WesternShores
New Member
I am a few weeks into my TMS / Sarno journey, but 20+ years into my journey with sciatica. For most of my life, sciatica has been a minor, manageable annoyance. If I stand around for a while, or walk a long distance, I start to get a little discomfort, but would just need to take it easy and I’d be fine.
For the last 5 months, since Dec 2025, the sciatica has been so bad that it has seriously affected my day-to-day life. Even a little bit of standing is painful, and walking often is as well. Sitting down is excruciating until my back settles in. It takes me a while to get to sleep at night, and I dread rolling out of bed because of the pain that inevitably hits on that first weight-bearing step.
The only other time I had pain like this was 5 years ago, when my dad was in hospice-care and eventually passed away. I wondered at the time if there was some kind of mind-body connection with the increase in pain and my dad’s passing. At the time, I started seeing a Chiropractor, and dropped about 25 lbs through intermittent fasting. About a month or so after my dad’s passing, the pain resolved. I kept seeing the Chiropractor until early 2025, and felt great with respect to the sciatica. When I stopped seeing the Chiropractor, the sciatica slowly came back, until in Dec 2025 it became pretty unbearable.
Now, none of the previous stuff really works. I don’t have nearly the weight to lose, and after seeing the Chiro again for 3 months, it’s not doing much. I’ve tried some Physical Therapy, am seeing an Orthopaedist, and had an MRI that showed a significant disc herniation at L4-L5. I have a follow up appointment with the Ortho this week. I don’t expect him to recommend surgery, which is fine, because I don’t think it will fix the problem, and I’m worried about how it could hurt more than help.
So that pretty much leaves me with TMS / Sarno. I would describe my perspective on the Sarno theory as something like the Christian saying:
Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
I think Sarno is right about me. I match the personality traits. I carry a lot of unresolved emotional tension in my life. The fact that it last flared up when my dad passed away connects with this idea, because I always felt like my dad and I never really said goodbye as a father and a son should. I’ve never felt particularly broken up about that, at least not consciously, but I guess that’s where the unconscious mind comes in.
Regardless, my experience of these first two weeks with a Sarno approach seems to be right, but the ups and downs are still there. It can be frustrating to read about people who are instantly fixed by reading a Sarno book. But again, to paraphrase a Christian saying:
Where else will I go? Sarno knows how to heal back pain.
Learning about “neural pathways” from Gordon also makes sense as to why underlying emotional pain can manifest in a physical way. And I’m done pouring money and time into ineffective treatments.
So I’m committed to be on this journey, despite my underlying skepticism and fears that it might not work for me, and worse, that this might be a permanent way of life for me.
Because what else is there for me to try?
For the last 5 months, since Dec 2025, the sciatica has been so bad that it has seriously affected my day-to-day life. Even a little bit of standing is painful, and walking often is as well. Sitting down is excruciating until my back settles in. It takes me a while to get to sleep at night, and I dread rolling out of bed because of the pain that inevitably hits on that first weight-bearing step.
The only other time I had pain like this was 5 years ago, when my dad was in hospice-care and eventually passed away. I wondered at the time if there was some kind of mind-body connection with the increase in pain and my dad’s passing. At the time, I started seeing a Chiropractor, and dropped about 25 lbs through intermittent fasting. About a month or so after my dad’s passing, the pain resolved. I kept seeing the Chiropractor until early 2025, and felt great with respect to the sciatica. When I stopped seeing the Chiropractor, the sciatica slowly came back, until in Dec 2025 it became pretty unbearable.
Now, none of the previous stuff really works. I don’t have nearly the weight to lose, and after seeing the Chiro again for 3 months, it’s not doing much. I’ve tried some Physical Therapy, am seeing an Orthopaedist, and had an MRI that showed a significant disc herniation at L4-L5. I have a follow up appointment with the Ortho this week. I don’t expect him to recommend surgery, which is fine, because I don’t think it will fix the problem, and I’m worried about how it could hurt more than help.
So that pretty much leaves me with TMS / Sarno. I would describe my perspective on the Sarno theory as something like the Christian saying:
Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
I think Sarno is right about me. I match the personality traits. I carry a lot of unresolved emotional tension in my life. The fact that it last flared up when my dad passed away connects with this idea, because I always felt like my dad and I never really said goodbye as a father and a son should. I’ve never felt particularly broken up about that, at least not consciously, but I guess that’s where the unconscious mind comes in.
Regardless, my experience of these first two weeks with a Sarno approach seems to be right, but the ups and downs are still there. It can be frustrating to read about people who are instantly fixed by reading a Sarno book. But again, to paraphrase a Christian saying:
Where else will I go? Sarno knows how to heal back pain.
Learning about “neural pathways” from Gordon also makes sense as to why underlying emotional pain can manifest in a physical way. And I’m done pouring money and time into ineffective treatments.
So I’m committed to be on this journey, despite my underlying skepticism and fears that it might not work for me, and worse, that this might be a permanent way of life for me.
Because what else is there for me to try?
