Atrial Fibrillation and the Mind Body Connection

[Guest guest]

To SO FALSE

I will be your first skeptic. I have Atrial Fibrillation, and it is not caused

by anything in my mind. I do not have childhood emotional trauma, and or have

major emotional problems. Your Dr Jon, borrowed most of his stuff from Freud,

and made it the basis of his own theory. You seem like a likely candidate for

this type of help, as it is a talking cure, and you must be convinced that your

pain is rooted in your emotions, before you can ever be cured. I also do not

have guilt,anxiety, depression, or low self esteem. This might work for you,

but you might want to explain what you base your diagnoses of a-fib to be. The

mind is a very powerful thing, and it can cure some ailments, that are

psychosomatic, but first I would want to have a competent specialist exam me,

and show me all the test results, and then, working with me, prescribe what may

help me to get better.

If you were cured by this method that you describe, then you really were not

sick or ill to start with, and you could have saved your money spent on the good

doctors books, lectures, and visits.

I also like a good rub down after exercise. Walt in SC

potent and

it to say that Dr. Sarno has proven that many of the physical

conditions

that we all suffer from-

are due to significant emotional factors characterized by repressed

anger and capable of producing serious physical reactions in

otherwise healthy

human beings.

I made an appointment with Dr. Sarno, a short, elderly, unpretentious

man, who I believe will go down as one of the most revolutionary

healers of our time. I showed him my MRI and gave him my " shpiel " . He

held

the MRI up to the light, feigned analysis, whereupon he tossed it into

the garbage can. He gave me a brief examination, told me I had his

condition-which is called Tension Myeositis Syndrome (hope spelling

is correct) He told me to go home, put on my running shoes and run as

hard and as long as I could. This, after the advise of an established

colleague of his, that this activity could be dangerous. I took his

advise and have

been running 30-40 miles per week for the last ten years. And of

course, my usual golf and weight lifting have continued unabated as

well.

In addition, after reading his books, consulting with him and going

to

his lectures, I no longer have ANY, not ANY stomach, knee or back

problems. I do not take any drugs for my stomach, I eat what I want,

when I want and it has never been an issue since being treated by

Sarno.

The man saved me.

In a nutshell, Dr. Sarno believes that many chronic conditions, in

otherwise

healthy individuals (sounds similar to AFIB, no?) is caused by

repressed

anger resulting in inflammation of the tendons and ligaments and

tissues in certain areas of the body. As it turns out,

this inflammation can be gastro and structural causing not only back

painastute

I called Dr. Sarno and he told me it was definitely TMS and not to

worry.

Within a day or two the pain completely disappeared and I have not

had any problems in the last year.

My personal experience demonstrates to me that my mind is capable

of causing serious physical conditions. I have no doubt that my AFIB

is a result of this. The good Dr. believes so. I admit I lost my

focus when

I was diagnosed a few months ago and have dug very deeply into the

bowels of obsession with everything I eat, drink, etc. etc. etc.

Don't get me wrong, I think that the emotional factors (and it is not

just the

stress that many experience as a " trigger " but related) have produced

compromised systems

must be considered.

I just think that many on this board should consider Dr. Sarno's ideas

and focus on those rather than wondering whether the spaghetti dinner

last night threw them into AFIB. The level of dietary and nutritional

to the people who have engaged in this level of scrutiny. I have been

engaging in the same for the last few months but have

come to realize that, after making certain basic dietary changes,

adding necessary supplements and eliminating or drastically reducing

the serious triggers like coffee and alcohol there is much more

important work to be done, eliminating the necessity of wondering if

I had too much brown rice last night.

struggled to come up with answers to my problems that ultimately

proved to be bogus. I had a cardioversion last week and a few days

later met

the cardio. I explained to her that while I was still in NSR that I

still had

some discomfort and almost pre-AFIB like feelings. Her explanation- I

had

just been through a cardioversion and that my system was stressed

from it. What I didn't bother telling her, was that I had experienced

the exact same symptoms well before I had even heard of a

cardioversion, muchdiscomforts and felt almost a little pre-AFIB. About half

way through,

I realized that I had lost my focus on what I know is the real cause time.

Notwithstanding the long winded diatribe above, this condition, which

I consider the granddaddy of all of Dr. Sarno's conditions, has

become a big challenge for me. On Monday I will be starting therapy

(something, by the way, that has helped many of Sarno's patients with

their back and other problems) in the hope of coming to a better

understanding of the deep seeded factors that are causing my AFIB.

I have no doubt that this post will be met with much skepticism by

many

on this board. All that I can say, is that there are probably a dozen

people who I told about my experience and have since solved their

chronic back problems. And we are talking about some people who had

a rubdown and will be for the rest of their lives.

[Guest guest]

Hi,

An interesting post.

In addition to my afib, I have been dealing with problems in my right

(dominant) arm for over 6 months now. What started out as a pain in

my thumb worked its way up into my shoulder and neck. I graduated

from an arm sling to Vioxx and finally to a physiatrist who diagnosed

my problem as inflammation of tendons and ligaments and spasmed

muscles. With injections on a weekly basis, my recent 6 or 7 shots

this week.

Because of Afib, I had already worked through major food changes, but

that did not seem to have any impact. Type " A " personality rings a

bell, when I experienced pain my response - I need to finish this

and continued, with the intention to take it easy later, - spelled

stress. Even though I have reduced my physical activities, reducing

stress is a more complicated process and one we don't have too much

control over.

I seem to experience worsening and then again improvement. Yoga used

to help with relaxation but I had to give that up. Now I am looking

this way again, trying Tai-Chai as suggested on this board. Even when

exercising I push too hard. I have come across a number of books /

articles emphasizing the importance of relaxation, visualization etc.

I surely hope this will help me.

/

[Guest guest]

Kerry

I am confused.

You wrote an account of your AF and other illnesses under the heading

of Atrial Fibrillation and the mind body connection. I took it from

your post that you were overcoming your AF (as you did your other

ailments) by following Dr Sarno's recomendations. You say that Sarno

says that " Therefore, until [AF and other chronic conditions - I

presume are] eliminated, the

> dietary

> and other factors that can excite our severely compromised systems

> must be considered "

You then go onto say that > I just think that many on this board

should consider Dr. Sarno's ideas

> and focus on those rather than wondering whether the spaghetti

dinner

> last night threw them into AFIB. The level of dietary and

nutritional

> analysis

> seems too much to me,

You seem to be only accepting half of Dr Sarno's recomendations, the

side of dealing with surpressed anger. Do you not believe that their

are excitotoxins in a spaghetti meal? Or that a high glycemic meal

such as spaghetti, or even fruits will affect the heart rate due to

sugar content and insulin response. A spaghetii meal made with

processed tomatoes, stock and other sauces is also high in free

glutamate, a known excitotoxin. So a double whammy really, at least

for me.

Are you really following Dr Sarnos protocol?

I see you are taking Flecainide as well. Are you finding that

releasing trapped anger surpression is not working for the AF despite

working for your other conditions?

I just wanted to let you know that although I had never heard of Dr

Sarno I have probably followed his protocol, mostly on the dietry

front, but also on the not repressing anger front. The diet helps

with this and I have not had AF now for 16 months (that was after

being in chronic AF after suffering for 20 years).

I know many on this board don't agree with dietry intervention for

AF, but just as many do, seens as there are at least two of us now AF

free on diet. But just wanted to let you know that it is worth

following the Good Dr Sarno's protocol to the letter. You might just

see a big difference.

Fran