TMS techniques stopped working?

[BrandonA]

Hello My name is Brandon here is a lengthy but shortened version of my current issue:
I have used Dr. Sarno's techniques with success for back pain (for 20 years) until the following happened.

*In the past 3 years Dr. Sarnos and Alans techniques sometimes help with Sciatica pain but not my inability to lift weight for example: going to the gym or carrying a box over 15lbs etc. I have not been able to overcome this issue using TMS techniques. I actual believe I made my issue worse. I am wondering how can I tell if it is TMS or a actual injury or both?

Here is the story:
I have worked out my entire life (weight lifting) I am 47 years old. For the last few years I have had to stop due to lower back injury. This started in 5/2020 from a squatting injury coming up slightly crooked or leaning to one side as I stood up. Afterwards I had sciatica down my right leg and a lower back that could not handle any weight without starting to burn.
-My 1st MRI stated I had: L4 L5 disc desiccation & annular fissure. However 9 months later still having considerable back pain I asked for another MRI this time it was reviewed by a different Dr. saying my new MRI was unremarkable! I found this to be rather frustrating as the first MRI showed a number of issues that vanished in 9 months.
-I had another Sports Medicine DR. look at both MRI's stating he did not see any real change between the 2! To rehab from this injury I did physical therapy and chiropractic for 2 years all the time avoiding going back to the gym as my back could not handle carrying any weight.

*Recent injury 10/2023: This September my back felt 90% better after 2 years of resting doing physical therapy etc. so I went back to the gym. Once again my lower back started to burn even though I was lifting very light weights for example: (starting with just the bar and no weights). While working out at gym for 2 months with light weights my lower back slowly seemed to get worse. (The last 20 years I have used the gym to strengthen my back and it always worked proving DR. Sarnos theories correct) However, while doing light squats only 150lbs my back started to burn ache (I used DR. SArnos tips to push through and keep doing physical activity) which lead to another injury. Next I had to leave the gym and have not gone back in 9 months. (I could hardly carry my own body weight as I walked out of gym)

My back pain started to improve only after 6-7 months of no physical activity carrying anything. I was very very stiff during this time and it was hard to move.

*Things tried: over the past 4 months I have tried teeter hang upside down, hanging from the waist, physical therapy. All of these seemed to make the problem worse.

*What helped: red light therapy, ice, getting a stand up desk at work, massage. pso-rite device to stretch my psoas muscles, stopping all activity & physical therapy then I started to heal very slowly.


I feel I had an actual injury that did not fully heal and I worsened it using Dr. Sarno's technique of resuming all physical activity after waiting 2 years!. I am frustrated as the last MRI did not show any issues. (This MRI was before my latest injury) The Dr.'s do not have any ideas. I will be meeting with another Dr. this week and asking for another MRI as I have not had one after this last injury.... I am hoping they don't find anything but I am lost as to how to proceed. Walking seems to help...

If you read this thanks!

*This problem has been life changing as I live alone and have had to give up all the things I loved to do in life. Hoping to find answers.... Thanks

 

[miffybunny]

Doubt is holding you back in several ways. Firstly it's keeping you on the fence...keeping you from fully committing to this approach. Secondly, it keeps you going back to the structural (the injury "that never healed", the MRIs, the physical treatments for what is actually all anxiety). Thirdly, doubt tries to convince you that some of this is structural and some of it is tms....which leads to more confusion and more doubt and more fear. Lastly, doubt about 'triggers", i.e., movements, activities, lifting weights above a certain number. The fear of limitation is even worse than the fear of pain and all of these doubt driven stories are perpetuating the tms and keeping you stuck. In a nutshell, you have "doubt -itis". In order to get unstuck you will have to get off the fence, repudiate the physical, decide that ALL of your symptoms are brain based (remember, all injuries heal), stop getting scans and visiting MD's, stop avoiding triggers and just do the damn thing. Hopefully you are ready to hear this because I skipped over the whole empathy/compassion preamble lol. You are completely fine and you will get back to normal!

 

[JanAtheCPA]

To which I would add that if you never actually did any emotional work, it's probably time to do so. Things change. Time changes our thoughts and emotions. Aging is a significant source of repressed emotions, if not rage (aging turned out to be my trigger for a cascade of symptoms that hit me like a ton of bricks after decades of coping with TMS that came and went). Then there is the undeniable fact that anyone with awareness of current events is being negatively affected by the existential crisis of world-wide dysfunction and the resulting crisis in mental health that had already started before 2020, and has been been getting exponentially worse since then. Don't discount it!

TMS knowledge and belief are very powerful tools, but most people find at some point that they have to "do the work", along with adopting a mindfulness practice of some sort along with serious attention paid to self-compassion.

Obsessing over the minutiae of physical details is a distraction created by the TMS mechanism to keep you away from what you really need to do.