Books have always been great sources of information for me. I picked up Dr. John Sarno’s book “The Divided Mind” and saw myself and my personality characteristics written there. I had been suffering with fibromyalgia, plantar fasciitis and fatigue, amongst other conditions. As I read the book, my fibromyalgia began to get better. I got on the internet and found Dr. Schubiner’s name and phone number, contacted him and checked out the website. We met, I took his class and my life is different now.
The foot pain had bothered me for years. It began suddenly on a hiking trip (not able to hike very much on that trip!) I realize now that I was very angry at my partner, who was emotionally and financially not standing on his own two feet. After receiving the diagnosis of plantar fasciitis, I did physical therapy and got othotics, but the pain continued. While taking Dr. Schubiner’s class, I happened to be at the gym and was just idly wondering why my foot pain wasn’t going away, when so much other pain was getting better. A little inner voice prompt arrived: “I’m tired of standing on my own two feet, I’ve done it since I was little. I want someone to take care of me”. The foot pain immediately disappeared, but started to creep back. Now, however, it is mostly gone; the other day I was amazed to realize that I had been walking all day, and didn’t think of my feet at all.
The fatigue was the worst symptom for me. I realized that I was holding on to a great deal of unforgiveness and resentment toward myself and others. The journaling exercises in the class were very useful; pain began to move around in different areas of my body. I had jaw pain as I was writing because I realized that there were things that I had never said out loud to that particular person, and I was clenching my jaw. I was able to forgive and let go. At this time, I was also diagnosed with a sleep disorder. When I was placed on medication, my sleep improved and my fatigue diminished. Dr. Schubiner said that the medication was all right as long as I needed it (although he added that this particular sleep disorder was also part of TMS). I continue to work with the writing exercises and the mindfulness meditation and look forward to more energy. I am also working on not always defaulting to the “nice” person persona. Thank you Dr. Schubiner. You are an excellent physician and course leader.
Linda H.