Scared of an MRI

[scottyboy8]

Hi all,

First of all let me say that my pain is 95% gone after reading Dr. Sarno's books. However, I still have the slightest niggle/pain. It's nothing serious and isn't where the pain used to be.

Now my attention has part shifted to a clicking/popping noise in my groin area. I can actually feel some tissue inflamed in this area and I am thinking that maybe it is tendonitis or something. There is no pain attached to this BUT it makes me think that I may have some structural damage, and by doing so brings back my pain.

So, I am booked to go in for my first MRI, and I am worried that it if it shows a herniated disk or some other structural "abnormality" then it may bring back my pain.

I know the obvious answer is to get the MRI, but if I'm being honest I would rather stay with this 95% feeling than living with that pain again.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Ellen]

Wow! 95% reduction in symptoms from reading Sarno! That is wonderful! Congratulations, Scotty!

A clicking/popping noise with no pain attached? Let it go, let it go.......Your unconscious is trying to distract you in a new way, now that you have conquered pain. Don't let it. Just go about your pain-free life and enjoy every minute it. Ignore the clicking/popping.

You are right to be hesitant about getting an MRI. I say don't do it. It is a minefield.

 

[BruceMC]

Just like I said in my private post to you, Scott, those pops and clicks are just your TMS trying to attract your attention. Just let go of them. I was really pleased last week that I couldn't get my left leg to click until I stood on a high box and extended my range of leg motion to its maximum. Yup, it's going away, but that's because I am no longer obsessing about it. I've noticed that if I really want to challenge those clicks and pops, doing those stretching and hanging exercises with a TRX suspension system has revealed just how far I've advanced from the point where my left leg was non-weight bearing 5 years ago. In other words: slow steady inevitable progress since I first read Dr. Sarno 5 years ago. Your recovery is certainly going a lot faster than mine! Take heart in that and don't go chasing after MRIs at the drop of a hat! But I'm an inveterate work-a-holic and have to do everything (as my late father once sagely observed) the hard way.

 

[Kiara]

Don't worry, I get lots of clicks and pops from my TMS pain! I think it's almost normal with TMS. If you don't feel right about the MRI, I would not go ahead with it. In my case I am planning to get an MRI of my brain and neck, because I have neuropathic pain, and the neurologist wants to rule out Multiple Sclerosis. However, if you simply have muscular or joint pain, I highly doubt there is a risk of any serious disease or illness.

 

[scottyboy8]

Thank you all for your replies. I can't express my gratitude enough that there are people who understands and cares. It means a lot.

Bruce, I am trying mu hardest to let go of it, but I suppose deep down I don't want to let go because then I'd need to start enjoying my life. Such a weird phenomena, we would give everything to get better but we just can't let it go. I am sorry for sounding insensitive Bruce, but I have taken some solace from the fact that you are still healing 5 years down the line, it makes me feel that there is no set timeframe and not to get disheartened if it isn't over as easy as other people's pain. Hopefully it will all be over for you soon mate.

Laudisco, can I ask what location you get your clicks and pops?

 

[Barb M.]

I have a friend who is a yoga teacher and also does some other body work such as somatic experiencing. She has told me that clicking and popping noises in the body are very normal!

 

[BruceMC]

I am sorry for sounding insensitive Bruce, but I have taken some solace from the fact that you are still healing 5 years down the line, it makes me feel that there is no set timeframe and not to get disheartened if it isn't over as easy as other people's pain. Hopefully it will all be over for you soon mate.

Yeah, it's been 5 years since I first read Dr. Sarno, Scott, and the healing process definitely began then. However, it's been speeding up since around last August. Used to kinda limp into my gym and had a hard time raising my foot over a curb or down a step (classic 'drop foot'). Now, though, I notice I don't think about those things anymore and just step over the curb and walk down flights of stairs. My walking gait has sped up too. I don't wake up and think about what sort of pain is going to develop during the rest of the day either. Just get on with my business. Seem to have forgotten about those things that used to seem overwhelming and obsessive. (Ssssssh! Shouldn't really talk about it! It might come back!) In any case, my slow gradual recovery proves Dr. Sarno right: My TMS is emotionally and psychologically driven and not caused by something physical or structural. If it was due to spinal degeneration, osteoarthritis, or a herniated disk, the pain would have gradually gotten worse instead of gradually improving. My TMS actually started back in November 2001 immediately after the death of my mother when I had a major back attack that disappeared a couple years later right after I got big check from my late father's lawyers. Funny how that is! At the time, I figured I'd healed something physical by working really hard at PT. My relapse came out of the blue five years ago at a time when I was all revved up about a bunch of stuff all at the same time. But I realize now my TMS symptoms came back after my old doctor died - the same guy who had been my mother's doctor too and who I'd been going to for nearly 40 years. Very strong connection with my family. Reading Dr. Sarno made me realize that the death of my mother was really psychological catalyst that changed my brain chemistry in such a way that I started having TMS symptoms. Dr. Sarno really helped me understand what I was going through so I could stop going through it. If you buy into that PT, chiro, orthopedic jive, you'll just wind up chasing your own tail-tale.

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Scotty, I dated a girl whose joints popped every time she stood up and walked.
Neither of us ever mentioned it and she never looked to be in pain.

You are concerned that maybe something structural is wrong with you, so it's a good idea to get an MRI.
But remember, Dr. Sarno says even if a herniated disc is seen, they don't cause pain. That comes from something psychological,
a repressed emotion. From what you wrote, it seems that could go back to your mother. Some journaling about your
relationship could lead you to better understanding and that can lead to becoming pain-free.

 

[Kiara]

Laudisco, can I ask what location you get your clicks and pops?

I get the clicks and pops in various places including my neck/shoulder area (usually pops from tight muscles) but I also often get popping my elbows. Sometimes I also get other random popping or clicking noises in my back - including my lower back. I suspect it's related to tension.

 

[BruceMC]

I also get other random popping or clicking noises in my back - including my lower back. I suspect it's related to tension.

I do get clicking and popping in exactly those same locations in my left hip and lower lumbar region where I feel TMS pain symptoms. Yeah, tension, muscle tension, as a result of the TMS process I'd say for sure. That's because as my TMS has subsided, the popping and clicking now only occur at the farthest range of my left leg's flexibility. Three months ago, I couldn't lower down on my left leg without encountering tight spots at the same points where the clicks were. Now my range of motion before encountering clicks is much, much further down. It does sound like tight muscles are the culprit. If you believe Dr Sarno's explanation for TMS, that makes perfect sense because oxygen deprivation is what causes muscles to cramp in the first place whether you're running full blast and encountering an aerobic condition or psychic tension is causing your autonomic nervous system to shut down oxygen flow to your extremities. In the case of pops and clicks, Dr. Sarno's explanation of the origins of TMS does seem plausible based on my own experience. The trauma of the death of my mother in 2001 sounds like it caused me to go into fight-flight-freeze, the mammalian survival response that automatically cuts down on oxygen to the extremities in order to conserve it in the major organs. Sure sounds to me like TMS is directly related to traumatic stress that can occur all at once following a Holmes-Rahe life stress event like a divorce or a death in the family or else gradually over a long period of time due to job, financial or family pressures. But the jury's still out on that one, isn't it?