Day 1 Excited to Heal

I have suffered with back pain off and on for 15 years. The latest occurrence has been the most severe and longest that I have had pain. I had low back pain and some pain in my leg, and treated with a chiropractor who did spinal decompression therapy. Gradually, I got better, but all of a sudden the pain came back, and was even worse. I continued the therapy, and after 5 months started Physical Therapy. PT helped with the low back pain, but I started getting severe cramps in my right hip and butt. They said I had periformis syndrome, but nothing seemed to help. My doctor sent me for an MRI which showed degeneration in the L5-S1 area, and a herniation. She gave me oral steroids that only made a difference for two days, then the pain returned again. I am scheduled to see a pain management doctor on Tuesday for a possible steroid injection. If that doesn't work, my doctor recommended surgery. I read Dr. Sarno's first book "Mind Over Back Pain" onWednesday. One day later, my pain improved 50%. Two days later, I was finally able to stand for 15 minutes without severe cramping and pain. The numbness and tingling in my right leg was minimal. However, on Saturday, 3 days later, the pain got worse, and today, it was extremely painful again. I truly believe that my mind is causing this. I have no doubts. I'm excited to learn more about this to be able to control the pain and make it go away. My entire life has been affected by this pain. I want to live again. I am so disappointed that I did well at first, but had a setback. Maybe that's normal? I am reading Dr. Sarno's 2nd book "Healing Back Pain" now. I'm hoping this educational program will give me the help I need to beat this condition.

 

Welcome here Sandy. You are very new to the TMS concept. I am sure you will continue to feel better and get healed. This is a great place to post and get support. Good luck on your healing.

 

Yes, Sandy, it is normal what you are experiencing. Your mind knows you are getting ready to take a journey. It is trying to distract you from going. Tell your mind "no matter what, I am going on this journey. There is nothing you can do to stop me."

Welcome to a new way of thinking about your health.

 

The setbacks can be disappointing but they can also help to strengthen your faith in the diagnosis. I had a blissful 15 hours (slept through some of it but it still counts) a few weeks ago where I had no pain. First time in 19 months that had happened and I've tried pretty much everything. I was so discouraged when it came back but I forced myself to do 2 things. 1) I took a hard look at my personality traits to see which ones were being triggered - turns out they all were, the perfectionist was ranting that I "wasn't getting it right again", the people-pleaser was worrying about how disappointed those I had shared my 15 hours of pain-free bliss were going to be to learn the pain hadn't stayed gone, and the fear-prone was a wreck again fearing pain freedom was just a dream. Once I realized what was going on I forced myself to focus on the very real fact that the pain had completely gone away for 15 hours - that confirmed that it is absolutely being generated by my subconscious. I managed to get it to go away once, I get stronger every day, and I will manage to get it to go away and eventually stay gone too. It helps me to remind myself that I did not get to this point with the pain overnight so it's not unreasonable to expect I will not unlock all my hidden emotions (and I doubt I'd survive it if I did) that way either.

I learned a lot from the SEP, it really helps you learn the root of the pain and work toward it's end.

 

Leslie,
This is fantastic progress. You can do this. Sandy