I can relate to this electric bolt spams. I am a 31 year old male and have experienced this on and off since my initial bulging disk diagnosis 4 years ago. This type of spasm really can put you in a dark place because it makes you feel disabled. It's not ordinary back pain but rather a lighting bolt that makes you just want to avoid doing everything. When the spasm hits me I begin to sweat and feel exhausted on the spot as if I just ran a marathon. Since I found dr sarno and have dug deep into Dr Howard and Allan gordans work I have learnt to reduce my fear around the spasm when it hits me which would result in the spasm not lasting as long as it usually would. My mri result showed a minor l5/s1 disk bulge which to me made no sense how I could be in so much pain all the time until sarno put everything together for me. I haven't read about much people experiencing this electric jolt type pain so just to let you know you are not alone. Be easy on yourself and know that you are not damaged.
Hi, I felt like crying when I read your note. When you said “It's not ordinary back pain but rather a lighting bolt that makes you just want to avoid doing everything. When the spasm hits me I begin to sweat and feel exhausted on the spot as if I just ran a marathon”.
Well, I had your same diagnostic, L5-L1 bulge which doesn't sound so horrible right? But when the electric shots happen I am devastated and all my beliefs are shot to hell. How ca I not believe in structural damage? I am seriously considering getting a surgeon to operate on me and reducing that bulge. Am I crazy? I had being doing everything right and for a year I had no pain and suddenly now I’m getting three or four bolts a day, and even though afterwards I am not horribly contracted or in pain, I am in constant fear of movement. You know something? Since I had the first incident 5 years ago I have not bended at the waist, I always squat or get on my knees, that’s no way to live a life. Dr Sarno has helped me live some pain free months, or was it just a coincidence? Im starting to believe the damage has always been there but when my muscles are more relaxed there is no pressure on the bulge and I don't get the bolt but if I tense up or make the wrong move then all hell breaks lose. I am afraid to get an operation and then find myself back to where I started or worse. These are really trying times, I seem to have lost direction and hope.
And there doesn't seem to be a pill that can help with this either. I keep thinking “are bulges there forever? Don't they reduce size or shrink or stop being active? My MRI was 6 years ago, is this bulge still the culprit?
What works for you? Has there been a time where you get this bolts several times a day? It really leaves you exhausted and worried sick, its impossible to navigate this with mind body beliefs, ir so it seems.
I might get better like in the past but I fear I will never recover normal moves like bending at the waist for this pain is so sudden and paralyzing that it is impossible to challenge.
At times I say to myself “are you crazy? Stop trying to heal with mind body approaches, this must be operated on”, however the surgeon said to me to hang on and that it would get better and that small bulges like mine only got operated on if they became too active and made my life impossible, well perhaps this is the time.
Unless I find a trick or method that works better for me than journaling and reading the books… I am at my wits end. Please share any findings/tricks.
Thanks for listening. God bless
