

A sufferer will go to a "mindbody" doc and be told they need surgery, but they most likely won't need it. They come back to TMS and they more often heal. Everyone is not all on the same page as most people think. They too often pull the medical trigger. When you hear things like, "herniated discs cause pain...it's only mindbody 50% of the time...sciatica and numbness and weakness are pinched nerves...etc." run away as fast as you can. TMS causes sciatica, numbness, weakness, drop foot and drop hand, and loss of reflex. The brain is that powerful.

But as I said Dr. Hanscom is an MD so he is believed to know more, or understand more, and gets invites to speak and lecture. And the confusion grows. It takes confidence to heal, and doubt kills confidence.

SteveO

 

@ThatBookBlewMyMind, there comes one fine and beautiful day when you stop looking for trouble and find your faith. No one can do that for you. All the good people here can do is point the way and speak about their experience and hope that you finally *get it*. Because that is the hardest thing of all: realising that the point of power is you.

Dr. Hanscom's work evolved out of treating people who had endured botched operations. God Bless him for that. However he and a good many other doctors are not writing about TMS. Once you've read Sarno you know all you will ever need to know about TMS. From that point on it's a matter of faith. I know how vexing that is for the modern scientific atheist but like love and forgiveness, faith is something you can't measure in the lab or in your mind. It is of the heart.

One of the best resources for *getting it* is Abraham Hicks. @Steve Ozanich mentions them in his first book. My YouTube feed is full of them and this little gem popped up this morning.



Learn to use your mind as ally. Let it follow your heart.

Plum x

 

Plum :

Thank you that's a great video ! Who is that woman speaking ?

Greetings
Karina

 

Hi Karina,

The woman is Esther Hicks.
Here is the Abraham-Hicks website:

http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/index.php (Home of Abraham-Hicks Law of Attraction -- It All Started Here!)

Plum x

 

Hello,

Want to share this experience :
In 2003 my husband got extreme backpain and a dropfoot : it was bad, he could only lay down. At that time we had a family doctor who was a old school Guy: but a wise man. He saw my husband and said : you will be fine : take some rest and try to get a bit more active day by day. Give it some time. My husband is a easy going optimistic man : took that advise. I was a lot more upset : and When people started asking : he should get an mri etc : i was wondering and Reading and getting more upset. Fast forward : he was Home 8 weeks : recovered completely.

Fast forward : 5 years ago i found myself in a similar situation : different doctor ( other had retired) this doctor saw me and said : this is bad! I had to go to a neurologist : probabbly stenosis or hernatic disk. I was so scared. Appointment took weeks, mri Months later : more stress more pain : made it worse! Doctors and specialist later : i never got a clear answer. Want i mean by all this ? Had a seen a different doctor (like my husband) i maybe : i say maybe been better off . More trusting,
But i am also (important ) a different person : trust is harder and i am a real 'what if thinker' so the combination of myself : in pain : and getting scarry words from a doctor made it all very bad . My husband does not really believe the mind played a role : but he was in a stressfull situation a the time and the weeks at Home did give him time to rethink stuff. My pain also started in a stresfull time, and the whole diagnoses search really has made things worse. A lot worse. And filled a lot of years (!) with fear. I am really only starting making some progress since i started to let go of that search and looking for psysical answers. That in itself is effidence that the mind takes a huge role.

Hope i make some sort of sense
with my story

Karina

 

Steve,

Would love it if you would expand on this.

I've been thinking that the different theories and paradigms of TMS are just examples of looking at the same thing through different lenses. Recently, I'm not so sure. One of my main issues with the neuroscience paradigm is that TMS starts in the Mind, but the Mind is not the brain. One can see the effects of the Mind in the brain, but the brain is part of the body. Therefore, it seems to bring us back to a structural explanation and emphasis.

Of course, none of this is important in advancing one's own recovery from TMS. But more consensus on TMS theory and practice could help with spreading the message of hope and recovery.

 

@Ellen,

I don't think the different approaches are different lenses of perception but rather offer explanations of what Sarno called the black box, the at-time-of-writing mysteries of the autonomic nervous system. They serve to clarify the second darts of TMS such as conditioning and sensitisation. However the genesis of TMS is the first dart. Whether we call this mind, psyche or soul, it is the essence of who we are. This wonderful stuff that is us is the prime mover in the creation of TMS. I guess we are better served by mysticism, religion and philosophy in seeking the truth of this.

Plum x

 

This is an interesting philosophical debate going! It's interesting a few times has been mentioned that there is a separation of "mind" and "brain." I think this really depends on your beliefs and how you view things. It's my view that emotions and the mind are one aspect of the brain...the "mind" comes from the "brain"...and that the many parts of the brain that together produce emotions (conscious or unconscious) are the impetus for TMS to begin. I suppose this could be read as "structural" in that thoughts and emotions arise in a part of our body. I like thinking of it in this way but that is probably due to my training in physical and mental health conditions. I think some people probably do better thinking of it more soulfully or spiritually. Luckily either way could work depending on your viewpoint! The brain/mind is certainly the greatest mystery of humanity in many ways.

 

What I meant to say, is that the newer so-called "forms of TMS" (MBS, NPD, AOS, DPS...etc) have taken Dr. Sarno's work backwards into the physical arena again. I've dealt with it for years. I've worked with people who have been told by the people advocating these new labels that "they need surgery" but they don't. Dr. Sarno proved that back pain almost never comes from the spine's physical structure. Yet, it's common for people to contact me, freaked out like this thread has stated, saying their mindbody doc told them that they have a pinched nerve, and need surgery. I work with them and they heal, so they didn't need surgery.

The same is true for other forms of TMS. They are sometimes told by their mindbody doc that they have a real physical issue but they don't. They come back to TMS and heal. It's quite common, which is the only reason I responded to this thread. TMS covers the entire spectrum, and the new labels cover a narrow portion. These labels have not advanced TMS they have contracted it.

The new one is the "neural pathways" view. This is hurting more people than should be. When you understand that TMS is about obsession and diversion then you begin to get it. People contact me freaking out (to borrow a phrase again) that they have these neural pathways in their heads that they need to "get out." It's biologic thinking again. Forget about that stuff, work on the self, or more precisely the non-self. The more things that are labeled the more targets you give the obsessive mind. Focus on feelings, and as Plum says "work on faith" or I would say belief/perception.

The mind governs the body and brain. This work should really be called "brainbody" work because mind will never be seen. It resides on the surface to monitor the inside and outside. The mind is the hell.

Dr. Hanscom could be admired for at least stepping out and trying, but he's wrong in many things he currently advocates. Some will say, "I healed with his book, or that book...." But 1 to 10 intersects with 0 to 100 on occasion. It's frustrating for me to work with people who are told that "if there's sciatica, or leg weakness, or foot drop that it's not TMS...that's a pinched nerve!" This is not true in almost all cases. TMS produces these alterations in the body, just listen to Dr. Sarno's interviews and talk to the TMS docs he trained. Dr. Hanscom was not trained by Dr. Sarno.

The new labels that came after TMS have slowed Dr. Sarno's work, diluted it and confused more people. The good doctor had hoped bright minds would come later to advance his work. God knows he is humble and felt that people could add to it, but for reasons unknown they have detracted from it, and disappointed him greatly. He deserves his work to be magnified not watered down.

I'm not sure if that explains it well enough, but it gets even deeper when you get into the quantum world, "healing from within." The possibilities are endless, as I have witnessed. But the medical industry cannot let go of trying to fix the body. Thus, sometimes they freak people out needlessly.

We need good doctors, they are vital to society, but they need to stop crippling people with insidious words of advice. They can be lifesavers, and they can debilitate people, as they do daily with erroneous notions. The body simply does what the mind tells it. This is TMS, and it's a wide universe the good doctor opened up. We need to keep opening it, not close it.

There are people with split personalities who are diabetic in one personality and not diabetic while in the other personalty. So how can diabetes be a body problem? The history of the person needs to be investigated, and that dark emotional side that we fear to tread.

Ah, freak out! le freak c'est Chic, have you heard about the new dance craze?

SteveO

 

The late, great Candace Pert spoke of split personality disorder and mentioned a case where the different personalities each possessed a different eye colour, among the many other changes. I've also heard of cases where one personality was blind while the others could see.

Ah, the joys of identity being challenged. The lost and scared self who is a stranger to itself despite all the memories. Time to let go of the jaded sides and create anew, to create a conscious, aware beautiful new self which embraces life. Life is yours. It is what you make of it. Make it good.

Peace.

Plum x

 

Just popped into forum so not read over replies on here but just wanted to reply to your OP.

It's sort of reads that you are happy with what Sarno has said because that is what you wanted to hear. From what I've come to learn is that life is rarely that simple and that the key is really learning to trust your own feelings, beliefs and thoughts and not trusting in the opinions of others so much. Reading around TMS/stress illness and it is like everybody has their own beliefs and opinions as to what causes TMS and even what it actually is. Who then do you believe? Believe me you can spend years chasing after that one explanation that makes sense to you (or that you find reassures you) but I believe real strength comes from facing all possibilities and using logic, belief and probablilty and then coming to your own conclusions.

Belief is all.

 

This ^^^ -- and a little bit of that.