It's just unbelievable

[Victoria]

Guys hi! I am a beginner in a TMS journey! My first sharp low back pain was 9 years ago, it happened when I was putting my jeans on, I couldn't move for some days, after MRI I found out that I have a herinated disk. Actually after that accident I was pretty well for 4 years and completely forgot about my hernia, but it hapenned again, so the interval between the first and the second time was 5 years. for the last 2 years my back really has caused many problems, I don't have a back pain every day, but rather often. My last bad back pain was in April, it was so bad that I couldn't walk and missed the flight. In my friend's house I saw Dr.Sarno's book "Healing your back pain"( I read it in Greek, so I am not sure if it is the right english title) ,it was something that really impressed me as I suppose would impress anybody suffering from back pain and not only back... I found many useful things, I analysed my life, my feelings and my emotions and understood why I have TMS. But the most amasing thing that made me write my story, happened today. A week ago I started the program from the book "Unlearn your pain" (by the way my pain comes and goes, so sometimes I don't have it at all for some period of time) Today I went for shopping, so it happened that I was walking for 5-6 hours and my back collapsed , I mean it happens sometimes when Iwalk for too long not always but happens. So on the way home i tried all the exersises from the book you know even shouting at my mind. At home I felt worse and got scared at the beginning, but with meditation, the book, very serious chat with my mind even shouting at it and of course your website my pain went away................. in 1-2 hours. Victory!!! It's my first little victory! Guys your site is very helpful. Thank you. Sorry for my English, it's not my mother tongue

 

[veronica73]

Hi Victoria,

Welcome! It's great that you are already having success working with the Sarno books.

And your English is fine

 

[Beach-Girl]

Good Morning Victoria:

Sounds like you are on your way to victory! I too shout at my mind and all the "perfectionist" thoughts as I drive around in my car. It does help. You seem to be on the right path, just keep it up and you too will be out of pain. However, it's not unusual to "slip" and that doesn't feel very good. But it doesn't mean you are going all the way back to the start.

I have been way off of my journey lately. I'm heading out for a peaceful walk this morning. I hope that this will soothe some of the things that have happened lately.

You are an inspiration for my "back-to basics". Thank you for writing. And yes, your English is just fine.

BG

 

[Victoria]

Girls thank you for your responses, Beach-girl, I understand what you mean, you know I am very skeptical as a person, and sometimes I feel that I need more positive thoughts and have to be more optimistic in my life in general. Analysing my life from the moment when the back problem started you can't imagine how obvious it was with the things that were happening at that time in my life, to have this result (back pain I mean). It could be something else, but in my case this stress developed in bad back spasm. we don't have anything to lose, you can't go to physio all your life and it doesn't help anyway Trying this programm I am trying also to change the whole attitude to my life, I am too responsible, too realistic, too serious and it doesn't help often for mental and physical health. So trying to be positive even if my recovery journey won't be smooth always

 

[Forest]

Hi Victoria,

It is so amazing to hear of your first victory over your symptoms. Once you can begin to think psychologically about your symptoms, you really do begin to overcome them. Use this one victory to increase your confidence in the approach and to realize just how powerful your thoughts are. One of the biggest keys is to understand when we have negative thoughts and are TMSing. If you can identify those times when your internal bully is coming out, you can begin to stand up to it with positivity. This will go a long way to help you fully recover.

 

[quasar731]

Victory!!! It's my first little victory!

Hi Victoria! how terrific that you are already experiencing the benefits of the knowledge you incorporated about TMS. Keep at it and you will build on your management of TMS. Well done!
All the best!

 

[Victoria]

Thanks a lot guys! Last 2 days the the same pain again, comes and goes, but I'm not giving up!!! the thing that amuses me as a beginner is that after a serious chat with my mind it's getting much much better, still having the temptation of taking some painkillers , but nevertheless try to win this battle!

 

[Victoria]

Guys! again bad back pain and I am in bed,it started in the morning, I thought I would win the whole morningI was trying to win the pain by doing meditation and chatting with my mind, doing the exercises from the book, but more angry I was getting talking to my mind more severe was my pain, now I had to make an injection that I made 6 months ago, painkiller+musculerelaxing injection, trying to be positive, difficult through the pain but I am trying, any advice from you as more experienced?

 

[Forest]

Hi Victoria,

There is a recent post from Alan Gordon about Outcome Indepence that your post really reminded me of. In the post Alan writes: At the beginning of your walk, tell yourself, "It doesn't matter how much it hurts afterward. That isn't an accurate measure of monitoring my progress with PPD anyway. What matters is how little I let it affect me; how I refuse to let my mood, my self-perception, my feelings about the future be determined by how much pain I'm in afterward.

It sounds like you are trying to get rid of your pain, but remember, the goal is not to become pain free, but to understand the emotions creating your symptoms. Success is not measured by how much pain you are or are not in. It is measured by how much you let it affect you, and how much you care about it. If you try to win the pain, most likely you will continue to think about your symptoms and what level they are at. When you do this you are actually reinforcing the symptoms because they continue to distract you. The key is to reach a point where you don't worry about the outcome or when you recover. Read the Gordon post for more on this. It is really great.

Forest

 

[Victoria]

Thank you Forest!

 

[BruceMC]

Hi Victoria,

After reading your story about the origin of your back pain, it really struck me how the original diagnosis of a 'herniated disk' could never account for the intermittent nature of your pain syndrome. If the herniated disk was really causing your back pain, how in the world is it so intermittent? As Marc Sopher points out somewhere I believe, a physical cause for your pain would produce a consistent continuous set of symptoms. Your pain episodes vary according to your emotional state (i.e. psychologically) and not according to pressure on your nerves from a bulging disk (i.e. structurally). However, because the doctors diagnosed you as having a herniated disk from the onset of symptoms their structural diagnosis perpetuated your TMS pain by distracting you from the underlying psychological causes behind your TMS. Putting your jeans on, you must have realized a long time ago, does not constitute an "accident"; much more likely it was a psychological trigger that caused your TMS to manifest at that point where your emotions were about to "boil over" and intrude into your conscious life. Your first little victory over the TMS pain is a really important milestone on your road to recovery because you were finally addressing the underlying emotional causes behind your pain. Congratulations!

 

[Victoria]

Thank you Mor Comm for taking time to reply, I am now absolutely sure that there was a psychological trigger when I firstly had a bad back spasm, and I know what it was, so now I know the reason. at the moment trying to work with TMS, because this pain is so tricky!!!!!!! I am walking now, so I am much much better, just a dull pain, which could disappear for some hours and then comes back again, from what I managed to learm about TMS, it's classical TMS tricks but we will win it!

 

[BruceMC]

Thanks, Victoria! Glad my two-bits were helpful to you during your recovery process. That's what I notice that the TMS program has done for me: Instead of thinking (and obsessing) about physical causes for my pain episodes, I learned to identify the underlying emotional causes. For example, I always used to think that I had a massive back attack in 2002 because of a 'herniated disk'. Now, I can see it was a reaction not only to my mother's death in January 2001, but also the added financial responsibilities that came with inheriting her house, where my parents, incidentally, had fought like cats and dogs for many years. And my TMS relapse, I realize now, occurred right after I'd been beating my brains out writing a book under pressure for a deadline while conducting an ill-starred relationship with a ballet dancer in San Francisco. It wasn't the little fall I took out running on a Nature Preserve that caused the pain to return. No physical injury at all. My unfortunate fall was in fact what Dr. Sarno would call a psychological trigger that prompted my unconscious rage at abandonment, separation and rejection to start to boil up into my conscious mind.

But without learning about TMS theory I would have never recognized how this process worked and would have continued to go to physical therapy and do my stretches and exercises like a good little over-achiever forever and a day. I would have never began to break the TMS pain cycle. That you figured out the emotional clue for the onset of your pain is a really very important step in the healing process, one that you should celebrate rather than fret about. Never have any doubt that you are now on the road to recovery. Accept your intuition and work with it!

 

[Victoria]

Thanks Morcomm!