Day 4: Scary doctor talk

My worst experience was last week when the chiro came to my house with my xrays and the paperwork for the MRI. I'd just started learning about TMS and was starting to believe that it was my problem. It was a good day my pain was down a bit and I had walked and was up out of bed.

He blew it all away. I tried to explain to him what I was learning but he just said no. He said my disc collapse was different and I would need surgery or I would have pain for the rest of my life. He even suggested I could become paralysed.

He left, and the rest of the day the pain was horrible. I was back stuck in bed and in tears until my husband came home. He wholeheartedly believes in TMS. We listened to the audiobook of Dr Sarno's together. My husband is really a big help to me, huge.

This week I was supposed to go for chiro treatments which have done nothing. I just sent him a message that I won't come. I can't have his conflicting messages if I'm to cure my TMS. I'm going for the MRI on Monday only to rule out anything serious but I know the doctor talk will set me back. I've been trying to prepare my brain for it.

I'll take the MRI to the chiro but I am almost positive I will stop treatments. I just feel it is hindering my progress in healing my TMS. I need to be single minded and I can't be when he is not working in the same direction as me.

 

Sounds like the worst kind of common "scare tactics" used by chiros to keep you coming back again and again for more "adjustments". How many people do you know with lower back pain from a herniated or bulging disk who've become "paralyzed"? The hospitals are just full of patients like that, right? If you listened to chiros, you'd assume the wards are full of paralyzed people on feeding tubes requiring around the clock care to maintain normal metabolic functions. Sure!

I'm assuming of course that you've been checked out by a traditional MD and given a clean bill of health regarding any pre-existing conditions that might be behind your symptoms? But it does sound like you've already done that.

If you were hit by a car and blunt force trauma broke your back and severed your spinal cord, yes, you'd be paralyzed. But from gut bucket lower lumbar back pain and sciatica? Not very likely. In any event, you are going in for the MRI today, so that should put your fears at rest. I might add that when I tore my rotator cuff, I too went in for an MRI and the orthopedic surgeon said if I didn't let her operate, my shoulder was going to hurt forever and my arm would never work right again. The surgeon said I had a completely torn superspinatus tendon and it would never heal. However, my shoulder stopped hurting in 6-8 weeks and now it works just fine again. My point is that it's who and how you interpret an MRI image that determines what treatment regime to follow. Obviously, my superspinatus was only partially torn, but that isn't what the orthopedic surgeon "saw".

Best of luck and hoping that that today's MRI image doesn't overly disturb you. You just have to keep in mind that there are hundreds of thousands of people walking around pain-free each and every day who have herniated and bulging disks.

 

Wow, Lauri, that sounds horrible. I agree with Bruce that these sound like the usual scare tactics. Not that the doctors necessarily mean it to be, but these warnings are usually not true and only set patients back with fear.

I'm so glad your husband is so supportive. I think you should throw away the MRI and not go to the chiropractor anymore, but maybe you're not quite there yet.

I agree with Bruce--there are loads of people with herniated discs and bulging discs and no pain. Keep in mind all of Sarno's examples. Be strong.

 

Thanks Gailnyc and Bruce. My MRI is next Monday. For now I'm just reading and journaling and trying to move more. Trying to be strong and patient.

 

I have met my share of mean and scared doctors. For some reason, today I have been thinking of the most horrible experiences I have had with them and my mind is playing tricks on me. I am trying to get well, and these stupid voices of these doctors of the past are resurfacing.

Any thoughts on how to shut the voices up?

 

i have major structural problems and my x-rays, mris and scans are hard to look at. my experience with chiros I used was a feeling they never truly helped other than for short periods of minimal relief. its TMS! its been a month and a half since your MRI so hoping you got some answers LauriK. Take a read of my story I feel I was fooled into surgery when I became complacent and forgot about Sarno and TMS. As I mentioned in my day10 SEP program update I had a surgeon tell me in my 30's that I was destined for spinal fusion when I got older due to my spondylthesis diagnosis! Nice guy, not.
mncj123 remember that these voices of doctors who scared you, they are surely stuck in medical science explanations only and not willing to even see the mindbody connection, even though it truly happened to me when I accepted Sarno in the 90's, so their loss!

 

Thanks Brant. I wish I could undo all the uneseccary treatments, injections, burned nervess and surgeries. And also all the negative comments on how I was going to die, be paralazed and such if I didn't listen to them.

 

LauriK,
Sounds like you have inner clarity and wonderful support from your husband. Follow your inner guidance. I had 2 years of excruciating knee pain and couldn't understand why I always felt worse after seeing a doctor or PT. TMS and this forum has changed things around in incredible ways. I think it is wise to rule out anything seriously structurally wrong with an MRI. If the pain you are experiencing doesn't sync up with the findings, there is good evidence for TMS. It's odd how the medical model gets into our own self talk (aside from the doctor talk)-- so you might notice how your self talk reinforces some of the voices that undermine healing. Best wishes to you!
Janine

 

Hi, lauriK.

If it will ease your mind, go ahead and get the MRI, but if I were you, I'd postpone the MRI. Even if it found something structural, it might not cause pain. Give TMS a chance to heal you. If after a while you still are in pain, then get the MRI.