Day 1 Already convinced

I stumbled onto sarno's book only a few days ago and already it's made an incredible difference. I first developed pain in my right leg 9 months ago, and after 6 months I was booked into surgery in January. 2 weeks before surgery it started to dramatically get better, why, well I now look back and think it was 2 things. Firstly I stopped trying so hard to fix it and stress about it never getting better, secondly I was going to be away from work for 4-6 weeks. It's obvious to me now that I was doing myself damage trying so hard not to do myself damage.

After a few good months I started to get back into activity, I was convinced that I could not do much or I would injury it again. I went riding and worried every minute that I was injuring my back, and I started to feel twinges in my leg (no surprise to me now). So I took it easy but then I had two huge weeks at work which included me attending a training course that makes me extremely angry that I am on it. The day after I had all day meeting in another state ( all day sitting which I thought would only make my now painful leg worse, and of course it did) then an all day meeting in the office and a meeting that I hate, as its such a waste of time. I ended this having to take the day off and seeing my orthopedic surgeon. He was very conservative and told me there is nothing to worry about take 4-6 weeks and it hopefully will settle down. Of course it didn't as I tried to be even more careful over the next week. This ended with me again working from home on Friday. With bad leg pain, not being able to walk more than 100m, waking 10 times each night, and numbness in both legs now. It was this day that I found the healing back pain book. Reading the first few chapters it was like a description of myself. I decided to give it a try

So 2 days later, I went riding for 40 mins, have almost no pain in my leg for most of the day, I have chased my little boy around all day with out worrying and am feeling good. I even ran full pace for the first time in 9 months even if it was only 100m getting out of the rain. Tomorrow is a day at work and I know it will be more tricky but I am going in confident that I will keep improving. I still have to get to the root cause of why work drives me to such a state and then to find a solution to it, but that can come in the next few weeks,

So do I have reservations, yes, I do even with such a great start. I guess my reservation is with the numbness that I have in my foot and leg. I can't find a definitive answer that tms can cause numbness. But this reservation will not stop me from accepting one thing, I won't hurt my back doing the things I have done every day for 40 years, so I will keep doing them and stop stressing about it. Time to take back my life 100%.

 

Congratulations, Mark - you're on the way to a different life, and isn't that too cool? And what's even more cool, as you learn this different way of living and being healthy, you can impart it to your children so they can have a better start than most of us! I was 60 when I discovered Dr. Sarno - but it's never too late

As you get more into the information available on this forum and our wiki, you'll get that "TMS" is a convenient term that covers a TON of physical symptoms. Never doubt for a second that your brain can create any kind of symptom that it thinks will help to distract you. In my case, pain was never my big thing - for me it was what Dr. Sarno later came to call the "TMS equivalents": digestive and neuro symptoms amongst them.

Remember - your brain is in control of every function in your body, so of course it can create numbness.

If you're interested in a more scientific introduction (for us non-medical folks) of the physiological results of long-term stress on our bodies - particularly the stress of repressed emotions - I recommend "When The Body Says No" by Dr. Gabor Mate, who is a wonderful writer and speaker. My profile lists other favorite books and online resources, many of them on this forum.

So welcome, keep up your great start, and keep us posted!

Jan

 

Hi Mark,
Welcome to the wiki. You have had such a neat eperience.

Believe Jan when she says the mind creates all kinds of pain. It can particularly find the one pain to create doubt. I have had numerous physical symptoms over the years. Yes, I have had numbness in my feet and hands, tingling in my feet and hands, terrible cramping in my feet, legs and hands, shin splints, IT band pain, myofacial pain all over my thighs, heel pain... gosh, I still have not listed all my TMS symptoms. The brain is so powerful.

You are going on an amazing journey.