Nerve damage

Years ago I experienced horrible neck pain which also caused partial paralysis of my right arm. I was referred to a neurosurgeon who said I needed surgery immediately (shocking, I know). He said eventually the pain would go away, but the nerve damage could be permanent. My primary care doctor at the time said I should not get the surgery as it is often unhelpful and could even make things worse. I followed his recommendation.

I discovered Sarno’s work and had remarkable success. One night while reading his book, The Divided Mind” the pain just went away. I was thrilled. The partial paralysis had improved quite a bit before that, but left me with numbness on the right side of the pinky and ring finger of my right hand. Classic signs of nerve damage.

I have never had the neck pain again, which at first I attributed to Sarno’s books on TMS, however, 15 years later I still have the signs of nerve damage in my right hand. The mild numbness is still there and my hand has some noticeable atrophy and weakness.

Sarno talked a lot about the pain of TMS being psychosomatic and not physiological, and can be treated by understanding the mind-body connection. That’s great, but the neck problem I had caused actual nerve damage. So was the neurosurgeon right and, as he predicted, the pain went away but the nerve damage is permanent? I now wonder if it was not the TMS work I did that relieved the pain, that may have just been coincidental. The fact that I actually have remaining nerve damage doesn’t seem to fit in with anything Sarno talked about. Perhaps I should have listened to the neurosurgeon.

Has anyone else here experienced anything like this? What are your thoughts. It has left me wondering whether Sarno’s TMS theory is really valid.

Thanks
Mike

 

Sarno’s theory works for many people who do not have structural issues. It helps to end their emotional suffering, which in turn impacts their pain or symptoms.
I see your situation as variable.
Your neck symptoms may have been purely tms before your operation. It is possible that the associated paralysis was also part of the tms cycle.
For whatever reason your operation helped. No matter if the problem was truly structural to begin with, or because of your total belief of the surgeon.
What does it matter?
You can choose to believe however you choose.
It seems you have had amazing success with the methods that have worked for you! Perhaps you have healed? Would you say you maintain about a 90% healing?
I see that has a huge accomplishment that deserves congratulations!
However, many people here choose to believe in Sarno - that is how they healed or are healing. Some have had unsuccessful surgery, or have been through years of unsuccessful medical interventions. I ask that you do not steal this hope from them. Maybe their faith is laying in the 1% better they are feeling when starting to do this work. They aim for what you have attained, and I’m sorry you seem to have some residual nerve damage.

 

Thank you for the reply, but I believe you misread my post. I did NOT have surgery. My primary doctor recommended that I not get the surgery.

Mike

 

Sorry! You are right!
I misread you.
However, I still think Sarno’s methods may have worked for you, to some degree of success. You have less pain?
Have you had nerve “testing” done? I ask because your residual symptoms could still be some tms even though it feels and behaves like nerves. That is not an uncommon sensation.

 

That is called the 'Nocebo'...it is the reverse of a PLAcebo.. Sarno coined the term... it means "I will harm and there are countless stories on this forum and in the world of A doctor making a dire prediction and that prediction of course coming true.

I had my thumb cut off...hanging by a little skin on the side. Of course every nerve was severed and not being able to feel it scared me, but that was 10 years ago and I almost have full feeling again...one teeny numb spot in the dead center.
So when I hear some A-hole doctor talk about nerve damage because a 'disc' is pushing on something I LOL every time.
and the people who Believe them, usually have poor outcomes.

I had that in My left leg when I got better from TMS 24 years ago...and it all healed by doing the work and deleting the crap I had learned in the 'Medieval Medical' world that Sarno disparages...in weeks after 18 months of Pain and numbness..and lack of aggressive use

 

I’ve wondered if there might be a psychosomatic component to the supposed “nerve damage.” Thanks for your reply. It encourages me to focus some TMS work on it. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Mike

 

I have a fully diagnosed by EMG "nerve damage" in my both hands since 2015. I ignored neurologist's recommendation and went full TMS. I no longer have neuropathic pain, swelling and so-called claw hand when tendons contract involuntarily. But I still have some residual numbness in 2 fingers which is receding very slowly. It doesn't bother me, because I know that it will eventually go away, no matter how slow it seems to be. I sometimes wonder what EMG would detect now and whether neurologist would still want me to get a surgery.
Your primary doctor was wise and gave you good advice.

 

Just to echo Tamara, tests like EMGs and nerve biopsy punch tests do yield false positive results. I got one at Columbia and it's only a measurement of symptoms not actual cause or pathology. This is why tests and scans are so deceiving because it's only one data point and only as good as it's interpreted within a larger context. We put far far too much weight on findings on scans.