Day 1 "back" for more

it's day 1 of the SEP for me again. I started over the summer but got "busy" and talked myself out of the program. Since then I have had an MRI and was given a diagnosis of herniation and a pinched nerve from the Spinal Clinic at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. A doctor there gave me 2 steroid injections into my spinal column which were ultimately ineffective. I have been in pain every day for nearly a year and at this point I have very little hope for a "structural cure."

I had some significant psychoanalytical breakthroughs when I was journaling for the SEP over the summer, and noticed some reduction in the pain. But for some reason I have been unwilling to completely accept the TMS diagnosis. I want to thank my friend Kevin B (who is also participating in the forum) for encouraging me to give this program another shot.

Reading Baseball65's story nearly brought tears to my eyes. I believe everyone who says that Dr. Sarno's method worked for them -- I just hope it can work for me, too.

 

Hell yea, stoked we are doing this Matt!!!

 

Hi MattC,

Welcome to the SEP again.

I love this:

There is a lot said right there. Good luck in your journey.

Andy B.

 

Hi, Matt. Yes, I strongly believe that you will be healed through what Dr. Sarno calls "TMS penicillin." The SEP is wonderful in helping discover the emotional causes of pain. If you haven't yet read Kevin's healing story, here it is. He later posted he is 100 percent pain free.

Kevin healed 95 % from SEP

Welcome to the SEP and to the path of recovery. I am on my final two days of the program and I can say with complete confidence that I am a changed man. I started after 6 months of nasty low-back/butt/leg pain, could hardly walk, stand, etc. was in physical therapy, chiropractor, acupuncture, pain medications, etc.. the usual. My MRI showed 3 disk bulges/herniations touching nerves, so that is what I believe it to be....that is until I read Dr. Sarno and found this site.

I encourage you to really get involved, follow the instructions, do the journaling, take time to read all the suggested readings, and watch the videos. I'd say I'm 95% cured. There is still some very light lingering "annoyance", but I still have some work to do. I've been walking miles with hardly any pain these last few weeks. But even more, if the pain comes on now, it just doesn't bother me like it used to, I sorta just see it, acknowledge it, and go about my business. It took working the program to get to that point, but 6 weeks compared to 6 months is nothing! I made more progress in the first week than I did from two months of PT!!! It's going to challenge you and your "beliefs" in medicine, but you have nothing to lose. We generally wind up here when all else fails.

So give it a shot, especially before considering anything invasive like surgery. If you put the work in, you will get better. Have you read Dr. Sarno yet? I assume you have since you're here, but in case you haven't, definitely readHealing Back Pain. Again, it will challenge everything you've believed about your pain, and backs in general. You'll be encouraged to resume life as normal, i.e. stop ALL "therapies" (PT, chiro, etc.), stop taking medications, and most importantly, stop thinking STRUCTURAL problems are the cause of your pain and shift to psychological as the reason.....again, this can be difficult and takes some time to sink in, so be patient and kind to yourself.

It was a process for me. A few of the bigger moves in my case were: I ripped up and threw out my MRI test results (I found myself obsessively reading over them and comparing them to other results I could find on the web and even here on the TMSwiki site...); I got back to the gym and stopped using a weight belt; and I even cancelled an appointment I had made with aTMS doctorbecause it was more than a month away and it was hindering my recovery (that is, my 100% belief in TMS was lagging because I had this pending appointment, but as soon as I cancelled it, my recovery sped up significantly). Everyone's journey is unique to their situation, but I've found that really committing to the program and brining what I learn from it into my daily life has had profound results. Also, sharing along the way here in these forums has been extremely helpful - there's something about knowing that you're not alone in your TMS recovery that really helps. I encourage you to look through my past posts for some insight into my experience with SEP. Like I said, I'm just now finishing, tomorrow is my final day, and I feel like a changed person. It's amazing. And I feel as though it is something that one carries on with, not just like a one time 6 week thing and that's that...it has helped me to get to know myself and taught me tools to "deal" with my emotions. Learning and accepting TMS is a life changer for sure.