• Alan has completed the new Pain Recovery Program. To read or share it, use this updated link: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/
  • Welcome to the new TMS Wiki server! Things aren't finished yet: email is not set up, so notification and password-reset emails don't go out, and new registrations are paused until email is installed. Details and updates are in this thread (click here). Locked out? Email tmswikisignups@gmail.com from the address where you receive TMS Wiki notifications.

Success Story without Repressed Emotions

That is the most relevant experience to me with TMS I have read to date. I have discovered I had TMS only three weeks ago after numerous 'treatments' that did nothing for me in long term. My pain seems almost identical and the phrase 'flare ups' really resonates with me. My pain levels have dropped and have started very light HIIT training again and playing golf. Although the stiffness at times hinders my swing. The only difference is that I have suppressed emotions and also think I internalise day to day stresses although I appear the calmest person in the world. I will download the book you recommend. Thanks for sharing this mate.
 
What a great success story with so much thoughtful detail. Thank you for sharing and congrats on your 100 mile ride! I learn every time I come to this forum.
 
Thanks for sharing your story, bikebum. It's good to know that different things work for different people. For me as well, I stopped seeing gains from journaling and make more progress when I focus on fear and anxiety in the moment. I don't regret the journaling that I did in the slightest, but the most helpful thing for me is to look at where my energy is going in the moment. A huge amount of my energy goes to fear and anxiety, and I know that that is no good.
 
Hi bikebum,
I'm grateful for your tips and am happy to say that I recovered from SI pain (in the past, whenever I sat down, it used to feel like I was sitting on a nail)! It was very interesting, my SI still goes out of alignment sometimes, but like in your situation, it doesn't hurt anymore, and if I "pop" it back that doesn't hurt either. This is a tricky symptom because it's not "purely psychological," the joint literally moves and makes a loud popping sound if I push it back.
Thanks for your help!

bikebum said:
Hi ricecakes,

I'm glad to answer your questions:

1) My muscles did not spasm. They would feel very tight though, and when I would massage sometimes they would feel unusually hard and sometimes like a rope. I would also find a lot of muscle knots. I'm not sure how significant it was though, as I still get muscle knots/hard spots and they don't bother me. And although the muscles felt tight, it didn't seem to limit my range of motion past what is normal.

2) Yes I experienced hot, burning sensations. It's hard to say if it was precisely in the SI joint, but I know it was in the muscles around the area. I don't recall numbness, but I would get tingling sensations along with pain in my butt muscles.

Once I started feeling better I stopped trying to correct my SI joint alignment. It may still be crooked, but I haven't checked. Maybe squats and deadlifts straightened it? I bet it is still crooked though, because when I balance on my bike seat with no hands it feels like I have to cock my hips to one side in order to stay balanced. Other than that I don't notice anything. I still lift heavy weights (well, heavy for me) and sprint and it doesn't bother me. I don't mean to encourage you to ignore your PT, just want to give you my story so you can decide if it applies to you.

3) I used an adjustable keyboard tray and would switch between sitting and standing at work. It was still uncomfortable but it helped a lot. I'd also take breaks to walk and lie down on the floor. This next part may sound kinda funny, but here goes: Sometimes I would have to sit for longer (meeting, car ride, etc.) and this would seem to mess me up for a while. So, I started trying to forget when it would happen. If I sat in a car for 4 hours to go on trip, once I got out, I'd try to forget it had happened and act like it was just a normal day. It seemed to help quite a bit.

Now that I don't have pain anymore I've gotten lazy and sit all day at work. I still exercise a lot though. It was a slow process to go back to doing things normally. I think it helped to think about the pain less over time. At one point I thought of it constantly. It never abruptly went away, I just thought about it less and less as it faded and one day it was gone and I didn't even realize it for a while because it had become such a small part of life.

Hope that helps, good luck!
Click to expand...
 
Hey man, thanks for sharing your story. Really inspiring. I hurt my lower back almost 5 years ago deadlifting. I've been in chronic lower back pain/sciatica ever since and even had a surgery (microdiscectomy), which didn't relieve me of my pain. I'm about 1 month into learning about TMS and doing my journaling, haven't noticed any difference but again inspiring to see how long your recovery process was as well. I wish you the best.
 
Hi bikebum. Thank you so much for posting your story, as you can see, it has meant so much to so many people for so many years now! Amazing. I am starting out on the TMS journey myself, having had low back pain for over 20 years. One thing I think we can all relate to, regardless of our philosophies of TMS, repressed emotions, etc, is that when you live in chronic pain, you are obsessed with it, to the point where the obsession is as bad as the physical pain itself. This obsession is where the fear and anxiety lives. I have been learning a lot about TMS for the past few months, and the concept of experiencing pain without fear or anxiety is a new concept to me. It makes a lot of sense from the standpoint of breaking the obsession.

I think the most valuable gift of TMS is that it shows how the human race is really one big community. We learn from each other and contribute different and valuable things to the cause. Although Dr. Sarno started the modern movement as we know it, so many other brilliant and brave people have added crucial elements to it that make it more compelling and effective every day. And as sufferers past or present, we can give each other the invaluable gift of hope and companionship on the journey. There would be nothing more abysmal than dealing with this condition on our own! Your recounting of crying in the car after one of your appointments really hit home with me. I felt that way so many times, and the feeling is just horrifically depressing.

Thank you for the gift of your story.
 
Thanks so much for sharing this. Even though I'm quite a bit older than you, your story fits mine ALMOST EXACTLY. The only difference being my MRI showed some slight herniations, normal for my age. I am going through a relapse right now and looking for inspiration...which you helped give me. Thanks.
 
ricecakes said:
Hi Bikebum,

Thank you for sharing your story! I am struggling with very similar symptoms right now (which I believe can be related to anxiety/fear) and have a few questions that I hope you can answer:

1) Did your painful muscles spasm? Did your muscles normally feel really tight/rope-like?

2) I was also diagnosed with SI joint dysfunction, and my PT says that my SI and sacrum are sometimes out of alignment. Did you ever experience a hot, burning type of pain in your SI? Any numbness/tingling in your buttock?

3) I too have a lot of pain with sitting, and standing for extended periods is also very painful. I've tried to "practice" sitting for short periods, but the pain always comes back and I experience increased pain for the rest of the day. How did you segue back to normal activities such as sitting and standing?

Hope to hear from you, and thanks again!
Click to expand...

Hi ricecakes

I'm not expert on the forum and have only been working my TMS for about a month-but maybe my thinking on the subject may be of interest. I too was "haunted" by so many practitioners (e.g. PT, Chiropractor, Accupuncturist) telling me "your SI Joint is out of alignment". I became convinced that it was the cause of my pain and was googling SI Joint fusion like crazy. What really bugged me is that the orthopedic doctors all said very contradictory things, telling me the SI Joint really can't be significantly out of joint unless you have been in a horrible accident or directly post partum and that the SI Joint cannot be the source of pain. The contradiction played out in real life: I've had times when I had no pain and heard "Oh, your SI Joint is way out" and times when I had horrible pain and heard "nope, everything looks pretty good". My take: they just don't know. After all my Sarno research I'm convinced its TMS. Sarno doesn't seem to address misalignment that much but on page 58 of Mindbody he says "Lumbar muscle involvement may tilt the trunk to one side". (I would love to hear other examples of SI Joint misalignment in Sarno literature). To me, that is evidence that oxygen deprivation in the muscle can spasm it or tighten it, and thus pull bones one way or the other. Since knowledge/understanding is the path to pain free live, this "understanding" for me has helped me emotionally deal with mental images of a "twisted sacrum".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top