Do you just keep going regardless of the pain?

Hello folks. New member here and have been dealing with lower back pain on and off for over 20 years. I do believe it's TMS because I can go months with no issues and then it flairs up. I've recently started reading Dr. Sarno's book, Healing Back Pain.

This last one was over getting a new car, which I did end up getting, but have agonized over getting it and it seems I have convinced myself that the seats hurt my back. They are actually great seats in terms of craftmanship. I can sit in other cars with no problem so I feel I am attaching the back pain to this new car because of the stress over buying it.

So the question is, how do I break this pattern? How does one keep doing what is causing them pain. As Dr. Sarno's book recommend - restart physical activity. This not so much physical activity as it is a programmed response. I have to use the car to go to work and it's a great car but I feel I've programmed myself to believe the seats hurt my back.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks,
Jay

 

What kind of car?

 

Hi Jay,

Talk to your brain right before you get in the car, saying something like "There is no reason why the seats in this car should cause me pain. I am healthy and strong and can enjoy driving my new car." If the pain starts once you are sitting in the car, say something like "Stop it brain. There is no reason....etc. I'm willing to look at and feel my feelings." Come up with your own version. It may take awhile, but in my experience it will eventually work. If it doesn't work right away, then just focus on the experience of driving your new car and enjoy it as much as possible. Maybe play some music you love.

And Welcome to the Forum!

 

It's a 2015 Subaru Outback. Awesome car. Seats have like 10 different settings plus lumbar support and just haven't found a comfortable position. Have only had it 3 days so I'm not giving it enough time either.

Thanks Ellen. Will give that I try. I have found myself not hurting at small intervals as I must have been distracted but then I start thinking about my back hurting so it does of course.

 

I should add that I've had MRI's in the past that showed disc herniation in my lower back and neck which of course doesn't help with making yourself believe it's not structural. Yet, I have no neck pain what so ever even though I have a herniated disc there.

 

Great car, lasts forever and great in the mountains. NO, car seats CANNOT hurt your back! I'm not a white-coat but can say that unequivocably (but can't spell it). Know someone who just went from a Bimmer Z-3 to a Porsche Cayenne and same story, her back hurts--right, Porsche makes shitty seats--not. Gave her a copy of Sarno in the hot-tub weeks ago, bumped into her, asked her about her back and it's still hurting, said she hasn't cracked the book yet but will? Most people need their TMS PROTECTION. She's got a custom cushion.

Keep reading your Sarno and all the answers will be revealed--and then sleep on it. The back is strong, it's the mind that's conflicted (hate that word BTW). You've been Pavloved conditioned by the media and the chorus to believe the body is fragile, that took a while, maybe from the womb by the Dr. Spock effect. It will take a while to undoodoo the bad conditioning in your sub-c that's given you the TMS pain. The pain is real but benign--psychosomatic. Keep reading your SARNO until you recondition your back-brain--then sleep on it.

Enjoy your car, it's not the seats, according to the Rahe-Holmes Stress Scale anything that takes us out of our homeostasis--comfort zone--can cause TMS--positive events as well as negative ones.

G'luck!
tt/lsmft

 

Thanks Tom. Great advice and stuff I need to hear. Will continue to read Sarno and then re-read it. I'm open minded to alternative theories. I'm not much of a traditional medicine type of guy as I believe nature has remedies for most ailments so I need to follow that belief when it comes to things of the mind. I'm tired of the on again off again back pain and it limiting what I want to do.

 

Yes! You don't need nature either, i.e., aspirin comes from nature, willow bark. The remedies for about the 80% of ailments that are TMS are right in our mind and not in the forest.

Don't be limited by the pain--break on through to the other side--drive that Subie like you stole it (within reasonable constraints), go for a little 8,000 mile 'cross country trip and back--or a little 800 miler to re-condition your mind.

Also, SteveO's, great TMS book 'THE GREAT PAIN DECEPTION" is a good one to have in your medicine cabinet, it's a TMS tome. He has some great stories about the lengths he had to go through to overcome his life-long TMS. His book is a college education in TMS.

 

Hello Jay,

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on the new car!

I had similar concerns when I bought a car a few years ago. In fact, I agonized over it, took extended test drives of many different models, and took months to make up my mind. That was my TMS doing its thing. It's a great distraction from the conflicts of life. I ended up with a Mazda6, and of course the seat is just fine, once I got over worrying about it.

Get in the car and drive it! That will, over time, convince you that it's fine. Don't pressure yourself, though, as that just increases anxiety and hence pain.

Talk to your brain as Ellen suggested.

On a deeper level, ask yourself what feelings the pain and worry are distracting you from. What's going on in your life? TMS exists to divert us from something. Find those feelings, and there will no longer be a psychological need to be in pain.

David.

 

Thanks for the book suggestion Tom. Going to pick that one up for my kindle now.

Thank you David. I love the car but there was fear of having a new loan, then that created anxiety over it. What was interesting is that other brands I test drove bothered my back too but my back was fine when I drove in my old one or any one elses vehicle. It's like my subconcious knew there was nothing to fear in my old car or while riding in friends cars, but my worry over making a big purchase created that block.

 

Check out the Rahe-Holmes list, taking out a loan is on it as a life "stressor" that can cause TMS dis-ease symptoms--so is paying off a loan-- the other side of the TMS coin.

 

Interesting list. Definitely can check off a few items there.

Just found the SEP on this site so going to start going through that program as well.

 

This website is fantastic, but the only problem I have found with is, I now have a sore back, left side, sciatic region. Have you got to Sarno's part in the book about certain pains being popular?;=)
I went for a massage today, first one in 3 weeks. (I quit physio, acupuncture, and wkly massage after reading Sarno). Anyway, she said my left lower back is completely relaxed. Can you say TMS or MBS? I've been telling my back and subconscious this since it started 2 weeks ago, so now it will really listen.

 

Something very interesting today. I had some friends help me cut down some trees and and the end of the day I realized I was carrying logs around to put them in a pile. So I asked myself how someone with herniated discs can do that yet I get pain when I sit in my car... of course my answer was that if I truly had a physical injury there is no way I should be picking up logs all day long. Now I just have to make my subconscious believe that when I go to sit in my car. That seems to be the tricky part but at least I'm aware of what's going on.

 

Happy to report that back pain from sitting in new car has been gone for several days now. After posting about cutting down some trees and lifting logs which should have made me a cripple for a couple of days if there was something structurally wrong with my back, it helped open my eyes, or more like mind, to the fact that I am indeed doing it to myself through my emotions. I've also been reading the books recommended here and that has helped.

So now I've been driving around in my new car enjoying it quite a bit. Seats didnt' change, my thought process did. And to think I was wondering if I would be able to keep the car when I first got it.

I still have work to do but when I catch myself doing things "carefully" or avoiding certain movements because they are so ingrained in me, I try to remind myself that my back is strong.

Cheers!

 

The Good Doctor says you can't hurt yourself sitting in a chair, especially a well padded car seat with a seat-belt and air bags all around. What kind of car did you get?

Cheers,
tt/lsmft

 

A '15 Subaru Outback

 

I had a 100% mind body moment today. Went to my Friday morning fitness dance-style class where they had a different instructor and type of class from the regular one. When I started the regular class a year ago, I had to wear ear plugs because my muscle problems involved every muscle in my head, neck, and shoulders and my ear muscles fluttered with loud noise (haven't worn ear plugs since last Sept). Well, I was really enjoying today's class until the woman beside me said to me, "the instructor is so load you'll have to get your ear plugs back on." Suddenly, I felt my ears hurting! So of course I laughed at my mind, went back to just enjoying and once again it wasn't too loud for me.

 

Hi, Eileen. That is a wonderful example of how someone can transfer their thoughts to ours... the woman who said the fitness instructor spoke too loud, when you didn't think so. I'm glad you were able to"tune her out."

 

Wonderful progress, JV. Enjoy your new car.