By Barbara Rotthaler
This is Part 1 of a series about pain and pain management.
My intention in
writing these articles is to provide information about the wide spectrum of
approaches in the field of alternative medicine. I am basically a very
skeptical person especially when it comes to unconventional methods that are
claimed to be the “cure for everything.” Therefore, I can somewhat reassure you
that what I present here is selected carefully and has proven successful with
my experience in daily work with my clients.
Pain, and primarily back pain, is the leading cause of
visiting a doctor. Chronic pain can make people’s lives miserable. Pain
medications do not address the cause, and, unfortunately, surgeries are not
always helpful either. People may become
hopeless and depressed. Therefore, looking at alternatives in cases of chronic
pain is very important.
In my first article about pain, I want to introduce you to
Dr. John Sarno and his concept about Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS).
In medicine there is an interesting phenomenon. Some peoples' x-rays or MRIs show severe damage of the spine (degeneration, bulging or
slipped discs, etc.), but they don’t have any pain. On the other hand, people
whose spinal examinations show an almost perfect spine are suffering from
excruciating pain. How can that be?
Professor and M.D., John E. Sarno, is a medical orthopedic
physician at the New York
Rehabilitation Center,
and a teacher at the New York School of Medicine. He has dedicated his life as a
medical doctor to this phenomenon he calls TMS. He has pursued the real cause
of all the pain in our back, shoulders, neck, arms, hips and legs, wrists (carpal
tunnel syndrome), fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, etc.
Why is the pain sometimes there, sometimes not? Why is the
pain moving from one side to the other or into different parts? Why does the
x-ray show a bulging disc at one side, but the pain is on the other side?
Sarnos most notable achievement is the development of a different diagnosis
which he calls Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS). (Myo means muscle). It is
considered to be a condition in which emotional stress causes physical pain in
the human body. The chronic pain disorders of the back have their origin in a
benign (though painful) physiologic aberration of soft tissue (not the spine).
The powerful emotions of fear, anger, anxiety, and other
negative stresses, when repressed (consciously or subconsciously) can cause
muscles to tense in the areas of the body near
the spine. This has led to misdiagnoses of structural abnormalities of the
spine, pinched nerves, disc disorders, or other physical causes without
consideration of the important role that TMS plays. According to Dr. Sarno this
is the result of medicine’s failure to recognize the nature of the disease.
Dr. Sarno asserts that once the patient confronts the
repressed emotions that lead to the muscle tension, the pain will lessen and
eventually disappear. Regular treatments such as salves, heat treatments and
other physical therapies and sometimes even surgeries provide temporary relief
and address symptoms but do not get to the root cause of the problem.
The emotional aspect of illness is not new. Hippocrates
advised his asthmatic patients 2,500 years ago to beware of anger. The whole
field of psychosomatic medicine is based on the mind-body connection.
An important observation made by Dr. Sarno of his back pain
patients is that over 80 percent have histories of migraine headaches,
heartburn, stomach ulcers, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, hay fever, asthma,
eczema, and other disorders strongly suspected of being linked to repressed
emotional tension. It seemed logical to him that these painful muscle conditions
might also be induced by tension. He put that hypothesis to the test and
treated hundreds of patients with a nearly 90 percent success rate by just
teaching them how to deal with TMS.
He states that the physiology of TMS begins in the brain.
Repressed negative emotions, stress and tension cause the autonomic nervous system, which controls blood circulation, to
increase or decrease the flow of blood to certain muscles, nerves, tendons and
ligaments. When blood flow is decreased, this means that there is less oxygen
available and pain receptors of the nervous system respond to the lowered level
of oxygen in the tissue This deprivation results in symptoms of pain, numbness,
tingling, and sometimes weakness (therefore blood flow increasing treatments
like massages, heat, exercises etc. are temporarily often helpful).
Before the pain can be diagnosed as TMS, it is essential
that the person is examined by a physician in order to rule out the potential
of serious illness as the source of pain.
To quote Dr. Sarno,
“The treatment program rests on two pillars: (1) The acquisition of knowledge,
of insight into the nature of the disorder and (2) The ability to act on that
knowledge and thereby change the brain’s behavior.”
He says “Information and knowledge is the treatment.” When
patients become aware of pain, they are encouraged to focus consciously and
deliberately on any likely psychological cause that may have triggered the
pain. This may be a family emergency, financial problem, a recurrent source of
irritation, an annoying sound, a traffic incident, a memory of an affront – in
short, anything that could be responsible for tension at that moment.
Many of his clients feel a relief from chronic pain just by
reading his books (The Mind Body Prescription or Healing Back Pain)
or by watching his videos. A small percentage of sufferers need professional
support in their process. Many times solving a personal problem or situation is
not possible, but to start the healing process it is important to let go of the
fear and simply to know that the pain is due to mild oxygen deprivation, which
is harmless and not because of a herniated or degenerated disc. It is Important to change your brain’s
programming.
Examples of
personality traits that easily contribute to TMS:
Expecting a great
deal of yourself, driving yourself to be perfect in achievement to
succeed, criticizing yourself, or being very
conscientious or sensitive to criticism in general may cause you to be angry
inside. Similarly if you have a constant feeling of being under pressure or
having too much responsibility in your job, relationships or marriage, if you have
a strong need to please people, to want them to like you or if you tend to be
very helpful to people, if you are a caretaker type or tend to worry about
others, all these also might contribute to build up internal stress and anger.
Dr. Sarnos theory believes that TMS is mostly caused by suppressed
anger or rage. The brain “fears” that this may become conscious and, therefore,
produces pain to distract you from these intense emotions. To start the healing
process, Dr. Sarno suggests that you make a list of all these feelings and bring
them into your awareness, see it as a daily task.
The pain may not subside immediately. It could take several
days, weeks or months. The conscious mind is quick to zero in on the probable
cause. The subconscious, on the other hand, is slow, deliberate, and not eager
to accept new ideas and change. However, making it a habit to search for the
cause of tension will pay off over time in decreased pain. Remember: “Every change in the physiological state
is accompanied by an appropriate change in the mental emotional state, conscious
or unconscious, and, conversely, every change in the mental emotional state,
conscious or unconscious, is accompanied by an appropriate change in the
physiological state."
For more information check Dr. Sarnos website or contact
Barbara Rotthaler, German certified Health Practitioner, Tel. (01 376) 766
1987, barbararotthaler@gmail.com, www.ChapalaHealth.com
Barbara Rotthaler has been one of FOM's Expert Speakers and is originally from Bavaria, Germany. Barbara has lived in Mexico since 1997 and her practice is in San Antonio Tlayacapan, a village on the shores of Lake Chapala. She sees clients, offers health lectures and works in a clinic for Natural Medicine in Guadalajara. She is a Naturopath, Homeopath Massage therapist for deep tissue and trigger point massage, reflexology and lymphatic drainage. Focus On Mexico offers 8-Day Educational Programs to Ajijic and Lake Chapala, Mexico (2nd Best Climate in the World). Join us on a Focus program and learn why thousands of Americans and Canadians chose to retire in Lake Chapala.
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