Day 1 Diving in

I injured myself weightlifting approximately 5 months ago. I have been diagnosed with herniated discs, mainly the L4-L5 region, degenerative disc disease, etc. After multiple doctor visits, steroid injections, PT, acupuncture, my pain has gotten better. However, it hasn't completely gotten better. I still would get sciatic pain, especially in the morning. I would get constantly discouraged and Google if the pain would ever go away and it would be normal again. I still struggle with understanding that it's all mental. i still try to reason that when I sit in a certain way, bend down, or wake up in the morning that it has to be structural because I'm "irritating" the nerve. I'm trying to embed in my head that I am psychologically doing this to myself. All I want to do is have the pain go away, but I know that I need to not focus on the pain, but rather on how to stay healthy and live a healthy life and not be so hard on myself.

I then stumbled upon Dr. Sarno's book, Healing Back Pain, a few weeks ago. I read Healing Back Pain and started "buying in". I was starting to feel better! Then, I felt a relapse, and I still experience pain when I sit down and straighten my leg, bend my back while sitting, or especially in the morning, when I raise my leg. i get numbness, tingling, and tightness. It now feels like things are centralized near my upper right buttocks. Anyway, I'm trying to do this for real. Journaling, reading, trying to uncover my emotions and come to reality that this is all in my head. it's psychological, not physical. I am in no real pain. I am healthy. There really is too much to write right now, but I know I will have others days to write more on.

Recently I have been getting back into running, and I will begin weightlifting tomorrow, which initiated my injury. I'm trying not to be afraid. I hope that going back to the gym will help. I'm diving in. I'm looking forward to hearing from anyone, and I hope to also help people. Thank you, All!