Another example of why I think this is in vogue

http://www.betabeat.com/2012/02/24/...d-you-the-perils-of-computer-vision-syndrome/

There's specific glasses out there marketed as "digital eye fatigue reduction" spectacles. These are marketed to the mainstream public to combat the effects of computer vision syndrome. CVS I truly believe is the new carpal tunnel of the 21st century. I didn't even know about CVS until I started getting eye strain and then once you read about it you get all of this information about how "bad" it is and all this crap. People were reading books and stuff for hours a day for years and years and nobody was complaining about that. Some people think its because the monitor displays text differently than a book does but I don't think this is the case. I think people get some eyestrain on the computer, look it up and find all kinds of information about it some others write, and then start exhibiting the symptoms that they read from the web sites.

Sort of the same thing happened with CTS like Sarno talks about where people in the 40s were pounding away at typewriters all day long and didn't exhibit any symptoms but when the problem became socially acceptable in the 80s and there were treatments for it all of a sudden tons of people had the issue. I think the seed gets implanted into people's minds that they have the problem when they confirm it to themselves on the internet and then they start showing the symptoms of it. Thats what I think happened to me at least. What do you guys think?

 

I think you are right dabatross. But when I read your post, two things come to mind. First, we are in the new world where pretty much anyone can and does access the Internet, and find out exactly what they want to believe. We're all going to have brain tumors too from cell phones. (or was that last month?) We're in a much faster pace world than we used to be, where any and all information we want to find and believe is available at our fingertips. I see this as essentially a "fear based" society. If you dare watch the 24/7 news channels, there is always some new medical ailment to scare us. Or some food that we were raised on that now can cause cancer in "some" mice.

That said: I believe that TMS is very real, and that millions suffer from it, rather than the latest symptom de jour. It's hard to keep up in our vocation of choice especially with tough competition and the economy the way it is. So more people are going to develop symptoms of some kind that can be traced right back to TMS/PPD, since there truly is more stress in people's lives.

If those same people looking for the real answers, rather than those that are fear based then they'll eventually find out about TMS/PPD. We know it isn't a quick fix, (another thing we must have in today's world) for many people, but could be the real reasons behind these new phenomenons.

You've brought up a new "syndrome" that many will find themselves with symptoms that mirror things they read online. But I believe in this new fast paced world , TMS/PPD is the root of some these "new" medical issues. And hopefully Dr. Sarno's discoveries will resonate with more people and they'll discover the real reason for their CVS as well as the next "frightening" medical issue that will come up next week.

BG

Note: I don't by any stretch think that ALL illness has a root cause of TMS/PPD. That would be impossible. But I believe that phenomena like dabatross just talked about - could be TMS. I don't want anyone to think that I believe that TMS/PPD is at the root cause of all disease - I know that this simply isn't true.

 

Ya I think you hit it dead on right there. I remember reading that in Sarno's MBP. And typewriters are way worse than the nice computer keyboards we have today.

 

It's interesting that the wikipedia site on CVS has this "According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, computer vision syndrome affects some 90% of the people who spend three hours or more a day at a computer"

That statistic seems a little wacky to me. If this were true than most of my staff at work would have this.

I was also really surprised how many hits on Google I got when I typed in "CVS eye strain". It's definitely in vogue, dabatross.

Side Note: dabatross, in my opinion, I encourage you to not spend too much time Googling and searching the internet about CVS. I don't know if that's something you do, but I know that when I really got into the TMS work, I stopped looking for info on RSI. Searching and reading about it just keeps the mind on the physical cause versus the emotional one. Just my 2 cents.

 

I would have responded to your replies earlier sorry guys I didn't get a notification that this topic was responded to. Forest is there a way to get notifications on topics when they get replies?

thank you for the thoughts everyone i appreciate them they really help. Enrique you nailed it right on the head when I first got the eyestrain I began googling symptoms on the internet compulsively every day. It got worse as time went on and thats how I learned so much of the problem. As you said CVS is now in vogue and you see articles in mainstream media about it. The funny thing about it though that the technology has gotten better and people haven't necessarily been using it that much more than in the late 80s to 90s but since its very mainstream now you see this stuff coming out. Like that statistic you brought up that 90% of people have some form of CVS after only 3 hours of computer work and that most people in your office would have it then. I've thought the same thing.. why do my coworkers that work the same amount of time as me in the office (sometimes more time than me of 8 hours), don't take timed breaks, dont pay attention to their visual habits, go home each day and don't complain of bad eyestrain like I have. These are people who don't have eyesight as good as mine.. my boss has terrible eyesight, has to wear contacts and he doesn't have this problem. Enrique googling CVS was something i did A LOT back when this started and it creeps up on my from time to time, usually when I have a bad day and then I fall back into old habits. I fully agree that stopping googling the problem has to happen I have stopped for a couple months now but still fall back sometimes like today actually. I'm planning on writing a post about that soon.

Forest you also made a really good point about the google searches. Since I had previous experience with chronic pain in my feet, when I switched jobs and I got eyestrain that first day I freaked out. That night I went home and started searching how to fix the problem and started learning more about it. Before I knew it I was at the optometrist a couple weeks later getting glasses. It progressively went from thing to thing trying to fix the problem after that. In fact the more I googled it, learned about other people who had it, talked on forums about eye problems, the more I started exhibiting symptoms of what I was reading. Like in older posts I talked about the "pulling sensation" i feel in my eyes on the computer. I kept looking that up on google and eventually I landed on pages talking about the pulling sensation and its relation to convergence insufficiency, which that symptom is a hallmark of. I really think the reason this problem became chronic is because I began doing those searches and became obsessed with fixing it to the point where every night after I got off work my eyes were already hurting badly and I would search on the internet looking for answers.

I believe computer vision syndrome is the CTS of today. Theres just no way symptoms could vary so much between myself and others in my office that do the same work. People have told me in the past that all people are different but nobody in my office has these same issues? Thats crap if you ask me if this was truly physical we're all human so they would be having the same issues I am. So yeah progressively as I learned more about it the problem started happening more often. No longer was it only on the computer that I had the issues but then it was reading, then when I watched tv, now to the point where if I do anything at nearpoint I seem to be affected by it. Even looking into the distance I get the symptoms now. I wake up in the morning with it and it stays until I go to bed no physical problem would be like that. I understand this in my mind but the fear over the problem is extremely difficult to get rid of.

Beachgirl and Jan I agree with what you said as well. What I think happened here is linked to the symptom imperative. Since I experienced chronic pain in the job right before this, when I experienced eyestrain at the end of the day when I began working as a web designer I was scared and I feared it becoming a chronic problem like my footpain had become. The funny thing is I went down the exact same path when I got footpain in 2005. I began studying it on google and learned all about it, joined forums about foot pain, etc. This just reinforced the idea that the pain was caused by physical problems.

What's really interesting is that I know a lot of you work on the computer full time like I do and you don't have this problem. I think this is because I fear something different than you had in the past. It would be really helpful for me to see vision problem TMS success stories like you guys read about RSI but there haven't been any out there I have found yet.

Sorry this post is really long just a lot to talk about here.

 

Anyone see the 20/20 show on "My Strange Affliction" last night? They profiled a woman that in the beginning of the story I knew was TMS. She was a marathon runner, a cheerleader, and had just gotten married. Suddenly her body gave out. They said she's been on YouTube for years, with videos that show she can't walk.

She speaks with an English accent now and is still fighting the battle to get better. She can walk backwards or sideways, but not forward - but she can run! Cutting to the chase here, her first neurologist told her she had PPD. She doesn't believe for a second that this is "all in her head" and sadly, that's where the piece ends, with this woman "fighting on" for the "magic cure" rather than moving to a possible TMS/PPD portion. Would love to have seen that in the piece as it was presented by 20/20. You 'd think someone would have connected the dots.

Still a lot of education to be done out there....

BG

 

It's probably so newly in vogue that there aren't many PPD/TMS cures yet. Wouldn't it be nice to be one of the first?

 

I have seen other news stories about her before. Is it the one who thinks it was caused by a flu shot? It would make sense that it's PPD, especially if doctors can't find anything wrong.

 

That's her Enrique! I posted a thread above with a YouTube video that shows a portion of her story. The other people with afflictions were born with them. But if you look at all that was going on in her life when she had the "fatal flu shot", then TMS/PPD becomes obvious. Or at least I thought it was. I so wish they'd talked more about TMS/PPD and that there IS help available for this woman.

Her issue is though: she is convinced it's the flu shot and she's really sick. Of course she is! That would have been such a beautiful lead in to another story. Oh well.

BG

 

BG - Is this the same girl you saw on TV last night? I remembered the one I was thinking of and Googled her.... she seems to have been miraculously cured back in '09. The site below talks about her issue having a psychogenic cause (or perhaps was a hoax), not sure exactly as I didn't read the whole thing.

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/11/desiree_jennings_cured.php

 

yeah it would be fantastic if i was the first. thats my goal

 

Hey Enrique:

I too did an "Evelyn Wood" of the story you posted. But in the 20/20 story I saw last night, they showed the "quack" spoken so highly of in the blog piece and they also show her totally recovered - then not so recovered. They had a shot of her husband wheeling her out of the clinic in a wheel chair. And at the end of the piece, she's speaking in an English accent again.

The piece ends with "still no recovery" but it's interesting that in '09 they knew it would be on 20/20 and here we are in 2012. Wonder how she's doing now? Is "psychogenic" the same thing as PPD?

BG

 

I think psychogenic means "of a psychological origin" so yes PPD. Hers is quite an extreme case isn't it?

 

Yes and I don't think she's faking her symptoms. It's too bad she is going in the wrong direction though. She said at the end of the piece on 20/20 that she'll go to Europe and seek out the best doctors. When my belief is: she simply needs to read one of Dr. Sarno's books (the Divided Mind?) and see herself on those pages.

It is exciting and scary to find out THIS is what we have. Because there's no magic bullet, it's a lot of introspection and hard work. To me it's been well worth it. Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with friends I get together with monthly. They all commented on how "different" I looked. I talked about TMS a lot. Felt good to share this journey I've been on.They all agree whatever I've been doing, has made a huge difference in my energy.

BG

 

That's awesome to read about your improvement, BG!