Day 1 hello...

After watching my anteaters win the mens volleyball national championship on saturday ive decided to adopt their slogan for my recovery from tms. All-in. I know its a bit tired of a phrase but i feel it fits in with the process and since volleyball is a huge part of my life and i played for UCI years ago, i like how it all ties together.

I havent played volleyball in 5 months. Not since bending over to pick up a cup of water off the ground while walking off the 1st green of a nearby golf course. I felt a pop in my left lower back, stood up thinking that was weird. That quickly changed to "this isnt good" as things started to tighten up in my lower back. I tried teeing off on hole 2 but had to quit and barely made it back to my car. Driving home i started to think how this is going to suck and that ill probably be laid up for weeks. The next two days were spent motionless on the floor of my living room with some struggled movements to get food and get to bed.

Over the next week i got to moving around. Limping here and there. After about week 3 i started some exercise stretching andsome cardio. I had some pain in my left leg mostly around the IT band but it wasnt bad. At week 6 i even went skiing for two days, about 3 hrs each day.

Then about a week after the ski trip i started to feel some weakness in my left leg and my back still had some pain and overall weakness. I decided it was time for structured PT because i wasnt healing. Around 8 weeks after my "injury" i saw my doctor for the first time. She said an MRI would be the next course of action since it was 8 weeks and things werent progressing and we should see what is happening in my back. Within days the pain in my left leg started getting worse. I then got the MRI results showing 2 bulging discs at L3-L4 and L4L5. The pain increased, Cramping feelings in my hamstring, sharpe pains in my quad above the knee, burning on the outside of my upper calf. I got an appointment for PT and went in to see him. He checked me out and told me MRIs can tell you more than you should know, that many people are walking around with bulging discs and i will be fine. I knew the exercises he showed me and stuck to them. Hamstring stretches, ab exercises, back arches. I felt things were more serious than just some hamstring stretches.
The pain in my left leg worsened. I strarted on advil and then aleave. I couldnt put my shoes on without agonizing pain. Driving was bad too. Things didnt get worse, but nothing has gotten better. About 10 days ago someone introduced me to dr. Sarno's books and i have stopped taking any aleave and have tried to change my outlook on what is going on. Ive read two of his books and im now here. I dont know if things are better but they arent worse and im hopeful.

 

welcome ods,

Get ready for an amazing journey.

 

Hi ods, and welcome!

"All-in" is totally appropriate for the change in your thinking that is needed in order to accept TMS theory in your life.

I like what your PT said about MRIs telling you more than you need to know! I suffered for years with neck pain, and an A-O joint (atlas-occipital) that kept going out, much to the frustration of my chiropractor who thought she should be able to get it to stay in (you could actually feel it at the top of my neck, off to the right of where it should have been). A friend really wanted me to get an MRI so I could be diagnosed, like her, with stenosis, and join her in getting regular steroid shots. Instead, I discovered Dr. Sarno, and have never looked back. I still struggle, but not with neck pain, which went away shortly after I worked on the Ed Program (and no more chiropractic, either, not for two years). I was a bit surprised, but also quite relieved, to discover just how many of my other symptoms were TMS equivalents - but some are harder to banish than others, and I'm still working on the chronic anxiety component.

It's a lifelong journey (I try not to say "struggle") but you are definitely not alone. As Stella said, it's also an amazing one.

Keep posting, and let us know how it's going.

Jan