Day 4 Did some exercises I feared.. nothing bad happened

I feel like I am off to a good start; I've been doing all the things that I've feared for years, and maybe even more importantly, doing things without the fear that what I did may have just damaged/hurt me.

1. Jumping (nothing crazy yet)
2. Jumprope
3. Bending over to lift my toddler off the ground when he has a tantrum
4. Slouching (completely relaxed, curved spine!) while sitting with my newborn for 10-15 minutes
5. laying flat on my stomach (yes it does hurt)
etc...

And, while only 2 days in, nothing bad has happened. And, I feel more confident I can do all these things. I can definitely tell without the fear, things change. In fact, I laugh in my head as I empty the washing machine (bent over) when my back hurts thinking... this hurts, but theres no way this is hurting my back.. don't waste your time, brain..

Anyway yes I advocate punting the fear! I hope I'll see some concrete physical improvements in the future. (I feel like I am but I dont want to count my chickens yet)

 

Hi, c4brain. You are off to a great start in the SEProgram. You deserve to count some chickens already.

Doing what we fear may cause pain is the way to go. And I love it that you laughed while emptying the washing machine. You didn't let the pain s5top you.

Take a look at Kevin's post about his 95 percent healing after doing the SEP, then a few days later said he was 1oo 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.

 

Thanks for the reply Walt, and for sharing the story of Kevin.

I really have to try and force myself to do certain behaviors.. like stand still while brushing my teeth. I generally would pace at a frantic rate because it was more comfortable. Hopefully you'll be seeing more progress from me through this program.