Dayton

Late 30s, married 7 years, father of two children (5 and 2), and executive director of a busy non-profit organization. Currently in second month of extreme sciatic pain with very little mobility, so I spend most of each day laying down. I’m still attempting to work from home so I sit in front of a computer for an hour at a time here and there, but mainly work from my bed. MRI shows substantial herniated disc, severe stenosis, facet yadda yadda.

Quick Current Timeline: This bout of back pain began over 6 months ago (I did nothing out of the ordinary to cause it). I managed it, it improved, I “overdid” it too soon and it came back worse, limped along into the painful new year and began seeing a chiropractor in early January. Went to chiro 3-5 days a week to improve it…. And it did improve, but then I “overdid” it again and it got worse. So more chiropractor visits, less mobility, more pain, and then a family road trip to AZ so I could present at a conference. I was still fairly mobile and could sit, stand, walk but limited everything else that I did. Pain increased when we returned and I got an MRI. The MRI results were very tough to swallow. Pain increased. I started dealing with doctors referrals and insurance runarounds and chiropractic advice. I ordered back healing books like McKenzie Method and Egoscue. I worked hard at those exercises, but they made the pain and mobility worse.

Past Timeline: I had a previous battle with back pain and sciatica about 5 years ago (age 33). Prior to that, I had no history of back injury or back problems. I was a very active, athletic person with a clean bill of health. Looking back now through TMS spectacles, I can see the factors that contributed to an overflowing of emotions: final year graduate school, home-ownership of a fixer-upper, stressful job with plans to become business partners with the stressful boss, first living child born after previous pregnancy resulted in a still-birth one year earlier (I’m sure the guilt and sadness of the first loss pared with the anxiety of the arrival of our first baby was and probably still is the main “event” that contributed to my TMS).

So here I am. Laying in bed surrounded by TMS books, notepads, a computer, and some cannabis. I have read “Healing Back Pain” and am reading “The Great Pain Deception” (Ozanich) and I just started Day 1 SEP. I miss moving freely, being active, feeling positive, and being a full participant in my family life. But I’ll be back soon enough.