Day 1 Excited to be here!

Hello everyone,

In 2018, out of the blue, I experienced excruciating pain in my hip, so much so that I could not walk. X-rays and orthopedic exam came back with a diagnosis of moderate hip arthritis. The doctor prescribed PT, OTC medications, ice and rest. He said the arthritis would get progressively worse and I could expect a hip replacement in about ten years. Over the course of these past seven years, I’ve had pain off and on (nothing ever as bad as that first incident but debilitating nonetheless). I’ve been able to manage the pain conservatively, but it does impact my day-to-day enjoyment of life, and I’ve worried constantly about needing surgery in the future.


Last November I was involved in a freak accident while hiking. A redwood tree (about 60 feet tall) fell on me. Fortunately, there were no head injuries, but my body got clobbered in many places. I was airlifted to a trauma center where scans of my entire body were done. My upper body got the brunt of it, and I needed surgery to repair my shoulder area. But the orthopedist who did that work on my shoulder told me my “hip was a mess!” and if he could have, he would have done a hip replacement right then and there. The new diagnosis was advanced severe osteoarthritis of the right hip. After I returned home from the trauma center and followed up with my primary doctor, he fast-tracked me to orthopedics to be put on the waitlist for hip replacement surgery.


Fortunately (I think!) since my hip surgery is still considered elective, I’m on a very long waitlist. I do NOT want surgery, and having to wait to be scheduled has allowed me time to pursue other options for relieving or reversing the condition. I had become aware of Dr. Sarno’s work many years ago and have his books. I always liked his theory but never delved deeply into it. As I re-read his books over the last couple of weeks, my hip pain stopped completely. I could not believe it!!! While the level of pain has always gone up and down, it’s never gone completely. But while I was reading the books, it disappeared altogether. When I finished the books, it started nagging me again. So yesterday, I started reading them again and the pain stopped. Talk about “show me a sign!” – This is just too coincidental to ignore.


Through all of this pain journey with my hip I’ve always noticed that the pain would increase when I’m under a lot of stress, and that first flareup in 2018 occurred during a crisis point in my life. I’m also realizing that throughout my life I’ve had other weird symptoms and ailments, usually out of the blue, and I wonder if they might have been TMS.

I’m still having trouble believing 100 percent that the pain from my hip arthritis is TMS because I’ve been swallowed whole by the standard medical system as it were…convinced I was on track for the standard solution of a hip replacement. But as I revisit the teachings of Dr. Sarno, it feels like all the puzzle pieces are coming together so quickly and I’m excited to do the work here to see if I can turn the page to a pain-free life by following these principles.

Thank you!

 

Thanks for sharing your story, @Carma7 !
Nice to meet you virtually and wishing you well on your journey!

 

Hi, @Carma7 !
Welcome! That’s quite a story! (Especially, the freak accident. Sheesh! You’ve been through a lot!) Sarno said arthritis was a “normal abnormality” and shouldn’t be a cause for concern. Here’s what it says in The MindBody Prescription, by John Sarno.

“OSTEOARTHRITIS OF THE HIP
Another important addition to the list of structural abnormalities wrongfully accused of causing back pain is the arthritic hip. Degenerative changes in the hip joint are fairly common and so is TMS pain in the buttock. Following the usual pattern, the pain is often blamed on the hip joint and hip replacement surgery is done even when the degeneration is relatively mild. I have intervened in some cases before surgery was done and successfully treated the pain nonsurgically. Moreover, I have seen others who had surgery and continued to have pain.”

The medical world just doesn’t see it this way, and they can really scare people. It’s hard to fight that fear. (Who doesn’t want to believe a doctor?) But your experiences while reading Sarno make it pretty evident that you have TMS. As does your history of other types of TMS. Keep reading your Sarno books. And do what he says. It’s great you’re doing The Structured Educational Program. You’re in the right place!