bulging disk causing real problems or is it TMS?

[Sparrow]

I'm young, healthy and very active. For a year I've had pain/weakness in my right leg (sciatica), preventing me from running anymore. Finally just went to doc and they blame it on a slightly bulging disk and minor annular tear. They say the bulge is so minor that it shouldn't cause many problems, but they seemed to say it's the only abnormality they found and so it must be the cause of my sciatica.

Since going to the doctor and having attention drawn to this bulging disk, I've developed pretty severe back pain originating from that location. Of course they say it's all part of having a bulging disk: sometimes it'll flare up and bother you, other times it's fine.

Thoughts?? For 6 months I attributed my sciatica to TMS, and tried working through it, but since there was no relief, I decided to see a doctor to rule out medical conditions. Is it safe to say I've ruled that out now? A bulging disk shouldn't cause sciatica? Or back pain?

Appreciate your time!

 

[JanAtheCPA]

It's all about your belief, @Sparrow! We always recommend getting checked out so you can proceed with your TMS work with confidence in the TMS diagnosis (which for most of us is TMS self-diagnosis). So you have to ask yourself - am I ready to really commit, 100% to TMS? Am I willing to believe that I can't harm myself by committing 100% to TMS? Am I willing to not go back to the doctors, but instead concentrate on how my fearful brain is trying to keep me in pain?

Those are the questions you have to ask yourself.

I'm unclear what you mean by "tried working through it". So my question is: what have you done to address TMS in a concrete fashion - and have you done it with 100% commitment and self-honesty?

 

[healingfromchronicpain]

I like what @JanAtheCPA said. Sounds to me 100% TMS.

I’ve gone on the roller coaster of getting somewhat better then getting worse again. I know my neck pain (subsequent to a ruptured disc and neck surgery) is TMS, but I think that there’s so much subconscious crap I’m dealing with that the 100% commitment might not be there, even though I can intellectually think/know/say it is. My subconscious is a stubborn one. But I know what’s happening and know my body will catch up to my mind eventually. It’s already brought my pain down dramatically. I’ve just got just a little more to go.

 

[Baseball65]

Since going to the doctor and having attention drawn to this bulging disk, I've developed pretty severe back pain originating from that location.

Is this sequence correct? If it is, that is EXACTLY how my pain progressed and YES it was 110% TMS. My 'Back' problems started with a peculiar weakness in my hip/leg that necessitated me walking by assisting the leg. When it became too much to deal with I went to the doctor...AFTER getting the 'herniated disc' diagnosis, my actual back proper began to spasm and be in excruciating pain... Therein lies proof that it is mental, because until going to the doctor I assumed it was a hip/butt/leg problem. My Back had hurt some but now it was often times the main problem.

Dr. Sarno's explanation of a REGIONAL Process of Ischemia much better accounts for the following;

.. the sciatica switched sides. It started being in my left in the morning and then the right in the afternoon....Both by the end of the day, in a relatively fixed pattern. They Re-MRI'd me and nothing had changed. WHY? The Doctor, who was an NBA team doc, gave me a vague and mushy non-answer.

A bulging disk shouldn't cause sciatica? Or back pain?

No. Many, many studies have found major herniation (5-10-14mm) in people with NO pain. The rule in science is supposed to be , if there is an exception to the rule, you need a new rule.

..and I'll leave you with this. In 2013 I fell two stories and severed my thumb. I had a number of other injuries, but I was most anxious about the thumb.....didn't get checked out for anything else. They sewed it back together and it's fine now (thanks Doc!) BUT in 2015 when I was having some suspected gall bladder issues, the MRI'd and X-rayed me all over...and found a recently Healed broken Vertebrae in my spine. The FALL had literally broken a piece of my spine and I had NO BACK PROBLEMS.

Broken spine digging holes and playing ball.... and a 4mm herniation that left me in agony and out of work for 18 months???

I'm unclear what you mean by "tried working through it". So my question is: what have you done to address TMS in a concrete fashion - and have you done it with 100% commitment and self-honesty?

What she said.

You are not alone or special...and that's good. That means you can get pain free like the rest of us!

peace

 

[Sparrow]

Thank you everybody for the responses!

Is this sequence correct? If it is, that is EXACTLY how my pain progressed and YES it was 110% TMS.

This time around, yes. I've had bouts of back pain the past, so at first I figured it was another one of those. However, it's been YEARS since I've had severe back pain. So I tried making connections and realized this bout of it started right after I had an MRI of my bulging disk area, which was already mentioned a few weeks earlier after xrays. So maybe my brain ran with the extra attention being put on this "problem area." Also, the back pain seems to be "caused" by biking. But I've been biking for a year straight and it never caused this pain before... so, that's another clue.

I'm unclear what you mean by "tried working through it". So my question is: what have you done to address TMS in a concrete fashion - and have you done it with 100% commitment and self-honesty?

First I ignored the leg for a while, brushing it off as nothing, or just something the brain was doing, tried not to give it any power. Spent more time meditating and being mindful. When those didn't work, I re-read through Sarno's books. Also spent months working through Schubiner's "Unlearn Your Pain" program. Perhaps there was always some bit of doubt in my mind though, since I wasn't able to get it checked out to confirm I didn't have an injury.

 

[jcutrone821]

Almost everyone has a bulged disk. In my experience, if the pain comes and goes or has spread or migrated, then it's likely not coming from tissue damage.

 

[Sparrow]

Update: Within a week of my original post, my leg returned to 90% functional for the first time in 14 months, and has remained that way since. As if a switch flipped. I guess I did need to see a doc afterall to confirm my suspicion that TMS was at fault.