She Who Walks

Several years ago my husband read Dr. Sarno's book after 6 months of pain. It worked. Then he passed it on to two brothers-in-law. They are no longer in pain. I had no pain at that time; then went through some very challenging times and began to have SI and piriformis pain whenever I stand still or walk slowly. I am very active and can often walk through the pain for 3 miles or more and be pain free at 5 miles. I am convinced this is a psychological syndrome and wish to explore TMS with others here on this forum and in my own readings. I have tried many things -- chiropractic, injections, yoga, massage, pain meds...for three straight years now. I was also convinced it was the post-breast cancer drug I was taking that was causing the problem. Now I am finished with that drug. It's time to stop hurting.

 

Welcome Betsy! It sounds like you have a pretty good handle on TMS, and it's great to hear that your brothers-in-law are pain free. ​

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Hope to see you around here.​

 

Hi Betsey and welcome! I find my experience with exercise correlates with your own: If I take a 20-mile bike ride and go and lift weights afterwards, I'm almost completely pain-free for a long while - no lower lumbar tingles, no sciatica, no drop foot, no strange pains in my knee. However, if I spend the day in front of the PC stressing out about some problem on my mind, bango: My back hurts and my left leg is weak. This of course makes no sense if my problem was purely structural. Then, the longer I would ride, the more I would hurt, especially if there were bone spurs rubbing or a bulging disk bulging, whatever. However, because I hurt worse when I'm under self-imposed stress, it's very, very likely that my pain-syndrome is TMS induced. Since you can "walk through" your pain, it sounds like you'll benefit immensely from the TMS approach; that is, as long as you've been checked out by an MD to determine there aren't any underlying physical causes for your pain. With all the alternative strategies you've explored, it sounds as though you've done that already. If Dr. Sarno is correct about TMS pain being caused by the autonomic nervous system reducing the supply of oxygen to your extremities, it also makes sense that when you walk a longer distance and "warm up" that more oxygen is getting to the parts of your body that hurt. Such an exercise-based cure is temporary I would think because it does not address the underlying emotional reasons your brain is cutting off the oxygen to your nerves, muscles and tendons. However, pushing yourself physically does seem to help break down the conditioned pain pathways in your body that perpetuate the syndrome. There's probably also a psychological explanation too: When you push yourself, you feel better about the inner you and negate one of the main reasons behind the TMS charade, which can often be low self esteem.

 

Hi Betsy:

Welcome to the forum. I love to walk too. But have not tried more than a mile or so since being in pain (over 10 years now). I recently did a mile walk without pain medication. You've inspired ME that perhaps if I lengthen my walk, I too can become pain free after a couple miles. Thank you!

Best of luck to you and keep us posted on your progress.

BG