Thank God for Dr. Sarno ... But it's not over yet!

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and I have just finished reading Dr. Sarno's books about a week ago.

The good news is that the pain I was having in my lower back/left buttock has gotten 95% (I believe that from a physiological perspective, it may take my muscles a few weeks to get back to normal after being deprived of oxygen for so long), however I am starting to notice other things that I was too pre-occupied to notice previously.

The main thing is a clicking/popping sensation in my groin/hip area. This is worrying me as it was the Lumbar/Sacrum area that was worrying me physiologically previously, and I'm scared that if I start think physiologically again then the lower back pain may return.

I know that Dr. Sarno attributes TMS to tendonitis, and I believe the inflammation of the tendons of these joints may be the cause of my the clicking/popping. There is no pain, but I am worried about long-term i.e. arthritis of the joints etc.

Basically, I am asking if anyone has experienced this as a symptom of TMS?
- Lie down flat on my back, raise one leg straight, lower it again, when it gets to a certain angle it just clicks.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

I am an emotional wreck writing this and just overjoyed to have found Dr. Sarno and so many people on this forum in the same boat as me. I look forward to getting to know you all and becoming part of your family.

Best regards,
Scott

 

You are already a part of our TMS healing family, Scott.

You're too young to worry about arthritis of the joints. Besides, Dr. Sarno says arthritis is not the cause of our pain,
it is our repressed emotions.

One of my girlfriends made clicking sounds when she got up. Her leg bones clicked. She never looked like she was in pain.

Your pain will continue until you make up your mind that it is 100 percent TMS and work on those repressed emotions.

That can take time, so be patient with yourself. Meanwhile, have fun each day and distract yourself with enjoying yourself.

 

Thank you very much for your reply Walt.

I believe that it is not arthritis, but "snapping hip syndrome". There is not one ounce of pain when the clicking happens, it just makes a loud noise and it is worrying me that maybe there is some structural damage. I do now believe that it is just my tendons snapping over my greater trochanter and this is because my tendons are inflamed due to TMS.

I like what you said about enjoying life and distract myself from the pain. I will try and do that.

Again, thank you so much for your reply Walt.

 

My hip has always made popping sounds, as long as I can recollect. Then I got hip pain and it stopped. That's what concerned me, when it stopped. My muscles were so tight it couldn't pop anymore. Then after some physio therapy it started popping again, and I knew that was good. It was only TMS knowledge though that really helped my hip get better and functioning. I am sure if I did certain exercises I could get my hip to snap again, but I don't worry about my hip anymore, and I don't check it either.

I think your opportunities in Thailand are interesting, to be able to go live in a temple and meditate. Sounds wonderful. I hope you can relax and enjoy yourself.

 

Hi Peggy,

Thank you so much for your help.

It's very interesting to know that you got concerned when your hip stopped clicking. I think mines may also have clicked too, but I am just scared that my muscles and tendons down there have been messed up for so long that it may have done some damage.

I will definitely go and meditate very soon, will spend 3 days or so staying at the temple. I will do some more research and see how meditating has helped TMS sufferers.

 

Yea, you are pretty young to worry about arthritis. I had a sore back for 2 years, sore hip for a year (really sore for about 6 weeks). Then the other hip got sore, blah, blah. Anyway, the body bounces back nicely, no need to worry about long term effects. That's just the monkey mind going ahead and worrying about the future. There is hope for the monkey mind too. It can recover with proper self talk as well.

 

Yes, you are totally right, I need to stop worrying about the future and starting enjoying the present.

 

You're living the Symptom Imperative shift. Your back pain may be gone but your TMS isn't gone. Your brain just shifted obsessions.

In your own words, "however I am starting to notice other things that I was too pre-occupied to notice previously." Your anxiety needs a physical diversion, your brain just shifted to the popping clicking. The noises mean nothing, they don't cause pain and they won't cause arthritis. Although I know from experience that I would rather have noises than pain.

Get your anxiety down. The obsession is a means of OCDing in order to alleviate anxiety. Your mind's eye peeking at your clicking/popping is like cleaning your floor a hundred times per day. Your brain needs the diversion to help you cope with high anxiety.

People often turn to other obsession-anxiety relievers when their pain leaves. One that comes to mind is food paranoia. There are others like phobias, or phobo-phobias.

Stop looking at body, look at your life. Where are your goals and passions? What purpose drives you?

Steve

 

Steve, "what purposes drive you?" reminds me that the great British actor Robert Donat,
who won the Acdemy Award for "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," beating Clark Gable's "Rhett Butler"
in "Gone with the Wind," was sickly all his life. His final film was "Inn of the Sixth Happiess,"
playing an old Chinese village master. He was close to death when he revealed that he
willed himself to live long enough to finish making the movie. That purpose drove him,
and he died a few days later. It's a wonderful movie with Ingrid Bergman as a missionary
in China at the start of WW2.

Some days we may feel like we'd rather stay in bed, but if we will ourselves to get up and
take on the day's problems and pain, we can do it. As I heard one of the cast members say
last night in season 4, episode 6, of "Downton Abbey," "We can do anything we set our minds to."

There's often some great wisdom like that in that wonderful series.

 

My hip doesn't just pop it GRINDS like a creaky hinge on an old door. And the pain is pretty debilitating. I DO just keep going with my life but this noise is really striking to the point that people around me in yoga class give me concerned looks like, "What the hell is THAT?"