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Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

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Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#131

Post by debo_ »

whitepoplar wrote: post #18

I'm not sure what the cause of your chronic pain is, but I would highly recommend reading John Sarno's "The Mindbody Prescription." I've dealt with chronic pain for years and it's the only thing that's had any effect. Please, please , don't write it off until you've read the book. Note that Sarno's work focuses on back pain, but it applies to all types of chronic pain (including migraines, which he discusses in the b…

"The Way Out" by Alan Gordon is a modern treatment of the idea that has been super effective for me.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50021854-the-way-out

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#134

Post by whitepoplar »

throw6746 wrote: post #117
whitepoplar wrote: post #18

I'm not sure what the cause of your chronic pain is, but I would highly recommend reading John Sarno's "The Mindbody Prescription." I've dealt with chronic pain for years and it's the only thing that's had any effect. Please, please , don't write it off until you've read the book. Note that Sarno's work focuses on back pain, but it applies to all types of chronic pain (including migraines, which he discusses in the b…

Summary linked in the comments: https://web.archive.org/web/20101210060431/http://podolsky.e... > Here is my summary of what I think is most important in Dr. Sarno's theory: > 1. The mind and the body are linked. Classic example: the placebo effect -- your mind thinks it's gotten a pill that's gonna fix your body, and what do you know, believing that leads to your body fixing itself. > 2. Not only can the mind-body c…

This is a mischaracterization of Sarno's work. One doesn't need to be "happy" to have relief of pain. Sarno's thesis is that chronic pain of this sort is caused by unconscious stress/emotions and the mere acknowledgement of the underlying issues is enough to cure chronic pain. Furthermore, Sarno stresses that patients must first undergo physical examinations by their doctor(s) to ensure that the pain isn't caused by anything structural. Only then should one proceed with his treatment. Note that Sarno (who has since passed away) was not some quack--he was a bona fide medical doctor who treated patients at NYU Medical Center's Rusk Institute.

I would ask you to read his books' reviews (of which there are thousands on Amazon). Are all of these people who were cured from many years of pain lying? Are the other commenters in this very thread lying? There is mounting evidence that Sarno's theories are, in fact, of merit--e.g. https://www.bidmc.org/about-bidmc/news/2021/09/researchers-m....

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#135

Post by flatline »

affgrff wrote: post #122
dang wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aaron's article was discussed here at the time: How I Cured my RSI Pain - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1269951 - April 2010 (75 comments) Lots of Sarno over the years: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

I read about here last year, and gave it a shot based on the many recommendations. It definitely helped me.

Helped me too. I still deal with pain but it totally changed my mindset about it and relieved a lot of the suffering associated with the pain. I saw an associate of Sarno’s who co-authored one of his books, she looked at my imaging and was like, I’ve seen way worse than this, you’ll be fine long term, which was a huge concern of mine. That was a decade past now.

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#136

Post by ck_one »

vimy wrote: post #74
thrwtllwy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fibromyalgia and CFS have been tossed around but never officially diagnosed. The practical experience that I have is frequent exhaustion from things that should be easy, difficulty focusing, flu-like aches and tons of migraines.

Fibromyalgia, CFS, .. labels like that are used when the doctors have no clue, just give up and don't wanna look further into your issues. Then they blame it on stress and psychological issues. That's 1000 % wrong. Most likely you have a virus or bacterial infection that hasn't been detected yet. I'm in a very similar situation like you so I'm speaking from personal experience. Ever been bitten by a tick? Do you have…

You should all (also OP) look into Fabry. It's a genetic disease which for some only shows up in adulthood. My Mum went through decades of chronic pain and though she had Fibromyalgia. There are dozens of papers showing how Fabry is often misdiagnosed as Fibro.

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#137

Post by affgrff »

It seems to be a little out of fashion with the HN crowd, but maybe meditation can help you a little on your way. It is taught that pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. Trained Buddhist monks can endure immolation, see for example https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4...

Good luck, hope you find something helpful here.

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#138

Post by haolez »

thrwtllwy wrote: post #10
guzik wrote: post #2

This chronic pain - what is the cause of it? Are you diagnosed with fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia and CFS have been tossed around but never officially diagnosed. The practical experience that I have is frequent exhaustion from things that should be easy, difficulty focusing, flu-like aches and tons of migraines.

My aunt had this exact same symptoms. In her case, after years, she was diagnosed with diabetes, which some prior exams had missed somehow. Treating for diabetes fixed her chronic pain.

It's just an anecdote, of course. I hope you get cured :)

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#139

Post by victorclf »

thrwtllwy wrote: post #10
guzik wrote: post #2

This chronic pain - what is the cause of it? Are you diagnosed with fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia and CFS have been tossed around but never officially diagnosed. The practical experience that I have is frequent exhaustion from things that should be easy, difficulty focusing, flu-like aches and tons of migraines.

Have you done a sleep study to check for sleep apnea?

Re: Ask HN: I'm disabled and out of money. Now what?

#140

Post by [deleted] »

debo_ wrote: post #131
whitepoplar wrote: post #18

I'm not sure what the cause of your chronic pain is, but I would highly recommend reading John Sarno's "The Mindbody Prescription." I've dealt with chronic pain for years and it's the only thing that's had any effect. Please, please , don't write it off until you've read the book. Note that Sarno's work focuses on back pain, but it applies to all types of chronic pain (including migraines, which he discusses in the b…

"The Way Out" by Alan Gordon is a modern treatment of the idea that has been super effective for me. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50021854-the-way-out

[deleted]
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