Day 4 The most disheartening thing a doctor told me...

[Urbanjourney]

After seeing so many clinicians throughout the first half of the year and getting frustrated at the lack of results I decided to book into a sports physician where my physio is located - they are difficult to get into and cost a lot of money but i felt he was the best person to see and try and work out if there was some other factor causing my symptoms (The physio centre i attended dealt with high level, paid sports people so that was part of my evidence as to why they could help me). I wanted him to specifically discuss the possibility of cluneal nerve entrapment or myofascial trauma (due to my boat accident which impacted that area very hard months before my main back injury) however it was clear when i got into his office, seeing my MRI on his screen that he was not interested in any other diagnosis. He simply said "There's no such thing as what you are saying and your issue is simply the L5-S1 facet joint arthritis on the left as that's where the symptoms are. You need to accept that once guys get over 50 this is just what happens and you just need to take 1 Naprosyn if the pain is not bad but if it's a bit worse take 2."
He then wrote me out a referral for another facet joint injection and that was that. I remember feeling so hopefuly going in then fully deflated and pissed off coming out, especially when paying the invoice.

I got home to my wife who was equally excited to hear what he'd said and I just broke down and thought "this is it for me for the rest of my life"

It has been difficult to shake this and i find it a bit triggering now even seeing or hearing the word 'facet'.
I know there are lots of people on here with disc related issues on their MRI but i need to search for those who have had facet arthritis as that will provide necessary evidence to hopefully banish this through from my head.

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

Dr Sarno specifically talks about this in "Healing Back Pain" - on facet joints (pg. 128) - "like all joints, they are subject to wear and tear (arthritis) and begin to look abnormal as we get along in years. It is believed that these changes cause pain in some patients. In my experience they do not."

And then on arthritis of the spine (which includes fact arthritis) - if it's osteoarthritis then he says the same thing in that in his experience it doesn't produce symptoms, rheumatoid arthritis is a different story.

 

[Urbanjourney]

Dr Sarno specifically talks about this in "Healing Back Pain" - on facet joints (pg. 128) - "like all joints, they are subject to wear and tear (arthritis) and begin to look abnormal as we get along in years. It is believed that these changes cause pain in some patients. In my experience they do not."

And then on arthritis of the spine (which includes fact arthritis) - if it's osteoarthritis then he says the same thing in that in his experience it doesn't produce symptoms, rheumatoid arthritis is a different story.

Thanks so much for the refresh Adam! I now remember seeing that.
It's amazing how I wasn't much of a reader prior to this and now i'm loving my daily and nightly ritual of consuming books on the topic like a locust!

 

[mk.maria]

I feel you. Throughout my journey, I think doctors have been the ones who discouraged me the most. I used to feel angry with them, but now I understand that they're not really to blame. Unfortunately, they don't receive education on this topic. If only they did, imagine how many people they could help! But I feel like the TMS approach isn't particularly profitable for the medical industry as a whole.

Now I feel privileged to have discovered the TMS approach and to realize how much healing potential lies within us - and that tapping into it doesn't have to cost a thing.

I've learned that doubts about TMS being the root cause of our symptoms are going to come up throughout the healing process (while we're rewiring our neural pathways). It's like a daily battle with your own thoughts. I tell myself: "I've tried all the other approaches, spent tons of money, and nothing has helped. Now I'm sticking with this approach. Either I believe in it today or I don't - no half measures. And then I'll judge it by the results." I started a few months ago, but I'm already seeing some results, and they're far better than anything I got from countless doctor's appointments and prescriptions.

I hope this gives you the confidence to stick with the TMS approach and overcome any doubts along the way!

 

[mk.maria]

Someone here sent me a great reminder to read every day, which has helped me a lot (and maybe it'll help you too).

 

[BloodMoon]

@Urbanjourney That physician’s dismissive diagnosis is fundamentally contradicted by modern spinal science.

You do not have to accept that visible facet arthritis is a life sentence or even the true source of your pain. Here is the evidence you can use to try and help remove that doctor's words from your head:

• Imaging scans lie all the time: Large-scale clinical studies show that over one-third (33% to 37%) of completely pain-free people have facet joint arthritis on their CT and MRI scans. By the time we hit our 50s and 60s, nearly 90% of people show facet osteoarthritis on imaging. It is the spinal equivalent of gray hair or wrinkles—it is an incidental finding of aging, nota guaranteed pain generator.
  • Reference: A landmark study published in the Asian Spine Journal explicitly evaluated individuals with zero history of back pain and discovered that 33% had cervical and 37% had lumbar facet arthritis (The Prevalence of Asymptomatic Cervical and Lumbar Facet Arthropathy, PMC6547401). (The Prevalence of Asymptomatic Cervical and Lumbar Facet Arthropathy).
  • Reference: Data from the famous Framingham Heart Study published in Spine showed that facet joint osteoarthritis rises dramatically with age, hitting roughly 89.2% in individuals aged 60–69 years, many of whom have no corresponding symptoms (Facet Joints Osteoarthritis and Low Back Pain, PMID: 18978598).(Facet Joints Osteoarthritis and Low Back Pain).
• Severity doesn't equal pain:There is a notoriously poor correlation between the "grade" of arthritis on a screen and what a person actually feels. People with severe facet degeneration often feel zero pain, while people with pristine joints can be in agony.
  • Reference: A massive meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology looked at thousands of pain-free individuals and proved that degenerative spinal features—including facet arthritis—are a normal feature of aging and do not predict a person's pain level (Systematic Literature Review of Imaging Features of Spinal Degeneration in Asymptomatic Populations, Brinjikji W., et al., 2015). PubMed Central (PMC4464797)

 

[Urbanjourney]

I feel you. Throughout my journey, I think doctors have been the ones who discouraged me the most. I used to feel angry with them, but now I understand that they're not really to blame. Unfortunately, they don't receive education on this topic. If only they did, imagine how many people they could help! But I feel like the TMS approach isn't particularly profitable for the medical industry as a whole.

Now I feel privileged to have discovered the TMS approach and to realize how much healing potential lies within us - and that tapping into it doesn't have to cost a thing.

I've learned that doubts about TMS being the root cause of our symptoms are going to come up throughout the healing process (while we're rewiring our neural pathways). It's like a daily battle with your own thoughts. I tell myself: "I've tried all the other approaches, spent tons of money, and nothing has helped. Now I'm sticking with this approach. Either I believe in it today or I don't - no half measures. And then I'll judge it by the results." I started a few months ago, but I'm already seeing some results, and they're far better than anything I got from countless doctor's appointments and prescriptions.

I hope this gives you the confidence to stick with the TMS approach and overcome any doubts along the way!

Thank you Maria! Yes, it is a daily battle but more evidence is showing up to me everyday - like pain shifting or coming and going and the more i read about the amount of money that is spent on treating these things as physical injuries worldwide, it makes me angry - I look at the diversion of my own funds from fun things into lots and lots of tests and appointments and no doubt that is freeing me somewhat.

 

[Urbanjourney]

@Urbanjourney That physician’s dismissive diagnosis is fundamentally contradicted by modern spinal science.

You do not have to accept that visible facet arthritis is a life sentence or even the true source of your pain. Here is the evidence you can use to try and help remove that doctor's words from your head:

• Imaging scans lie all the time: Large-scale clinical studies show that over one-third (33% to 37%) of completely pain-free people have facet joint arthritis on their CT and MRI scans. By the time we hit our 50s and 60s, nearly 90% of people show facet osteoarthritis on imaging. It is the spinal equivalent of gray hair or wrinkles—it is an incidental finding of aging, nota guaranteed pain generator.
  • Reference: A landmark study published in the Asian Spine Journal explicitly evaluated individuals with zero history of back pain and discovered that 33% had cervical and 37% had lumbar facet arthritis (The Prevalence of Asymptomatic Cervical and Lumbar Facet Arthropathy, PMC6547401). (The Prevalence of Asymptomatic Cervical and Lumbar Facet Arthropathy).
  • Reference: Data from the famous Framingham Heart Study published in Spine showed that facet joint osteoarthritis rises dramatically with age, hitting roughly 89.2% in individuals aged 60–69 years, many of whom have no corresponding symptoms (Facet Joints Osteoarthritis and Low Back Pain, PMID: 18978598).(Facet Joints Osteoarthritis and Low Back Pain).
• Severity doesn't equal pain:There is a notoriously poor correlation between the "grade" of arthritis on a screen and what a person actually feels. People with severe facet degeneration often feel zero pain, while people with pristine joints can be in agony.
  • Reference: A massive meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology looked at thousands of pain-free individuals and proved that degenerative spinal features—including facet arthritis—are a normal feature of aging and do not predict a person's pain level (Systematic Literature Review of Imaging Features of Spinal Degeneration in Asymptomatic Populations, Brinjikji W., et al., 2015). PubMed Central (PMC4464797)

Fantastic @BloodMoon! - i just love reading the studies as a huge counter weight to the other apparent evidence that my clinicians have drilled into my head. I'm also loving referencing studies when talking to other people in my social circle. My wife held one of her Wise Wild Women events at our house yesterday and a lot of the women attending are deeply into the body's ability to heal so although i was meant to be cleared out of the house at that point, they were so excited to discuss this with me (the honorary Wild Wise (Wo)Man