| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| John D. |
Posted - 06/11/2005 : 10:34:00
First, a little background. I have had what I quess is sciatic pain since late October of 2004. I really don't have any low back pain to speak of. Just a little twinge now and then. The burning pain in my butt and left leg is what's driving me crazy. I had an MRI in December and also saw a neurosurgeon the same month. He said I had a slight disc protrusion at the L5-S1 level putting slight pressure on the nerve root that could possibly be causing the butt and leg pain. He said this scenario usually takes care of itself. Surgery was not reccomended at that time. I heard about TMS and bought Dr. Sarno's book Healing Back Pain. Saw myself in the book and decided to pursue this route. I went to see Dr. Scott Brady (he is a TMS trained doctor) in Orlando Fla. the first week in March. After a consultation he said that I was your classic TMS case. Now, I have a question about dealing with the pain. I was hoping it would be gone by now but it's still holding on. I have been told to just "work through the pain" ignore it. I can do this for awhile but then I just can't stand it. I really start to favor my left leg so it will not hurt so bad. I also give in sometimes and take the Advil. Taking Advil or Motrin really bothers me because I know from reading Sarno's book that you are not supposed to do this.
Let me know if my way of thinking is wrong. It goes like this. I have pulled muscles in the past mostly from athletic pursuits, pulled hamstring, groin pulls etc., etc. I usually favor that part of the body and the pain goes away after awhile. Does'nt the brain send signals via pain to let you know when to backoff a little. Does this not hold true with TMS. I still feel like if I just suck it up and say to hell with it and force myself to keep going that this pain will never stop. Does oxygen debt not cause the muscles to be tight thereby increasing your chances of muscle pull or tear. I am thinking about going to see Dr. Brady again with a list of questions I now have about TMS. Hoping maybe I can get them answered here instead of having to drive all the way back to Orlando. If some of you can tell me everything you know about dealing with this pain I would greatly appreciate it. How far do you push it? I think the worst pain comes when I stand up after being seated for awhile. This pain sometimes actually takes my breath. I will say this. My work is pretty physical at times and the pain does seen to subside after getting loosened up or warmed up a bit. It does come back however after I have cooled down. Thanks for any help and words of encouragement. |
| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| johnnyg |
Posted - 06/13/2005 : 11:29:45
Hi:
I just wanted to caution you on using medications. In MBP, Dr. Sarno does describe the use of a strong pain killer, but only in the context of someone in the throws of an extremely painful acute attack. In other places of the book, he cautions that the rejection and repudiation of all physical treatments should include ending the use of medication. In addition, he discusses patients who were relying heavily on pills and he was concerned about how to wean them off until he was relieved to learn that once the TMS theory was accepted by them, they began to wean themselves off.
This, I believe, is for a couple of reasons. If you are new to the theory, use of medicine may make it harder to implement the treatment program as follows: (1)tougher to repudiate any structural diagnosis or non-psychological cause if you rely on pills. (2) painkillers and tranquilizers may actually aid in the further repression of emotions. Progress is retarded when you fail to think about or deal with your emotional issues. Thus when you stop taking the pills, you might find that you have lost some ground with your mental work.
So, basically, while taking a painkiller occasionally is ok, you can't lose sight of the important mental work that must continually occur for you to get better and ultimately "cured." |
| n/a |
Posted - 06/11/2005 : 16:35:36
Hi John
You are not giving in when you take an analgesic - if the pain is bad it is the sensible thing to do and actually Dr Sarno does not say don't use them; in fact, in 'The Mindbody Prescription' he talks about prescribing strong pain killers for TMS pain.
Sounds like you have been down a similar path to many of us who post here - the herniated disc causing nerve pain scenario and you probably have had years and years of trusting doctors and other medical people to be able to diagnose and treat sucessfully health problems that occur. We are brought up to think that and, to be fair, for many conditions they do a good job.
What they don't do well is deal with these pain conditions that plague modern western societies, but years and years of conditioning (theirs as well as ours, their patients) make it extremely difficult for us to turn perceived wisdom on its head and treat pain conditions like the one you describe psychologically and, in the main, by ourselves. Overcoming these years of conditioning can take a while, but once you are on that road, you will succeed.
If there is one thing that most of us who post here would probably take issue with Dr Sarno it is the ease of recovery that his patients apparently experience - our experiences have been rather different and I, for one, have had to put in a lot of work and soul searching to get to where I am today.
The important thing is however - I did get there - back at work, leading a normal life again after dreadful back pain had forced me to give up and I was headed for a life of disability and depression.
There is no one answer as to how you tackle this, but one thing most of us will agree on is that overcoming the fear of pain is crucial. How one does that probably varies from person to person. You'll find many people who post here play sports and take part in other physically demanding activities and have managed to return to them.
One other thing - when I first found out about TMS and the fear began to subside, I had many relapses when the pain did just what you describe - took my breath away. If it got to that stage I took a pain killer - not Advil or any other over-the-counter remedy. A pain management specialist doctor prescribed a combination of two powerful analgesics that knocked the pain on the head. I don't feel that taking those when I needed them hampered my recovery from TMS back pain in any way because as we all know TMS pain is pychologically induced, but nevertheless is very real.
Best wishes
Anne
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| smth416 |
Posted - 06/11/2005 : 16:04:38
John, the pain you describe is exactly the pain I had when I had a sequestered disc. This injury and the pain I suffered for nine months from it came before I ever heard of TMS.
For me, the worst pain would come when sitting. Also, standing up from being seated was the worst shooting pain.
As you describe "warming up" amd moving around would help the pain a little.
Follow the guidlines in Sarno's works. A protrusion isvery common and is not the reason for your pain. Also, taking Motrin or even a stronger painkiller is OK. Sarno says many times in his books that when dealing with pain a strong painkiller is OK because the pain is real. Understanding what is causing the pain is the problem.
Examine what is causing tension, anger, anxiety and stress in your life. Your brain must be convinced that these factors, not a small disc protrusion is causing oxygen deprivation to your muscles and producing sciatic like pain. Taking Motrin to dull that pain is not only OK but probably a good idea. Good Luck. -Al |
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