DAY ONE

I’ve had chronic back pain for the last 20 years, mostly presenting as a very stubborn sciatica spanning from the top of my hips to the soles of my feet. TMS. It has shown up in many ways over the years and I attributed it mostly to stress, which made sense but was also infuriating. Over the past 10-15 years, physical and structural anomalies were discovered and pointed to as the cause of my pain, such as Spondylolisthesis L4/L5, spinabifida oculta, spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease and all of the other irreversible irregularities and conditions that doom me to a life of pain and helplessness. Most recently, after a year of treatment with a much trusted and beloved chiropractor, she discharged me for failure to progress. She tried EVERYTHING on me. AND, I have sent so many people to her that actually have been helped. I cried, feeling like I was a lost cause and no one could help me. This weekend, I was desperate and researching to see if I had MS or Fibromyalgia, the pain was so intense and relentless. And I prayed to God to show me. Just show me. And He did….I clicked on a REDDIT thread about someone who was exasperated with Chronic Nerve pain and buried deep in the thread was someone who had been helps and healed by Dr. Sarno’s approach. In less than a day of learning and understanding TMS, I felt a 50% reduction in pain due to my 100% re-education. I have now shared this discovery with at least 3 friends. It’s amazing.

 

What a great story!!! So happy you found the forum. You sound like a veteran of TMS. I’ve had the same kind of pain from sciatica down my leg for actually 30 years. Then in 2017, just like you, I prayed help! The next thing I know my sister told me that her doctor told her to read Sarno’s book, The Divided Mind. I took it as a sign! That is so amazing you got 50% Reduction in pain already.

 

Welcome Elzriley! Just wanted you to know you're not a lost cause. You can do this work and you can help yourself.

 

Your description could be me. Mine has diminished and reappeared along with myriad other pains, over decades, first commencing with a bad breakup over fifty years ago! It went away after the birth of my child, then reappeared following a slide on my behind down a cliff. I have always associated the next decades of low back pain and sciatica with that early breakup and fall. That’s so typical of TMS! Naturally, I babied myself for years, weakening the entire area. That was before Sarno. While learning about TMS, it threw me another curve: piriformis pain. Same general area! Today, I mostly ignore it, and some days it’s completely gone. I do stretch and walk but with this work, it’s totally tolerable.

 

Welcome!!! It's good to have you here! This has been a great space to talk to others that know exactly how you feel!