Two Rsi success stories

Was sent these by a friend as I currently am working through long standing rsi troubles of my own via the Sarno method. Hope they are helpful to others here as well. Enjoy!

http://www.amlie.name/how-i-beat-rsi/

http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/99479100

 

Thank you, Mr. TMS I was really encouraged reading these two TMS success stories. I think it is so true the more you think about your symptoms
the more they increase. I found them quite helpful.

What has helped you with your recovery?

 

Well, I've just started a new job, and am only a few days in, so it's early to celebrate and I have a long way to go. What is helping me so far is that I have complete belief that my longstanding rsi (which has put me on disability previously) is only tms. I have complete belief only from repeatedly reading lots of success stories over many months. Now, I have no fear whatsoever. Pain, I do have incredible surges, but since I'm not afraid, I carry on anyway, and when I redirect my thoughts, the pain fades away.

I do have tons of negative conditioning to overcome, but since the fear is gone, severe pain no longer gets me down. As someone who had tremendous fear a few months ago, I know now that I will win. It is just a matter of time. That is unbelievably freeing, even before the symptoms are gone. How are you doing?

 

That is so exciting!!! Belief is very powerful. I read this book called, Anatomy of a Miracle which a wonderful book about belief. It has a science
base. The author Dr. James Richards believes when you couple a belief with positive feelings your well on your way. He also suggests keep seeing
the end result. I have certain sections I read over and over again; it puts a big smile on my face.

I totally can relate to the incredible surges. When I don't think the pain, it does go.

Yesterday, I went to the gym. I have started back about three weeks ago. I was getting discouraged about this whole thing not that I was
in pain but just a bit discouraged. Then, all of a sudden I started limping. I felt like I strained a muscle. I know I did not do that when
I was working out. I am finding it very difficult to put weight on it. I feel because I am getting a handle on this TMS, it is just another way
to distract me. Today, I could not do too much but I really did not care. I thought I will just still not let this get me down. I so realized how
my thoughts really caused this pain. So, if thoughts caused it, I can use my thoughts to release it. Have any suggestions?

 

For me, this is the hardest hill to climb with tms. It is very hard to ignore symptoms. The only way I have been able to do this is because:

1. I have been to tons of Dr.s and have tried literally every therapy, from braces through surgery, with no relief. No test has ever shown anything to support an injury of any magnitude.

2. Again, reading the forum and success stories over a period of months.

3. Steve o's book. This was a big breakthrough in not fearing symptoms, as well as causing me to realize how serious (and unhappy) I have been in my life. I am now also working on being more of a kid again.

So, with that said, I don't CARE if I have symptoms now. I do what I want and need to do anyway. I don't force myself through he'll like Steve did (I don't have that in me!), but I more or less treat it like an annoying sensation (like an itch) and carry on with what I am doing. Hope that helps.

How are you working out right now, and do you like to do that method, or are you doing it to prove a point to yourself? Just curious.

 

Also, I'm doing a lot of mindfulness, meditation, laughing more, etc, as I do think lack of happiness/chronic stress was and is a big driver in this. I know it will pay dividends in the long run, but I'm not putting pressure on myself to recover in a certain timeframe anymore. That is freeing as well and has helped me feel an ease in life I'm not sure I've ever had...ever. I never realized how tightly wound I was, and it certainly seems that way with you as we'll.

 

That's "well".

 

Hi,
Working Out - Right now I use an elliptical machine that I sit and do it for about 30 minutes and might walk a few laps if I could.
I love working out. I find it very empowering.

I do love Steve O's book, also. And I am also trying to really enjoy life and laugh more!!!!

That is great you don't care if you have symptoms anymore but what happens if your symptoms are when you walk and you have
a long distance to get to your office. What would you do?
G.R.

 

It's kind of like when I have a lot of typing to do now and have intense symptoms. Since I'm completely indifferent to whether I have symptoms or not now, I just do what I need/want to do anyway as if there is nothing wrong and I am completely fine. You should probably do the same with walking.


Since I realize that the pain I have is not caused by any physical reason, it then becomes just an unpleasant sensation. Almost like an itch. While an itch is annoying (like pain), it doesn't stop you from doing what you want to do. I can tell by your questions that you are really having a lot of fear just under the surface.

Do you fully (and I mean fully) accept that your symptoms are not caused by anything physical? If so, then there is nothing to fear and you can do whatever you need to. If not, what can you do to erase the last bit of doubt? Do you need to go to another Dr to have anything else ruled out to clear you?

 

I think you are absolutely right; fear sometimes tries to come in. It definitely has taken me a long time to accept that the symptoms are not caused
by anything physical. I totally accept this now. The fear comes in usually only once a week when I get nervous about how
I going to get to my building to work. I am looking
forward to going today to walk to my building. Although I am limping I am still going to do it. I know nothing is going to go wrong
physically but I guess it the fear what if I cannot make it to my building. I have to change my perspective and go slowly I think. Any suggestions?
I am going to go on days I am not working just to decondition myself from fear. I am going to practice walking to my building. I will
also use visualization doing this.

 

That sounds like a good plan. Good luck!

Also I would recommend this post by ace on the other site. It was also helpful to understand how to approach living with symptoms.

http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7765&whichpage=1

 

Mr. Tms.,
I just read Ace's suggestions. They were excellent. I am going to keep them close by
and refer to them often, I definitely do put a lot of pressure on myself, since I am not
being productive in any are of my life right now. I think this is a season just to heal.
I am going to change my perspective on what I expect from myself. Thank you so much
for posting that.

How is it going for you?

 

I'm so glad that they are helpful for you. The biggest thing that I am learning about this (and you are too it seems) is that our lives are so out of balance with serious, heavy (and anxious) thoughts and self-pressure that we cannot truly enjoy life. I sense this in your words as well, so please do make a serious and committed effort to relax...really and truly relax and go easy on yourself. In doing so with daily affirmations/meditations, I realized how tense I was previously even when I thought I was "relaxed"!

I have started to make some progress on this approach. I am using a computer full time for my job (I mean the full 40+ hours, no more calling/visiting people to avoid sending emails due to pain, etc) and even after work, which is something I have not done in my entire career so far (I'm 30, btw). The thought of typing even this message last year would have sent shivers down my spine...er, hands! In addition, I have been using much, MUCH heavier weights at the gym than I ever have before, and am even doing pullups - which are murderous on the forearm muscles . I do this not to challenge my symptoms as I've said before, but because I truly want to get strong for the first time in many, many years.

Despite this dramatic increase in activity, I have overcome the initial increase in pain that I told you about. Instead of 16x7 intense pain (never had much pain at night), I'm now at maybe between 8-12x7, and even then the hours I do have pain are usually markedly less, although they can still surge if I am really uptight that day. Despite this, I continue to do what I'm doing, and the pain usually fades over time. So it definitely is making progress. Despite this, as Alan told you in the other thread, I do not care anymore whether I do or do not have pain when I do the activity. I am focused overall on being so much easier and so much kinder on myself, and I am fully confident that the pain will continue to leave over time.

I already feel like I have my life back anyway, though, which I never would accepted previously until I was 100% free. If you can get to this point, you will feel so much better about things. And stop worrying how productive you are..I've done that plenty enough, but have recently realized that most of our productivity (at least work related) will really matter much once we are dead anyway...concentrate on enjoying yourself more! Lighten your mental load as dramatically as you can, and you will notice how crazily tense you really were...then you can really start to make progress on getting to a more relaxed state naturally. Keep on with the keys to healing and anything else that helps you in this regard. Good luck!