Has anyone with PMR read Sarno's book, "Healing Back Pain," and found any benefit therefrom?

[skipspmr]

It appears that polymyalgia and fibromyalgia are closely related and sometimes misdiagnosed and that many people with fibromyalgia have benefited from Sarno's method of treatment.

[SheffieldJane]

No I haven’t, let us know if you gain any gems.

[piglette]

That sounds highly unlikely that polymyalgia and fibromyalgia are closely related, polymyalgia is an autoimmune disease affecting the muscles and the immune system being attacked. The exact cause of fibromyalgia like polymyalgia is unknown, but fibromyalgia is thought to be related to abnormal levels of certain chemicals in the brain and changes in the way the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord and nerves) processes pain messages carried around the body.

I do agree that they are both sometimes diagnosed though.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Well really? Polymyalgia and fibomyalgia are two totally different mechanisms. PMR is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system attackes the body in error and causes inflammation. Fibro is a problem with pain perception and is NOT an inflammatory illness.

They are frequently confused by doctors - the symptoms may be quite similar - but it is very unlikely that a method of treatment would work for both. And at a guess, Sarno makes money out of selling his "method"?

[Linny3]

I have been told that people with pmr often also have fibro but people with fibro don't always get sick with pmr. Just something the dr. told me. I have both. Fibro came first.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Linny3]

I know quite a few people with a fibro diagnosis for years who have later developed PMR - in that they developed raised inflammatory markers, the symptoms were different and they responded to pred. A few found their so-called fibro pain ALSO disappeared with pred - so they weren't really fibro.