Day 1 Hopeful

I came across Healing Back Pain last December and read it then. I was very hopeful, and the book seemed to fit my experience perfectly, and the arguments made sense—but I knew I still had reservations. My back was pretty much the same a few months later, so I recently re-read Healing Back Pain and re-affirmed my belief in Dr. Sarno's explanations, and made a renewed commitment to learning as much as I can. I'd like to find a TMS-friendly doctor in Wisconsin, but the tmswiki page with that information appears to be completely out-of-date. I'll go through this program anyway. Dealing with my pain is not an urgent issue; I feel it every day, but I can work from home laying down, and it's not severe enough that I'm limited in physical activities. For the curious—I had a "herniated disc" experience 4.5 years ago. I woke up one morning with severe pain, and I couldn't sleep well for a week. My pain gradually diminished, but has never disappeared. Standing for long periods of time (concerts, museums, mall shopping) is the most painful thing for me, and uninterrupted sitting (long flights & drives) is next.

 

I'm with you buddy. I was dismissive at first, but I am throwing myself whole hog into this.

 

This is an awesome program and you have come to the right place. You will learn so much about yourself and you will develop the skills (tools) to help you manage your personality traits and pain. I had Scoliosis surgery when I was 16. Most of my spine is fused. I blamed everything on my scoliosis; low back pain, neck pain, shin splints, pelvic floor problems, IT band pain, foot pain and much more.

Today I do everything when I was told by an orthopedic surgeon in 1998 that my future to be pain free was not good. He was wrong. And what he told me lived inside my head for years creating worry, fear and depression. I walk 4-6 miles each day. I play a new sport called pickleball 5 days a week which requires constant bending. I was told by this surgeon to eliminate all bending from my life to try to preserve what discs I had left. I have no pain today. He was so very wrong.

You can do this program and you can become pain free and you will have a normal life.

 

Stella. I love your post. I have been listening to the Sarno Audio Book and there is a section in there that talks about people in wheelchairs that have more active lifestyles than some of us suffering with TMS it is so true. A couple of months ago, I thought I was going to be confined to my bed for the rest of my life. My parents, thinking they were helping me actually made a modified bed so I could work on my laptop. I am past that phase and we are actually burning the table/bed this weekend. I think I'll post some pics when I get a chance.