I've read the book (but do not have Lyme myself, mind you) and it's very interesting. I know that Dr. Sarno has had very good success with treating back pain - to the point where people were able to get off pain pills and avoid impending surgeries.

I'm not sure how useful it would be for Lyme symptoms (which have a physical cause), but how do you know if your back pain is Lyme or buried emotions, you know?

There is a mind-body connection of which we all need to be aware, so in that sense, I think it could be very helpful. Most Americans are not as aware of the "self" as they need to be - which is why so many food sensitivities and such go undetected for so long. For some reason, we all stopped *listening* to our bodies a long time ago...

While I agree that emotions can have a powerful impact, this kind of thinking can lead to blaming the patient for not getting well.

I'd say, if any of it helps, great. If not, just leave it behind.

The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain
By John Sarno, M.D., copyright 1999

Quote from Amazon review:

"Since the publication of Healing Back Pain,(1991) Dr. Sarno has learned important new information about the psychology of emotionally-induced physical conditions.

In his last book, Dr. Sarno explained how TMS, or Tension Myositis Syndrome, is a major cause of back, neck and shoulder pain. He now shows that the treatment that works to lessen or alleviate it can be used on peptic ulcer, colitis, tension and migraine headache, hay fever, asthma, and a host of other disorders.

In this new book, he discusses a number of new pain disorders that have become the basis for disability. Called RSD, or Repetitive Stress Disorders, they are part of TMS. They include carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, rotator cuff tear, bursitis, tendonitis of the shoulder and elbow, and pinched nerve in the neck."

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Foggy,
I read "The Mindbody Prescription" several years ago, and had quite a surprise.

I had no muscle spasms in my back for well over a year.
They eventually began to come back. I need to read the book again.

Also, some of my body pain, presumably from fibromyalgia, was relieved. (I didn't know I had Lyme disease at that point.)
Specifically, the aches in my lower legs stopped three days after I finished reading the book.

Read the book with an open mind. And then wait to see what happens....

quote:

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Originally posted by Carol in PA:
Read this book instead:

The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain
By John Sarno, M.D., copyright 1999

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I read it, and he does acknowledge that there can be physiological reasons for backpain, as someone said earlier that he did not in his first book.

In fact, he gives some VERY interesting hypothesis about why he believes that most of the people with backpain may actually suffer from TMS, and not from physiological reasons.

I won't go into it in detail, but his reasoning involves two basic facts:

1) that treatment for ulcers has become very effective (ulcers in his view is, or now was, another subconsciously created pain), and

2) increased emotional pressure on individuals in the industrialized world (means more people suffer from backpain than ever before).

I suffered from neck pain for 3 year. I'd get a couple of attack each year. Sometimes, I'd collapse due to pain on the floor. It was horrible.

I then accidentally saw John Sarno on the Larry King show. Interestingly, Howard Stern and the producer of the Rosie O'Donnell show "testified" to John Sarno's favor.

I instantly got his book. Read page to page. Then I used his method, and I have not had a single incident of neck pain in 5 years now.

I occasionally experience the onset of neck pain, but then I use his technique, and it goes away.

At times I'm not totally successful in using his technique. I really have to believe in that I can control my subconscious, which is hard at times.

And secondly, I'm not always right about identifying the cause of my emotional pain.

So, sometimes I have to "trial and error" a bit before I hit jackpot.

His technique, however, doesn't work on my lower backpain. So I believe that is probably due to physiological reasons. (I also have a swirve in my lower spine, and my dad had the same condition and symptoms, so that all makes sense.)

I have not tried it on any of my Lyme symptoms. But the reason for that is that my emotional state is much improved since I started using Sarno's method.

See Sarno's method forces you to be upfront with your emotions. Something I used to suppress.

Damn good book.