Degenerative Disc Disease!!!

Hello everyone if anyone can relate to this please help me out!! Okay so today I went and saw my specialist for results on my MRI scan. It wasn't the news that I wanted to hear when he said I have degenerative disc disease. All hope I had has failed but I have yet to read dr.sarno's healing back pain and I hope it will change my life for the better when it arrives soon!!! Please let me know if you have been in my position but found success through dr.sarno and TMS, thanks!

 

Once you start reading HBP you will soon learn that Dr Sarno views degenerative disc disease as 'grey hair of the spine'. Although our bodies do age that is not to say that we will automatically suffer pain as a result. I received this diagnosis and was already well aware that it was nothing to worry about so I didn't. The GP who read me my results told me if he set up an MRI scanner on the street and scanned everyone that went past, the vast majority which show this same finding. I asked him if he had ever heard of Dr Sarno and his work but he claimed he had not. Even better. This was further reinforcement for me as he was an allopathic practitioner coming to the same conclusions as Dr Sarno. I also spoke with an osteopath about this diagnosis. He told me it is a complete misnomer. The word 'degenerative' implies something that is constantly declining or getting worse. He said this wasn't the case. He also said it isn't in any way a disease. This guy hadn't heard of Dr Sarno either so I asked him if he agreed that it was like grey hair of the spine. He readily agreed and thought this was a very apt description.

You will find many others on the forum who have been given this diagnosis. Fear not.

 

Hi Raynor91,
I wasn't handed that particular diagnosis but they gave me all sorts of other ones to lock on to and fret about. When I read Dr. Sarno's book, I felt relieved, educated and hopeful. It gives us the basis for our own healing and a journey into a life that is pain free. Anytime you feel yourself starting to freak out or worry, pick up his book and read a chapter or two and things will get better. I promise!!

 

YB44's advice is SPOT ON !!! It is the precise anti-venom of TMS KNOWLEDGE PENICILLIN that the Good Doctor would prescribe. Your "specialist" doc specializes in lining his pockets and fear-mongering. He infected you with the NOCEBO!--the opposite of the good 'CEBO, the PLACEBO. It will take you some mindbody contortions to counteract this but I can tell from your voice that you are highly motivated to accept TMS and have a deep reservoir of belief practice to keep you on the right path to MINDBODY health.

I've played a lot of tennis with docs and white-!coats and don't always believe all their calls. I once had a chiroquackter take an x-ray he handily had right in his office. He reviewed it front of me and with astonishment scared the be-Jesus out of me exclaiming he saw a shadow that appeared to be a "TUMOR!" Great, I come to this white-coat, for a simple back-ache, ,driving miles out of my way, on the high recommendation of my coach, because 'He is really a kinesiologist, trained abroad," (the best ones are!) and now I may have CANCER. He says lets take another image just to be sure! This time he tells me to hold my "privates" over to the side. He takes another look at the image and says, "Whew, it's NOT a tumor--it was your left testicle!"--quack, quack, quack!

I think he thought he was being funny, putting me into the right psychological FEAR state to sign me up for a dozen paid by insurance sessions. I stupidly did a couple of sessions with him and noticed that his waiting room was always full-up with poor souls on their lunch hours paying this guy so he could eat caviar. I quit seeing him after reading about a freeway collapse on his route and figured out I had a higher risk of getting killed driving to see him then from my back-ache.

 

Just to second the comments from TT above. The power of a nocebo is really incredible and if you are a susceptible type personality (count me in) then they really can generate a world of pain (no pun intended)

When my LBP started I was 100% sure it was psychosomatic but rather naively, and as it turns out incredibly foolishly trotted off to my local osteopath to get a second opinion. Of course as soon as I walked in there spouting off about TMS and learned neural pathways she visibly bristled and swiftly despatched me onto the table under the plastic skeleton.

To cut a long story short 40 minutes later and £40 lighter I was sent on my way with a couple of exercises, the belief that only 9 more visits could possibly correct my broken body and a diagnosis of SIJ dysfunction and a twisted/tilted pelvis. I actually vividly recall asking here about the SIJ stuff and how some GP's poo poo this diagnosis but she was adamant. I can picture her now actually saying to me "I've seen people end up in wheelchairs with this"

It took me literally years to overcome this nocebo and it meant having to see a physio who treats acute injury traditionally but who considers chronic pain to be TMS/over stimulated nervous system involvement...I still have moments when I'm sat there in those periods of doubt when I have the osteopath on one shoulder and TMS practioner on the other. What didn't help was the selling strap line that the osteopath dropped on me as I left the consulting room giving me the dire warning that "things will get worse" and of course thats exactly whats happened...go figure.

Oh, I think it was TT himself who actually said if you go to a hairdresser you are going to get a haircut. Lesson learned.

 

I think everyon could use a good shot of Herbie TMS Penicillin.

Here is the link to his video on TMS healing:
http://tmswiki.org/forum/threads/what-to-know-to-heal-from-pain-pt-1.5482/

Here are his expanded 12 Daily Reminders from Dr. Sarno.

Herbie’s Extended Version of Dr. Sarno’s 12 DAILY REMINDERS

1. The pain is due to TMS. This is real pain or anxiety but its caused by subconscious tensions and triggers, stressors and traits to your reactions and fears and also when at boiling point your conscious tension can and does cause real pain too.
2. The main reason for the pain is mild oxygen deprivation. This means that when you get in pain or in anxiety then the the blood is restricted from going to your lower back for instance. The blood being restricted causes oxygen deprivation which causes the pain - remember, where theirs no oxygen then there is pain in the body. Also, The pain stays because of fear and focus to physical organic symptoms and repressions.
3. TMS is a harmless condition caused by my REPRESSED EMOTIONS so even though you think you can harm yourself from the years of pain you have felt and how you feel in general -- so far no reports have been heard from tms healing knowledge causing damage to anyone, it only helps.
4. The principle emotion is your repressed ANGER -- this means under your consciousness lies something that happens automatically to everyone. Tmsers have repressions that are stored because of our personality traits,traumas, stressors, fears, strain, etc... When these stored repressions build and build then eventually they cause the brain to send pain into your body to keep you from having an emotional crises. The mind-body thinks its helping you.
5. TMS exists to DISTRACT your attentions from the emotions, stressors, tensions and strains of your personality traits because if you can get distraction then you wont have to be in emotional turmoil. When you don't face and feel your emotions and they get repressed cause you didn't want to deal with something -- they are just adding up in this beaker, ready to pour over and create real pain and anxiety in your body.
6. Since my body is perfectly normal, there is nothing to fear. So in reality when I fear the pain or anxiety I just cause myself undo strain and tension adding to the beaker of pain. If I fear then I feed the pain, If I fear Its impossible to recondition. Fear keeps the pain and anxiety alive in the body through focus.
7. Therefore, physical activity is harmless.If I want to work against the pain I could but its better to lose some of the pain so when I start my life over I=t have to be in pain trying to heal cause facing the repressions and all the other activities that cause the pain and reversing my fear and focus to them then I can heal.
8. I am resuming all normal physical activity. I don't fear moving anymore. I believe in my bodies ability to heal now. I can move how I want. I will not fear moving with a bent back anymore. I will also practice going out and acting normal again, not in fear of what pain might do to me.
9. The pain is unimportant and powerless. Its only power is how its hidden -- its illusion, Its fear.
10. I will keep my attention on the emotional issues. I will think about my emotions and feel my emotions throughout the day. I will not judge, criticize or fear my emotions. I will not run from my emotional issues but face everyone of them. I will feel my emotions fully and cry if I need to. Then I will release the emotion and get my mind and thoughts back to my life and living in the present, in flow.
11. I am in control of all of this. This is how I recover.
12. I will be thinking PSYCHOLOGICALLY AT ALL TIMES. This means I will keep my thoughts on psychological issues like happiness, fear and anger -- traits and triggers, conditioning and journaling. The science behind mind-body/tms healing, etc.... This way I will not feed my thoughts to the body -- that is a trick of tms. Tms will always try to get me to focus on the body caused by the pain until I break its show and flair. When I get my attention off psychical symptoms and on emotional issues and psychological issues then I will not feed the fear of the physical issues anymore thus making the tms of no effect. This will in return, give us the cure.

 

Thanks Huck, it was "Don't ask a barber if you need a haircut." --but, I think I like your version better!

 

I have to chime in here because my situation was the exact same as Raynor91. I went to a specialist about 8 years ago, he took x-rays of my back, and came out to discuss the results with me. He told me I have degenerative disc disease. Actually, he said I had "advanced" degenerative disc disease. I was about 40 years old at the time and he said the degeneration I had is what he'd expect to see in a 50 year old. He told me to stop squatting at the gym, stop lifting any weights directly above my head (like shoulder presses, etc), and gave me some stretching exercises to do.

Well, after following his advice for a year or so with continuing pain, I was introduced to the theories of the smartest doctor in the world.......Dr. Sarno. I read Healing Back Pain, and my back pain quickly vanished. I've been 100% pain free in my back for 7 years. I go to the gym and squat with 230 lbs of weight sitting on my shoulders. I do shoulder presses with 45 lb dumbbells. I don't worry about "bending my knees" when I lift. I know my back is fine. Degenerative disc disease? EVERYONE has degenerative disc disease. It's a natural part of aging.

Read the book, and believe in the TMS theory 100%. That's the key......believe, and you can be cured. Good luck!

 

Now THAT sounds like the punchline of a great joke!!!!

 

Thank you so much tru b leever, you have given me the final hope and reassurance I needed to seal the deal and I'm still waiting on my book from dr.sarno which should be here soon, I can't wait until it comes, I'm so excited I've been waiting nearly a year for a miracle and I'm so happy I came across dr.sarno and his beliefs just in time because I have a dream and I know if I was in your position waiting 8 years to come across this cure, my dream would have already been gone with the wind, but thank you tru b leever for sharing your story because I really appreciate it and it gives me comfort knowing you were in the same postion that I'm in. Cheers!

 

Just a thought..if you have iTunes you can actually get the audio book on there and download it straight away. I have to books on my Kindle but it is nice the have the audio books to listen to as well as you can just chill out and listen....HBP is also read by Sarno which is nice.

 

Raynor91....I'm so happy that my post was able to give you some comfort and hope. Just want to point out though, that it was 8 years ago that I went to the doctor, but only about a year later that I discovered Dr. Sarno, so luckily I didn't have to wait 8 years for the cure. I did have my lower back issues for a few years before I finally went to the specialist. I'd have pain for a week or two and then it would disappear, only to re-appear at random.

It seems hard to believe that reading a book can cure you of such a severe pain, but when I read it, it all made so much sense. I saw myself in so many pages and when I said to myself, "yeah, this really makes sense!", the pain started to subside. It won't happen overnight, so don't get discouraged, but if you read, understand and believe, it will work. I wish you all the best!!!

 

Hi, Tru B Leever. Your success story is wonderful. Steve Ozanich says healing comes from believing 100 percent in TMS,
and you are a pain-free example of that. I hope everyone with doubts will read it.
-+

 

If as you were told so-called "degenerative disk disease" is the root cause of your back pain, Raynor91, how come there are people with completely clean X-rays, MRIs and CT scans who have totally crippling lower back pain? Doesn't make much sense unless lower lumbar pain is not caused by spinal abnormalities, does it?

 

Just add to the chorus here. I was also told I had degenerative disk disease. I've been free of pain (in my case sciatica) for 6+ years.

 

TMS Knowledge and Dr. Sarno are Godsends!