My Issues

[WillGray]

Hi everyone

I am new here so let me start off by talking about where this all started. I am a 26 year old male. When I was 20 I was diagnosed with acid reflux and given medication to stop it. I accepted the diagnoses and moved on never having an issue. I have always suffered with headaches and didnt know why. I eventually got glasses and the problem went away (now that I think of it, probably a placebo). As time went on I got a new job which was a very physical job. During my time there I started developing sciatic pain down my right leg. It continued to get worse and worse until I eventually couldnt even complete daily tasks without incredible pain. I would come home from work and lay on the floor for hours until bedtime. I went to my doctor and was told to do physiotherapy, which I did with no success. I have also tried chiro and massage as well as many many narcotics (nothing worked). I finally got an MRI which showed a herniated disc and a bulging disc. I was told by the orthopaedic surgeon to lose weight and continue physio. I did. My pain continued to get worse and worse and one day I woke up with complete foot drop. To this day I still cant lift my right foot. I went to see my surgeon right away and was sent for an emergency MRI that now showed 3 herniated discs. I was pulled in for emergency surgery 2 days later. I had a microdiscectomy done on 2 of the 3 discs as the surgeon said the third one has space to heal. I was happy. I had the surgery and magically all pain dissapeared. A few weeks later I was travelling to Jamaica with my family and fiance to get married. Suddenly while there I heard this crack or pop in my left leg and boom, I now have excrutisting pain down my left leg along with tight mucles and muscle pain. I went back to my surgeon and he told me that I just need to continue on with physiotherapy. With no improvement only getting worse, probably because I am telling myself everyday that it hurts to stand and walk, I decided to read "Healing Back Pain". I was in shock that everything I am feeling is described in the book. I now believe that my remaining herniated disc isnt causing the pain but rather it is TMS. I started my recovery only 2 days ago and have seen very small improvement. My questions/concerns are: How can I resume normal activity when I am basically in so much pain that I cant even stand up straight? I know I am only 2 days in but I was hoping to see faster results now that I am assured it is a mind body problem rather than a spinal problem, do results happen little by little everyday, should I not get discouraged by the smallest change and just keep pushing on? Its hard. Is it bad to think about the pain when it is present? How can I stop myself from thinking about it when it is there? I tried thinking about repressed emotions rather than the pain but I find the pain is hard to ignore. Sorry for the long post but I have lots to say

 

[Andy Bayliss]

How can I resume normal activity when I am basically in so much pain that I cant even stand up straight? I know I am only 2 days in but I was hoping to see faster results now that I am assured it is a mind body problem rather than a spinal problem, do results happen little by little everyday, should I not get discouraged by the smallest change and just keep pushing on? Its hard. Is it bad to think about the pain when it is present? How can I stop myself from thinking about it when it is there? I tried thinking about repressed emotions rather than the pain but I find the pain is hard to ignore. Sorry for the long post but I have lots to say

Hi WillGray, and Welcome! Your questions are common. The main thing I want you to recognize, the Big thing, is that you are contemplating Dr. Sarno's work, how it applies to your history, your pain. This contemplation takes time in order to go deep. You've started, and that is the main thing.

I recommend doing daily Sarno reading, also daily contemplating how your Inner Child might feel about situations/stresses, and how these feelings might need to be "repressed" in order to not threaten who you take yourself to be as a mature adult. The basic recommendations for exercise is to "gradually increase normal activity."

Learning to think psychologically is one of the main keys. It takes practice, practice. The mind must be turned away from obsessing about the physical causes of pain. This obsessing/believing in physical causes is not easy to uproot, but it will be done in time. Recognize your progress in these practices, rather than the actual pain relief results. This is what Alan Gordon calls "outcome independence." See his program in the Wiki, the TMS Recovery Program, and start engaging this program as a way of supporting Dr. Sarno's work in your life.

That you can link your history to Dr. Sarno's work is a wonderful breakthrough. Good luck in your progress. I was scheduled for nerve surgery, and could hardly walk, in pain for many years. Now I climb mountains again and ski. It will work for you too!

Here is an article I like about dealing with fear of pain. Remember the fear itself is considered by Dr. Sarno to be a greater distraction from the underlying emotions than the pain itself.

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/understanding-and-overcoming-fear.8574/ (Dr. Schubiner's Blog - Understanding and overcoming fear)

Andy B

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Learning to think psychologically is one of the main keys. It takes practice, practice. The mind must be turned away from obsessing about the physical causes of pain. This obsessing/believing in physical causes is not easy to uproot, but it will be done in time. Recognize your progress in these practices, rather than the actual pain relief results.

Welcome to the forum, WillGray! It sure sounds like you've come to the right place.

Everything that Andy said is, as always, spot-on, but these few sentences jumped out at me, because, as he already said, they are such key issues. In reading them I particularly responded to the phrase "Recognize your progress..." which leads me to add that one of the things we perfectionists do not do, is to LOVE ourselves. Start by recognizing your progress! Congratulate yourself for it, and give yourself a TON of credit, and a ton of LOVE, for having made the commitment to change not just your life, but to change your mind and your entire way of thinking.

Beating yourself up for not making progress according to some timetable that doesn't actually exist - that's your negative brain distracting you and negating your actual progress.

Loving yourself means knowing, deep in your heart, that you deserve to recover. Which you absolutely do. When you hear the message that you're not progressing, try replacing it with the new message that you deserve to recover, and that you will - step by step.

If you haven't already discovered it, start doing the Structured Education Program (which you will notice is designed to be done over 42 days - definitely not overnight) and keep us posted!

~Jan