Paleo mind body connection. Dr Kurt Harris chimes in too

[wodgina]

Paleo discussion on mind/body connection.

http://freetheanimal.com/2011/02/tension-myositis-syndrome-tms-can-your-mind-really-heal-your-back-neck-shoulder-butt-and-leg-pain.html

[goodsamaritan]

I know these people are cooked paleo dieters.

I can't have peace with fully cooked meat.  Not anymore.

It just feels so wrong lately when I eat cooked meat.

It's like how bad it is to cook fruit.

[Josh]

There's a mind-body connection with myofascial trigger points...what I always go on about.

stress/tension/unhelpful thinking ---> increased haptic tension in muscles ---> more trigger points develop/existing trigger points become active and start causing problems

So obviously stopping this cycle is a good thing, but the mind can only go so far to treat points once they're there...you need to physically treat them.

[wodgina]

There's a mind-body connection with myofascial trigger points...what I always go on about.

stress/tension/unhelpful thinking ---> increased haptic tension in muscles ---> more trigger points develop/existing trigger points become active and start causing problems

So obviously stopping this cycle is a good thing, but the mind can only go so far to treat points once they're there...you need to physically treat them.

Nah, you have been taught to think that or want to believe it or you make money out of it.

p.s I was hoping to keep this mind/body related...I'm over of raw vs cooked discussions.

[Josh]

I don't make any money from it. If you think I'm talking about some woo woo thing then you don't understand what myofascial trigger points are.

If you're going to give a blanket dismissal then you have to give more reasoning, or else you got nothing.

[MrBBQ]

Recovering from TMS (after reading Sarno's work in 2003) saved my career and life - little did I know it would start a chain of downward events that would ultimately see me with a fully rationalised eating disorder.

[wodgina]

Recovering from TMS (after reading Sarno's work in 2003) saved my career and life - little did I know it would start a chain of downward events that would ultimately see me with a fully rationalised eating disorder.

An eating disorder is TMS.

Your subconcious has found the perfect distraction from emotional pain, responsibilities of life, doing things you don't want to do, it protects you. Instead of facing life you spend countless hours scouring the internet, thinking about diet.

[Paleo Donk]

Thanks for sharing the link wodginy. I've had chronic and persistent minor head aches, brain fog, back aches, poor digestion and general tiredness and apathy for life since I was a teenager. Coming to terms with the depression, anger and other largely unexpressed emotions behind these symptoms has made an enormous impact for me. My anxiety book has a good bit of material examining the different areas of the body that seem to contain the pain of unexpressed emotions. For me, as long as I don't eat processed junk, diet has almost nothing to do with how I feel. Its much more to do with expressing myself. I've just held back so, so much.

[PaleoPhil]

Yes, thanks for sharing that Wodgina. It's good to see Sarno's TMS info helping another person, especially a good chap like Richard Nikoley. I find that understanding what's happening helps to lower the anxiety produced by a symptom and prevents it from escalating into something worse, and Sarno points out that if emotional issues like repressed anger and stress were the cause of the symptom, recognizing that can quickly work to greatly reduce or eliminate the symptom. Richard wrote that his back pain has been greatly reduced, though not yet eliminated, just by recognizing this. It's interesting that even someone who says he is not the worrying and anger-repressing type (to the contrary, Richard wears his anger on his sleeve   ) and does not seem so was apparently nonetheless impacted by TMS.

KGH also wrote about how knowledge of TMS can go overboard into the opposite direction of dismissing everything as TMS:

Kurt G Harris MD // Feb 18, 2011 at 22:45
Hi Chris
I had two teeth with old restorations worked on this winter by the missus – my wife is a dentist and did some very nice porcelain laminates on them.
I later had poorly localized aching pain in the sinuses – on both sides – for weeks afterwards. We both thought is was either a winter sinus infection or some kind of TMS thing. We were wrong – both teeth ended up needing root canals! They both had probably had bacterial microleakage as the prior restorations were over 30 years old (due to an accident, not poor hygiene by the way)....

[wodgina]

Nearly everyone I know complains of some psychosomatic pain. Whether it's migraines, vertigo, back pain, IBS, sciatica, some sporting injury that apparently never healed, fatigue, skin issues.

Even the totally chilled people get it. As Sarno says, psychosomatic pain is part of the human condition.

Obviously, not everything is TMS. It goes without saying, go to the doctor and rule it out.  Of course the human brain is as devious as f*** and you will convince you that your problem is organic and is not TMS. Anything to distract you.

[PaleoPhil]

"Obviously, not everything is TMS. It goes without saying"

Of course, and no one said that everything is TMS, just thought that KGH's report about how even a very sensible and intelligent person like him nonetheless went overboard with it and mistook a dental infection for TMS might be useful info. It's possible to get carried away with anything and his was a good example of that. He also discussed in that thread and in the past how folks can also get carried away with seeking health perfection through diet alone when other factors may also be involved, which is also a very good point. And I would add that perfectionism itself can be a problem, and I think he may have been implying that as well.

[Löwenherz]

I can't have peace with fully cooked meat.  Not anymore.

It just feels so wrong lately when I eat cooked meat.

Same here!

Cooked food feels extremely dirty and damaged.

Löwenherz