For those like me who never heard of Dr Sarno
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/10/2/16338094/dr-john-sarno-healing-back-pain
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Thank you for your explanation @bachissimo. I can see why it has been successful for you. I also agree that there is a link between mind/emotions and illness. My very best friend did suddenly in November last year and I started to get more auras after her burial. Then I had a major VM attack in May this year. I am convinced that the death of my best friend and my auras/VM attack are connected. So Iād be very interested in looking at the 10 daily reminders if you can find a link.
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Hi @Katharina I am sorry about your loss, that must be hard. I agree it can be related. I wasnāt able to fund the exact one. I found one where it is not meditation style, but rather him just listing the 12 reminders. I wanted to copy it here but this website is not allowing me to include links. So instead you can find it by googling ādr sarno 12 daily reminders mp3ā and you will find it on a website called TMSwiki. Basically a website that has grown based on his teachings but I donāt think it was his initiative at all.
The version I have I think is just edited to add some pauses, light background music, and repetition of each reminder twice. For people to use it as a meditation.
I actually donāt think I used it as a meditation as much as a list of items. So this should work. If not I can try to send you what I have somewhere.
I hope it works. Feel free to reach if you have more questions, and I hope you update us with some good news at some point.
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Thank you @bachissimo for your kind words. Yes, it is very hard, my friend was full of life on a Wednesday and dead on Thursday morning 
I found the website, here is a link if anyone else is interested: Sarno 2 Daily Reminders.m4a - GoogleĀ Drive
I guess we need to modify it a bit, e.g. replace āpainā with ādizzyā or other symptoms, but that is easy to do. I quite like the meditation format!
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I first came to this website sometime in 2015 or so I believe and I kept posting my updates and frustration up until 2018 perhaps.
Today I saw an email from this site and I felt bad that I did not go back and update you on the good news. (I am hoping I donā jinx it.) No doubt, countless other people recovered and forgot to update or just did not want to think about it. A cause for optimism.
95% of the solution:
An MD by the name of John Sarno. I was told about Dr. Sarno many times. And I was told about potential psychosomatic triggers. None of this made sense. Then one day I watched āAll the rageā, a documentary about Dr Sarno. Then I picked up his book written for back pain sufferers. I was convinced that the same process is happening to me with respect to migraines. I am someone that is not geared toward alternative treatment, meditation, and positive thinking. Nor am I an optimist. Nor did I believe that the pain is psychosomatic. I am saying this to let you know that - if you are a skeptic - trust me, I am very much of a skeptic too.
Interestingly, while I was browsing through the forum just today I saw so much similarity to the stories told by Sarno. While I donāt encourage it, if money is an issue there are free versions of his book online I think. The documentary costs $5. You can skip it, but I think seeing is believing. It took Howard Stern, Larry David, and countless other skeptical grumpy people talking about their recovery for me to seriously and enthusiastically pick up the book.
I did not only recover from MAV/PCS but of a lot of problems I have been dealing with.
This might sound ridiculous but instead of celebrating I did experience a depression after my recovery. I had to make sense of the years lost in pain that I could have avoided by listening to someoneās advice.
5% of the solution:
This was pre-Sarno. I started taking nurtec whenever I feel a minor symptom of migraine/diziness. It improved symptoms. Life quality got better maybe by 10% or more, cannot recall well. I stopped taking it. I was taking it anywhere between āas neededā to āonce/3 daysā.
Sorry for my poor writing. I happen to be at the airport. I just thought I should not postpone this post any longer.
I look forward to hear your experiences if anyone decides to try this.
I hope I am not jinxing it. It has only been 9 months that I am sx free and doing things I wouldnāt dream of doing for the last 6 years prior.
Hugs
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Thanks for posting this here. I also think that anxiety plays a role in my dizziness. Years ago I recovered from cfs after doing the Lightning Process (an NLP type training programme) and I do think some old patterns of thinking have come back. Iāll check out the links youāve recommended below.
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Dizzy,
Anxiety fuels my flare ups also. I can just about talk myself out of it and then be left with the lightheadedness from the flare up. If I walk the dog when the anxiety over the VM starts, by the time I get back I donāt feel as bad as the anxiety has passed. Still feel shattered and lightheaded from the VM though.
Iāve tried therapy, CBT, Valium and am now increasing VM med - venlafaxine - to assist with the anxiety during a bad spell.
Have you tried any techniques?
VM and anxiety go hand in hand but mine crosses over to unhealthy. So I am told by the neurologist and psychiatrist.
Yes Iām also on Venlafaxine but was prescribed it for the dizziness rather than anxiety but it does help the anxiety too. Mainly I try to use the NLP techniques I was taught for the cfs, which involves being as aware of my thought patterns as possible and whenever I catch myself thinking a thought that is creating a feeling of anxiety (for instance, wondering how Iāll be able to do xx while feeling dizzy), I deliberately stop it and change it and remind myself that my body does have an innate ability to heal.
Did you find CBT helpful at all?
That sounds much like CBT.
Dizzy,
Apologies - the ven is for the VM first but also helps with the anxiety when I have flare up.
Iāve seen improvements as a VM preventative at 225mg per day. Split equally AM and PM. Iāve taken this dose for years. Itās recently been increased to 300mg to try and beat the anxiety during a flare up.
Itās certainly kept them away and left me with a slight lightheadedness only that I can live with. However, too many triggers and it is beaten. This is where I am now. Week 3 and Iām waiting for things to calm down. Usually takes 2 weeks but this one is taking longer.
How much do you take?
I take 75mg in the morning and 32.5mg after lunch. When I added the 32.5mg I got a really bad migraine with spinning vertigo, which is the first time Iād had it that badly, so Iām a bit scared of going up higher, though of course itās possible that the timing was co-incidental. Did you find that you improved a bit after every increase or was it only once youād been at the highest dose for a while that you noticed improvement in dizzy symptoms?
Yes Iām not an expert but I think there are definitely CBT elements in the Lightning Process training too.
Every increase I got better. I feel about 95%. Last increase is to help with the anxiety. When my symptoms flare up, now less frequent since ven started, I do get very anxious that they wonāt stop. They always do. Fingers crossed they will soon!
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I also recently read John Sarnoās book on back pain and applied his thinking to my VM and/or PPPD. I had already wondered about this being related to my emotional state/stress. Iāve had dizziness and balance problems, ataxic gait now for over 10 years, have been to several neurologists and ENTs which thought I have VM, have tried Topamax, amitriptyline, and fluoxetine which I couldnāt tolerate or didnāt help. Now on venlafaxine ER 75 mg which I think has helped some, but I find Sarnoās theory might have helped the most. I was glad to read your post. Iāll look for the documentary and perhaps ask my doctor for Nurtec. I do occasionally take sumatriptan when migraines are bad, and it helps, too. Iām certainly not 100% but think Iāve improved by not paying so much attention to the dizziness and going ahead and doing things in spite of it more than I had in the past. Still new to me, and I want to reread the book. The only mystery to me, in my case, is a lot of fullness in my ears which doesnāt seem to be psychosomatic, but who knows? I, too, am a skeptic, but I believe so much is in the mind. Thank you for your post.
Sorry for your loss @Katharina
Iāve moved these posts here so we can discuss outside of #success-stories-positivity
FYI my MAV started the same year my dad died and I cleared out the family home. Very stressful time indeed.
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The meds mostly keep it at bay all the time but it can flare if Iām excessively stressed and a few days before my period starts.
I have read the posts about the success of John Sarno and after starting to read one of his books it already makes sense that this could totally relate to my cause. However, why would it get worse at the ātime of the monthā surely that means itās hormone related too?
Any guidance or advice greatly appreciated.
I read Dr. Sarnoās book āThe Divided Mindā long ago because I heard so many good things about him. To me it read a bit like pseudo-science - stuff that makes sense intuitively but when you dig a little deeper there isnāt much. I think heās helped many people heal from trauma and pain, so I donāt mean to diminish his work or dissuade people from studying what he has to offer. On a similar vein with better science behind it is " The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma" by Bessel van der Kolk M.D. which is a good book but also a bit depressing.
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