Upper Back Pain - Wall of Victory

Hi brothers and sisters,

It is some weird be sitting in my desk, writing this post with no pain.
My case:

Upper back pain since january 2018 until october 2019, started with a little contracture, months later were days that I can't wake up from my bed, pain changed from side to side, upper back, left side, right side, neck, shoulders, trapezius, jaw, arms. I visited 10 specialists (physiotherapist, traumatologist, sports doctor, chiropractor, egoscue method, etc) I didn't get any relief, just 1 or 2 days.
I couldn't buy Dr Sarno'ss book, so i Read Steve Ozanich book in a couple of days (e-book) . To be honest I tried almost all advices, speak with my brain, be positive, etc... But I am gonna write here, in my opinion, what advices helped me most.
- Since the 1st day, I realized, all this pain was psycological, I was so frustrated to visit so many doctor and did not recive help, so, read cases similar to mine had much sense for first time in months, so it was very easy to introduce this idea in my mind.
- I went to the gym next day I understood the TMS, I faced fear, it was difficult, but I think we can all do it.
I say gym because I worked out for 3 years and TMS prevented me to go almost for a year, but if you like to swimm, run, play basket, etc... face your fear, YOU CAN!!!!
- Ignore the pain. Most difficult part to me... first 4 o 5 weeks I was a little frutrated, I was improving, but not much as i Thought I could do it... but in some point, I focused on my work, my workout, my life, I went out with friends, etc and the pain started to reduce more and more, It is like a circle: "The more you ignore the pain, feel more relief - the more relief you feel, the easier it is to ignore it" It is hard to explain, but you can get relief, just be patient, focused and thinking positive!
- I did not become obsessed with getting too much information, I read what was necessary, success stories and started taking action in my life. NOTE: at some point I read success stories of people who were relieved in 1 or 2 days and that frustrated me a little, because I thought the same thing would happen to me, my advice is to read success stories but be patient, Dr Sarno says It takes between 6 and 8 weeks to heal. Coincidentally, I was cured at the eighth week, but now that I think about it, I was in pain for almost 2 years, having taken 2, 4 or 6 months of healing, it would have been worth it. My heartfelt advice is not to get obsessed, I think that frustration makes TMS worse.

Well, today november 8 2019, I can say I am free of pain (at least 90 - 95%), I know that in some point I will be cured 100%, I have had many days in a row without pain or contractures, and when I feel some pain, I just ignore it, in this point I think best technique for me, is ignore the pain and focus in what I doing in that moment.

I wish good health to all of you from the bottom of my heart and if you have questions I will be glad to answer them.

 

Hi drlecter, I am so pleased with your success, as you don't see to many success stories with upper back pain on the forum and it is always good to hear positive words that particularly resonate with you. I am also working on ignoring and trying to accept the upper back pain I experience, but with less success than you at the moment. Would it be possible to PM you please.

 

Fantastic post @drlecter and inspiriing for those of us on the bottom rungs of the ladder! Your tips are very helpful indeed, thank you.

 

Awesome!

 

Hi drlecter,

Great to hear about your success! I love the points you make.

On this last point, this is what I did too. I got to a not-perfect, but good enough pain relief, then stopped worrying about it. I could see that trying to rid myself of that last 2 or 5% of pain could catch me if I was a perfectionist, that it could evoke efforting and worrying about "TMS technique." I knew by then that my perfectionist/control freak personality is what got me into the TMS, so why continue to fuel this inner activity?

Andy

 

of course, send me a message dude!