SI Joint help - New to TMS

Here is my first attempt at exploring my own thoughts around TMS, and I am looking forward to the thoughts of those in this community!

I am 29 and until a year ago, quite active. I'm a nurse, and to make a long story short, about one year ago I was having the worst migraine of my life. So awful, in fact, I wasn't even sure it was a migraine. I had tingling down my arm, vertigo, and felt as though I was going to faint. (I have since seen two MD's who assured me there was nothing to be concerned about and that it was indeed migraines.)

While at work that afternoon, I took a step around a corner and felt a large/jarring pop in my pelvis. My right foot immediately began to tingle. A week later--still with leg pain--a neurologist diagnosed me with sciatica and I began PT. The PT diagnosed me with a sacral torsion and "popped" my sacrum back into alignment.

Since that time, I've been to 2 physical therapists, an osteopath, a physiatrist, and a massage therapist. I've had 2 MRI's showing mild degenerative changes at L5 S1 which, per the physiatrist he's "seen worse in 18 year olds" and doesn't think it's a concern. I have been through 6 rounds of prolotherapy, used a heel lift, and undergone an intense core strengthening program. Nothing seems to have helped my "unstable pelvis."

I have pain in both legs that feels tingly/burny to me and can most certainly feel when my SI is "out of joint." I have soreness/tenderness in my lower back and glutes. Sitting immediately brings on the pain and I find myself often leaning on counters instead to get through my 12 hour hospital shifts. This pain has become quite consuming for me, and as a medical person I've spent countless (probably counterproductive) hours researching SIJD in attempts to "cure" myself.

I came across the TMS screening questionnaire and something struck a chord. While my pain has never left me since this injury, the two most recent flare ups I have had left me unable to work and coincided with my father receiving a cancer diagnosis and my significant other accepting a job out of state. I attributed this more to being too emotionally exhausted to COPE with the pain rather than my brain being the actual CAUSE of my pain.

Now I feel a small bit of hope that this life-altering pain may actually be within my control, as I was beginning to feel fairly desperate things would never change. My question is how do you accept a diagnosis like TMS when I still feel so many pops and clicks in my pelvis? Does anyone else have experience with a sacroiliac joint problem that was helped by TMS work? Self corrections do give me relief, they just don't last very long. It seems to convince myself this is truly 100% TMS I am going to need to understand that these pops/clicks can be caused by something other than being "unstable."

Looking forward to any advice you guys have for a newcomer like me!

 

Hi,
I haven't had this issue, but if you put "SI joint" in the search box in the top right corner of the page, you will find to links to several previous discussions on this issue within the Forum.

I hope you find some answers there.

Welcome to the Forum!

 

I want to add that pops and clicks in my opinion are the result of an unbalance in the surrounding muscles.... as a result of TMS.... Whenever I have an episode of TMS, my knees start to click and pop more, as do my shoulders and other joints.

 

Hi Gigalos,

I totally agree with your comments, I have had popping and clicking in joints where muscles have been very tight, i'm assuming the tightness has been caused by mild oxygen deprivation, I have also notice it more when there has been a weather change.

Lolaskip,

Providing you have ruled out there is nothing structurally wrong by a Dr, I would reaserch this site as Ellen has suggested just so you can can enforce your belief that it is a mindbody disorder. I am still in the process of downloading alot of MB books onto my kindle and I can do a search on your behalf to see if any MindBody Drs have mentioned it. Thats not to say if one hasnt mentioned it, it isnt a MB symptom. As you can imagine the spectrum of dis-eases is vast and and not one Dr has a list of every symptom.

Secondly, this site has details of TMS Drs and practioners, so if you do need to eliminate any doubt, I would recommend going to see one so you can enforce your belief and commence a structured mind body programme. There is an excellent free one available within this site.

Finally, I cannot stress this enough, but please dont focuss or worry about the symptoms as you will only strengthen the minds response to how strong/severe this pain is. Please be mindful from moment to moment and stay focussed and positive.

We are all with you and wish you strength, courage and wisdom in your healing. May you learn what hurt you and be at one with it.

God blesss you and may you find comfort and good health,

Mike

 

Hi Lolaskip, took a quick look here before gobble-gobble. From a quick scanning you sound like classic TMS. Read the Good Books by the Good Doctor and all should turn out GOOD! All your symptoms are found there and questions have been answered in them and you'll see. G'luck, I'll take another look after the turkey's all gone.

Cheers,
tt

 

Thanks to all for your thoughts and reassurance and happy thanksgiving! Tt--
Thank you validation like that is helpful. The funny thing is I actually work with a lot of pain patients and I have always been so saddened (and a little fearful) of what it must be like to live through that...and now here I am! I don't doubt I have some emotional components to my pain at this point. I just need to convince myself I can conquer this rather than the idea that one wrong move will put my SI out of joint.

I haven't been to an actual TMS doc, but I ordered Dr. Sarno's book and am excited to learn more. It's just helpful to know others have been diagnosed with "structural problems" and still found pain relief. I'll try to ignore my clicking SI joint for the time being and enjoy some turkey. Happy to hear from anyone else who's had this sort of pelvic pain!

 

Hi, lolaskip. You work with pain patients so that makes me suspect your pain may come from that,
especially if you are a sensitive person who "feels" others' pain.

One of my nieces is a counselor for high school students and her job is to listen to their problems.
She call me sometimes saying how stressed she gets from her work.

I'm a former Chicago Tribune newspaper crime reporter and covered a lot of bad news stories.
I took a lot of that to heart, personally feeling it all.
I remember a journalism professor told all his students: "Assume an attitude of detached studiousness."

It could be good advice for you and others who work with troubled people. Feel empathy, but try not
to absorb their grief or pain.

I hope you will watch Dr. Sarno's 20/20 tv video. I can't seem to be able to download the link
but you can find it at YouTube by writing in Sarno 20/20.

 

Hi, I just posted on the success stories forum some info about my SI joint problems. It is under "Made some progress." I've dealt with SI pain since I was twenty and have just turned 40. Have went to the chiropractor for YEARS, off and on. I just had some SI joint pain the other night, and once I realized it was from my emotions of being upset with a famly member, it went away. Weird, isn't it? I highly recommend reading Steve O's book, the Great Pain deception. It helped me more than SArno's books. Also, I've had occasional pop here or there, and it never caused any real pain. I think everyone's comments about about the tightness in the muscles is spot on. Everything that is in pain is tightened by your subconscious. In fact, quite often, I can feel the muscles tightening up.

E. Lynn

 

Hi Walt,

You make a good point. Thanks for your thoughts--as a new nurse I was prepared for the "gross" factor of healthcare and have always had a strong stomach in the midst of procedures and emergencies many would find overwhelming. I wasn't prepared for the emotional toll, and it took some time to wrap my head around that. Many of my co-workers and I would joke we had "nurse-itis" e.g. catastrophizing that every headache must be a brain tumor.

I do need to work on maintaining some "detached studiousness."

 

Lolaskip,
I too am a nurse with chronic SIJD (what the docs tell me anyway), but I think that for DR Sarno's methods to work, we need to stop labeling ourselves as such. There is an SI fusion surgery, but I'm holding off on that, because I'm fairly certain that I have TMS. My pain started during a very stressful period of life, and my back and shoulder muscles have been inexplicably tight and spasmy. I felt burnt out and unsupported at work, and my responsibilities at home where overwhelming too, while the emotional support wasn't there.
I read some books recently which seemed to have helped with my symptoms (more so than Dr. Sarno's books), and while they are built on the same TMS/mind body syndrome theory, they also put a focus on reprogramming the brain. My anxiety levels have decreased a lot through mindfulness meditation techniques in the books. The approach is more neuroscience-based, the authors believe that people with TMS are conditioned to feel pain (just like Dr. Sarno), and over time our brains build these pain pathways that can be triggered at any moment. The goal is to build new neurologic pathways (Our brains exhibit amazing neuroplasticity) so that the old pain pathways fall into disuse. When negative thoughts come up (like personal or patients suffering), we often try to suppress them (telling ourselves "don't think about it, think positively"), we actually don't truly make them go away, and they will come back to increase our anxiety/anger etc. Mindfulness meditation Techniques help us to create the "detachment" you mentioned that nurses need, and help us cope a lot better with stress. I really wish I read these books years ago, instead of carrying so much emotional burden! I used to think that mindfulness meditation was hogwash, but now I know that it's an indispensable tool for emotional and physical wellbeing. The books I recommend are Unlearn Your Pain by Dr. Howard Schubiner (get it with the meditation CD), and Back in Control by dr. David Hanscom. I really hope this can help you!
Helen

 

You nurses work under a lot of emotional stress. I did too years ago when I was a police reporter for the Chicago Tribune. I took every tragedy to heart
until another reporter told me what he learned in journalism graduate school. The professor advised future reporters to "assume an attitude of
detached studiousness." That advice helped me but not always. It could be helpful to you nurses as you treat patients' pain. Treat the pain but try not to absorb it emotionally. That may be hard at times, but maybe breathe deeply and remember the professor's advice.