Day 1 Can you do too much reading?

After some particularly bad back spasms and panic attacks a few months ago I did some Googling and discovered Dr. Sarno and TMS. If only I'd done this years ago. His description of the typical personality traits fitted me to a 'T' and I seem unwittingly to have suffered from a whole load of TMS equivalents over the years. I've since read all Dr Sarno's books and several by other authors, written journal entries and done a short Mindfulness meditation every day. The back pain went away but about a month ago it returned and I started getting pains in my thigh and knee which the doctor tells me is a type of sciatica. Fortunately the pain isn't constant but when it's really bad I take a paracetamol and ibuprofen which dulls the pain (perhaps a placebo?) but I really don't want to take the 10mg amitripyline which the doctor prescribed. I've read that TMS pain can move around and can get worse before it gets better and I hope that's the case. Or I'm wondering if deep down I'm not 100% sure it is TMS. I assume that no NHS doctor is going to make a TMS diagnosis. I found the more practical books like Georgie Oldfield's and Dr Hanscom's Back in Control really useful. Dr Hanscom advocates CBT and so I'm now reading Feeling Good by Dr David Burns, but I think Dr Sarno said CBT didn't help with TMS. I'd be interested in forum members' ideas about CBT. Anyway I think perhaps I'm now getting confused with too much reading and need to step back and take things a bit more easily. So I'll start on the Structured Educational Program.

 

Yes, you can do too much reading, especially if you are an overly-analytical person who is going to torment themselves trying to reconcile the inconsistencies, or trying to decide which flavor is right. On the other hand it can be helpful to see different perspectives, so it's really a question about how one approaches it.

 

I've had sciatica years ago so bad, I had to rig a pulley to the ceiling above my bed to stretch my leg out in the night so I could sleep. Becoming TMS savvy, it completely went away--you can do it! It may take awhile but it will eventually fade away. Call Georgie Oldfield and see if she can convince you it's TMS or find you a doc in England who can give you an objective dx. She's a great resource, contact her. I'm taking diclofenac 75mg 2x daily, for my hip arthritis, which has recently been found to be the BEST NSAID, better then Tylenol.

 

Thanks very much for your reply. I think you're spot on. I need to find the right balance.

 

That's useful - thank you very much for your reply. I'm glad I joined the forum - I don't feel that I'm alone any more.