Chronic knee pain success story

All,

I have recently freed myself from more than 18 months of intense knee pain that had left me immobilized for some time. Dr. Sarno's books and Alan Gordon's great program (thank you Alan and team!) were the key to my progress.

I have written a blog with my story of the long, confusing story to freedom from the pain here: https://inscape489664645.wordpress.com/ (The Inscape).

I am sharing it here in the hope that it might help others still walking their own journey.

I am new to the forum so would welcome any suggestions on places and ways to share the story to reach people who might benefit from it.

I fiercely hope that everyone who is still grappling with this condition can find the right path out of the pain.

With gratitude,

Oliver

 

Thank you Oliver. I would encourage my fellow forum members to read this story. It's a beauty.

 

A wonderful story, and one for me to reread many times I think. I may well be back to comment here further - there's a lot to take in and digest from your experience of healing. Thank you Oliver.

 

Really beautiful. So many gems of insight and wisdom. Thank you for taking the time to share. I feel encouraged on my own journey.

 

THANK YOU! You have woken me up to so much. I will read and reread your story again and again. I have lived my life always
stuffing emotions, just no time for them, never realizing the importance of recognition for mental health reasons. I have
been suffering r leg and hip pain for yrs, all tests completed, no physical reasons why. YOU have offered so much to the TMS
community, thank you again. Nancy

 

Absolutely wonderful! And relatable.

 

Hi Dida,

I'm really sorry to hear you are struggling with pain. Here is the link to the post: https://inscape489664645.wordpress.com/2018/07/24/my-knee-pain-success-story-a-surprising-road-from-despair-to-joy/ (My Knee Pain Success Story: A Surprising Road from Despair to Joy)

It was a hard road for me to do the inner work to experience my suppressed emotion and therefore eliminate my need for the chronic pain, but it was well worth the struggle and it has made my whole life much more whole. I hope your own journey goes well and let me know if I can ever be helpful.

Best,

Oliver

 

Thank you so much, Oliver, for replying and for having taken the time to write up your story. Inspiring and encouraging for sure!

I will keep coming back to it ...

All the best, D.

 

I found this thread after a search on knee pain and clicked the link to your WordPress but it has apparently been replaced with your story about long covid from 2 years after your knee pain problem resolved.
https://inscape489664645.wordpress.com/2022/09/29/the-end-of-the-serpents-tail-a-long-path-out-of-long-covid/ (The End of the Serpent’s Tail: A Long Path out of Long Covid)
I really enjoyed reading the long covid blog and I'm sure most people in this forum understand that the two are connected and have the same root cause. A hallmark of this TMS thing is that the symptoms move around and it seems you got the "motherload" during the pandemic which is true for millions of people. Your approach to resolution could inspire many but could also have been the same approach used with the knee pain.
Taking one quote out to save for future reference:

"here is a short overview of the specific methods I found most helpful.

• Internal family systems (IFS) therapy – This method most closely mirrors the way many neuroscientists (and Buddhists) believe our brains work—as a series of modules rather than a monolithic whole. Embracing that reality, the method seeks to identify and understand the different modules competing in our heads and help shift their interactions from something resembling a rugby scrum to more of a polite tea party. I found it immensely helpful in healing old wounds (“exiled” modules in the terminology of the practice) and now approach my mind in this way through my daily life (“ah, that’s my shame module rearing up”). I found my great therapist through this group, the IFS Telehealth Collective, but there are surely other strong practitioners. Despite my initial reluctance, I have worked with my therapist via video and found it as powerful as in person sessions.
• Ketamine therapy – The potential of psychedelic therapy has attracted growing interest and attention since Michael Pollan published How to Change Your Mind. Rigorous research is starting to generate results. And they’re incredible. The impact of one compound, MDMA, on veterans with PTSD was so dramatic that the FDA fast-tracked it for consideration and will likely approve it in the next few years. Ketamine is the one currently fully legal psychedelic and there are a growing number of centers around the country offering it as a treatment. I was fortunate to work with the wonderful team at the pioneering clinic in Northern California mentioned in the article above and had a range of very powerful experiences. Experienced practitioners emphasize that set and setting are crucial to the impact of psychedelic therapy so I think it is crucial to do homework and ensure that a facility is an optimally warm and supportive environment. This method helped me heal far beyond my recent Covid experiences (during one journey, for example, I walked with my father through the decades of my life since he died, deeply feeling his pride and delight rather than the disapproval I had imagined) and expect I will return to over the years as I navigate the further storms of life.
• Hypnotherapy – Initially skeptical, I have been surprised at the impact some hypnotherapy techniques have had on me and that the evidence for them is stronger than with other common interventions (though still far from optimal). These methods aren’t the mind control portrayed in old movies. Rather, I see them as hacks to help someone rapidly move past the usual frenzied defenses of the analytical consciousness, the equivalent of reaching the feeling of a 45-minute meditation in a few minutes. I didn’t turn to this method as much during this journey, but it had a significant impact on me during previous healing work I have done as I detailed here.
• Meditation – The foundation for me is always meditation. It helps me understand, and eventually release, the emotional storms that brew within me in ways I never can bustling around through life. To mix metaphors, it is as if it provides a wide, clear window into my subconscious, a window that therapy methods can use to make progress further and faster. I strongly suspect that I would not have healed in the way I have—mentally at a minimum—if I didn’t meditate regularly.
• Broader life framework – This is more nebulous, but was essential for me. There were many times during my healing when I was ready to give up. The pain I was intentionally unearthing within myself week after week was too great, too enervating; the progress I was making was too slow. The comfort and certainty of repression constantly called to me—burying myself in work or Netflix seemed so much more appealing. To nudge myself away from that repression, that urge to surrender fully, I returned to a life principle I had adopted several years before: that this inner work was the most important use of my life energy, not a distraction. Being a better parent or spouse or friend or professional will flow from healing the wounds that fuel my anxiety or anger or insecurity or that leave me distracted and wracked with pain. My inner work also helps me remember over and over again, even in my most miserable moments, that it is such a gift to be here, to be alive and in this body, to love and quarrel with the other improbable, wondrously complex creatures in my life. That reminder is not a panacea, but it does make the pain more tolerable and help me keep trudging along the path"