Why isnt' all this more OUT THERE? Fighting ignorance

[Adventureseeker]

Hi,
It's been a while since I've been on this forum. Last year I had fibromyalgia symptoms and a variety of syndromes, and I was very lucky to discover about TMS and about the online programme and this community. I had mentioned something once to my GP and she said that it was all bullshit. Still, it was the only thing that gave me some hope and I tried it... and it worked, like a miracle!
I am pain free and I've resumed my favourite sport and all physical activities. Not only that, but I feel that my life has also got better because I am more able to let go of negative thoughts, and I don't stress so much anymore.
Lately though, I've been feeling a different kind of rage: I am very angry at the medical community for not acknowledging this truth. I've sent emails to the Fibromyalgia support group in my country, and got no reply back. It's as if people don't want to believe in a cure or don't want to get better. I'm now in the process of trying to accept that I can't change the world on my own. They wouldn't even listen to Sarno, of course they wouldn't listen to me, I'm not even a doctor.
But what if a movement is created to oppose this mentality, backed up by TMS therapists and doctors? Why do we let them tell people that fibromyalgia cannot be cured? I'm sure that publicity and social media could take us a long way. You get so many articles about new 'cures' for fibromyalgia, and new drugs for pain pop up on your facebook newsfeed, why is TMS never featured? Maybe that way people could start taking it more seriously and more studies could be carried out to validate Sarno's claims.
So I was wondering whether this has been attempted and I would be very interested in following any developments as well as in sharing them on my new blog (currently under construction), which is about health, fitness and happiness

 

[Gigalos]

It is a phase... That the mind is involved is something people don't want to hear, if only because it feels as a frontal attack on what they have been taught their entire lifetime. This goes for doctors who are educated the classical western way and for patients who are conditioned to suppress their emotions from childhood onward. For someone to accept TMS you either need to be very open minded and not afraid to become an outcast (like Sarno) or have sunken so low that you are willing to believe everything that might help you recover. Less than 10%, possibly way less, of the western population is able/willing to accept it as a possible cause, even less than that is able/willing to apply it to themselves. (Yes I believe it is possible, but my problems are definitely 100% physical...).
I went through this phase of getting angry about people dismissing my theory, but slowly you learn how unable/unwilling many people are to accept the TMS theory when you tell your story. I simply don't care anymore, if there is only one person who is able to recover like I did, then it's worth making a fool of myself Nowadays I still tell it to people who are open to it, but I am no longer on a crusade.
People with fybromyalgia nowadays in the Netherlands are often advised to practice 'mindfulness'. I think that is a very positive thing, although it primarily focuses on managing the symptoms (not reacting to symptoms) and not on what causes fybromyalgia in the first place. With only applying mindfulness you still feel victim of an unknown cause.
One thing that might help you is the new documentary 'All the Rage' that is being released sometime in the near future. It is the personal story of the maker who has been suffering from TMS and tells his story while he interviews a lot of specialists and (celebrity) ex-patients along the way, one of them is Sarno.
Another thing that is becoming hot over here and in many other countries is medical cannabis. Why do people's symptoms diminish when they use it?? Nobody has a good answer. And why does one strain help with fybromyalgia and the other strain doesn't?? Only when you apply the mind-body connection, it suddenly becomes clear. The right strain of cannabis eases your mind enough that symptoms aren't necessary to distract you from brewing emotions, so they temporarily die down. The wrong strain of cannabis hypes you up and increases emotions, therefore symptoms will not die down or increase in severity. I haven't read any other theory that fully explains why medical cannabis can help with fybromyalgia (and other TMS symptoms like depression, anxiety, chronic pain, GI-problems etc. etc.).
I have no scientific evidence to back all of this up, even a professor would be unable to scientifically proof it. At most you can only empirically make it sound plausible by collecting stories of recovered patients.

 

[Cap'n Spanky]

I totally understand your frustration Adventureseeker ... as I know many here do. It's extraordinarily unfortunate that Dr. Sarno's principals are not widely accepted in mainstream medicine. It would be revolutionary for the health care system and for people who are suffering. I've told many people about Dr. Sarno and the majority have dismissed it after some initial curiosity. I think one person has accepted it, but is not really all-in.

Even the great man himself was not accepted and a bit of an outcast at his own New York University School of Medicine. Even he does not advise that you try to convince people who are skeptical. He considers it a lost cause.

I think it's important that we continue to tell our stories to anyone who may be open to the idea. I plan to put together a YouTube video and website to tell my amazing recovery story. Not amazing because of me, but amazing because of what I learned from Dr. Sarno.

 

[Forest]

I think that Alan Gordon's recent appearance on "The Doctors" could be the start of something big. It's a Dr. Phil spinoff with a national audience, and he was doing TMS treatment on it, for an obvious TMSer. Alan has been treating the kid for free since and the kid is making great progress, with his day-to-day pain down and acute attacks disappearing. Alan has a huge history here, and what really excites me is the prospect of this leading to more "real" media appearances in the future. I hope that Casey has a great recovery, because that would add tremendous credibility for that to happen on national TV.

 

[Tennis Tom]

Another thing that is becoming hot over here and in many other countries is medical cannabis.

As someone who has smoked pot, as well as sold it, (that was long ago in my impetuous youth, the statute of limitations is up by now), I never want to see or smoke another joint as long as I live--cosmic paranoia is just not worth it--well maybe with a couple of co-eds, around a candle, listening to Dylan singing Everybody Must Get Stoned--and getting laid.

 

[Gigalos]

you obviously smoked the wrong strain there, Tom

 

[Tennis Tom]

you obviously smoked the wrong strain there, Tom

Yah, I was in too big of a hurry to get laid to read the product packaging label with the ingredients--I think it said something like Zig-Zag on it, with a picture of Hippocrates--or was it Freud?

Things are much more transparent now, the Teamsters Union has organized the medical marijuana workers in Oakland, Kali. who separate the stems and the seeds. They're making $24 an hour, might still not be a living wage in the SF Bay Area unless you're living in a VW camper or an overpass under the Cypress freeway.