Day 5 What doctors told me

I'm writing this sitting down in a cheap office chair with no seat or lumbar cushions. I haven't been able to do this for 14 months. I feel just a little tightness in my right thigh and occasional not-painful tingles in my foot - if I weren't so focused on pain I probably wouldn't even notice it. (By the way, I'm in Day 5 of the structured educational program but I've been researching TMS for about 3 weeks.)

I'm 43 and over the past year I had resigned myself to the life of an old man - groaning every time I changed position, struggling to tie my shoes, telling the kids I can't do piggyback rides anymore (sorry you were born late - the older kids got nonstop piggyback rides!)

Discovering Dr. Sarno's books and this site has given me a new lease on life. I might still be hiking and biking when I'm 70.

Here's what doctors (and I've seen a lot of them) have told me over the past year:

1. "No more basketball. It's too jarring on the spine." (Basketball used to be my favorite - almost the only exercise that doesn't feel like exercise [like a chore] to me.)
2. "No more racquetball. Your back just can't handle all that twisting back and forth."
3. "Stationary bikes are ok, but mountain biking is dangerous."
4. "Refuse any requests from friends to help move boxes or furniture. It's just too risky."
5. "Steroid injections seem to be helping. We'll do them every 3-12 months and maybe we'll need to get more aggressive toward the end of your life."
6. "What really concerns me on this MRI is how close these vertebrae are getting - I mean you're almost bone on bone!"
7. [After I asked if my herniated disc could heal] "Well, you're in your 40s. That's probably right on the edge. If you were in your 20s, I'd definitely say yes. 40 may not seem that old, but in evolutionary terms, that's ancient!" (This was from a very well-respected back surgeon - the best in the state.)
8. [When I asked why I have no pain some mornings]. "It's very positional." Whatever that means.

It's not like I was visiting a bunch of quacks, either. These are well-respected doctors, surgeons, chiropractors, physiatrists in a big city. Not one of them gave even the slightest hint of anything like TMS being involved.

What non-doctors told me:

1. Shuttle van driver [we started talking about back issues when he saw my lumbar cushion. I told him I hoped it would improve soon.] - "In my experience, the way you feel right now is the best you're going to feel for the rest of your life."
2. Many variations on the above - days of pain-free movement are over forever.
3. "The pain's ok as long as I keep a strict regimen of stretches and exercises. If I get too busy and skip them, the pain comes raging back and it takes several days to get it back under control. I guess that's how life will be from here on out."

I'm so happy to be proving them wrong! I have a 16-hour flight coming up next week and I'm a little nervous about it. But think of all the time I'll have to journal and debate my subconscious!

 

Hello hopeful_guitarist,
I am happy to see you here in this program.

When I was 20 the doctor told me I had arthrosis and I had to live with it. There was nothing that could be done.

The last time I saw the doctor (I am 60 now) when I had terrible pain in the back he told me; that I had to clean my ass first with my left hand and then with my right hand. I had to change hands.

Then I get 4 different medicines for the pain, together. I became very afraid of drug intoxication. Fortunalety I saw a movie of dr. Sarno. I stopped medication immediately.

My faith in doctors is gone.

With love, Rozie.

 

@RozieHolland Oh, man, that's crazy! My brother is actually a surgeon and I'm anxious to discuss TMS with him. But I'm waiting to make sure I'm 100% before I do because I don't want the conversation to inject any doubt.

 

Beginning when I was 8 years old, doctors have told me:
-you will never have perfect posture
-your scoliosis may cause pain your whole life
-you should never again play tennis, never run, never do any type of "step" activity, like aerobics, or never again ride a bike.
-your spine shows extreme degeneration (told to me in my early 30s)
-you might have to accept that you will live with chronic pain the rest of your life (this was said to me within the last year; I am 46)

I feel like I've been misdiagnosed--if not lied to--my whole life.

I, too, hope to walk into my doctor's office sometime this year and tell her about TMS and my now pain-free life.

 

I wrote a letter to my doctor and explained what I am doing. (I was very angry at this man)
I told him that I was going to do the TMS program.
I do not know if he knows dr. Sarno or even heard of him.
I guess (hope) that he will look for it on the internet.

I never got any respons from my doctor.

With love, Rozie.

 

Oh, I just remembered another one - "Never put your wallet in your back pocket. Worst thing you can do for your back. Front pocket only." (In the waiting room he had fliers for a company that sold front-pocket men's wallets.)

I respect all these doctors, but in retrospect it's a whole lot of silliness they've told me - and not harmless silliness.

 

Oh boy. This doctor is what makes me want to dive right into practicing TMS to save people from the sort of experience you had!

I can tell you guys I also had a doctor tell me not to wear a large purse, not to dance, to lift my patients (transferring heavy patients is part of my work as a PT who works with stroke and brain injury survivors), not to sleep on my stomach, not to do weight lifting or heavy exercise...this list goes on! I'm a 30 year old who has always been extremely active, and all this because of 2 puny herniated discs? I'm so thankful for finding TMS, that i'm now free of pain and didn't even bother telling my doctor about all of this because I think it would fall on deaf ears.

People need to know that they're really ok, I think that is the first step to not entering that terrible pain-disuse cycle and never getting out. Glad you are here and have found TMS and are feeling so good!