Day 1 Ready to go for it!

Hello all,

My is David. I am 38 years old, and today is my first day following the SEP. I am excited to see where it will take me.

I began to have sporadic, but intense, lower back pain and sciatica in my late teens. At the beginning, the bouts would last 2-3 days and would occur just once or twice per year. I had always known that many members of the paternal side of the family had terrible back pain, so I never doubted that this was an inherited structural issue. As the years progressed, the duration of the bouts increased greatly, and the suspicion of a structural cause was later confirmed by MRI images. By the time I reached my early thirties I would have bouts that lasted up to 18 months, which greatly affected all areas of my life. All manner of therapies and medications proved ineffective, and to date I have treated this issue by attempting to avoid prolonged sitting, and have ceased all sports and vigorous activities.

In addition to my lower back pain, I have also experienced a constant tightness/pain, sometimes burning sensation, in my mid back and neck. In contrast to my lower back pain, these symptoms have been present every hour of every day since they first started 10 years ago. Because I have experienced the symptoms to greatly increase depending on the position and of my body, I have allowed the pain to dictate all matters, great and small, in my daily routine (e.g. I have driven home exhausted and enraged from family vacations, because the pain and discomfort prevented me from falling asleep on some hotel beds). When the symptoms are most severe I find that I have a sporadic tingling sensation in my arms, and my upper body mobility is greatly limited. During those times I feel locked in, and at the complete mercy of my aching body. In contrast to the symptoms that I have in my lower back, no structural cause for my upper back and neck has ever been determined.

A good friend referred me to Dr. Sarno's book, "Healing Back Pain". Although I have always presumed an emotional or psychosomatic link, at least to pain and discomfort in my upper back and neck (e.g. my symptoms began shortly after a messy divorce, and tend to increase during or after stressful moments in my life), I must admit that I was at first skeptical that such a life changing pain could have, shall I say, such an uncomplicated, faith-based solution. Nevertheless, I was, and continue to be, very hopeful, both due to the knowledge I have gained by reading Dr. Sarno's books, and by learning of the success stories of other suffers that I have encountered. For the time being at least, I am putting my skeptical nature to the side and am embracing this methodology fully. Normal life, here I come!

 

DavidW Welcome aboard my friend, you will learn to be at peace in the midst of turmoil my friend. You will learn to be mindful of your unconscious thoughts, ya know those that you don't think you thinking but you are. Well, and so so much more. I love the way you said faith based, that's correct. We have to believe that we can heal in order for the knowledge penicillin to work.
About the pain in your back that has stayed constant for 10 years, well my pain stayed constant too for a long long time. I would have some days that it would be better than others but it was always there and constant. You mention of a divorce, that is something to journal about and to feel all the emotions associated with it ya know. I know some subjects are hard to think about and it's those subjects that we need to face and let go. We let go of them by facing the thoughts and memories associated with the times we went through.
You will learn a lot here so ask a lot of questions and Yes, Normal life Here you come for sure.
Bless You