| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| anxo69 |
Posted - 01/16/2006 : 00:13:12
Hi, I am still working on the program and wrote dr sarno a month ago and he wrote me back. Didnt say much but I got his point.
I wrote :
Hello Dr. Sarno,
I have purchased your lectures from your website and your book, also a audio tape, I must say I was so happy to hear this diagnosis and have been working on it for 3 months, I have a few questions on my lower back problem. I'm a 36yr old male from upstate NY. I have been suffering with anxiety and panic since I was 19 and my son was born, I am very much perfectionist and I always seemed very hard on myself to push to get a lot done, I’m self employed and I'm usually a very active person. It happened back in June as I was lifting the front end of my lawn tractor, I felt a twinge in my lower back (I immediately said ... my back just went out!) and I went to my knees because I could'nt stand. I had very intense back spasms, I could not move from the floor for 2 days. If I moved myself a little bit it would spasm very hard again, it would send tears to my eyes. After a couple days on the living room floor I then was able to crawl to my bed and stayed there for a couple more days. When I was trying to get up again, it was very painful. Lots of burning, sharp pains, crooked torso, but no hard spasms. I would try to get up 2 to 3 times a day, later in the week I still had extreme low back pain, mostly on right side, burning, and sharp pains and my hip was a lot higher on the right than left . I only had butt and left leg pain a couple nights. I also had right testicle pain after this. I basically was trying to wait this out, so I walked around as best I could and then rest. I started to get worried cause I was still in such pain. I went to my doctor and he gave me a xray and said physical therapy you must have a strain. I went twice, a few more weeks went by and I was getting around more, but would have relapses that would send me back to bed unable to walk again. after a week Id start out again. I finally said I want a MRI, It said :
Findings: There is normal alignment to the lumbar spine. There is normal signal intensity within the distal cord. The conus is slightly low-lying ending at the l2 level. The cord is being tethered by a fatty filum.
Desiccated discs are seen at the l4-5 and l5-s1 levels showing decrease in height and water content. In addition there is some high signal in the posterior aspects of the discs suggestive of annual tears.
t12-L1 through the l3-4 levels are unremarkable.
the L4-5 level shows a diffuse disc bulge with a more focal central protrusion. Overall it is causing moderate to severe effacement of the thecal sac. The neural foramen are patent and the facet joints are unremarkable.
The L5-s1 level shows a diffuse disc bulge with a more focal right Para central protrusion. It is slightly touching the ventral aspect of the descending right S1 nerve root. In addition the diffuse bulge is causing mild narrowing of both neural foramen and is slightly touching the ventral aspect of the exiting right L5 nerve root..
Impression:
Degenerative disc disease at the L4-5 and L5-s1 levels as described.
Well I finally bought your books, video's , and tapes. I was so happy to hear what you had to say, I felt it was what I have, because of Anxiety/panic and my personality. I'm in very stressful times and the day that happen I was very tense also. Well I have been doing the work and want to believe, as I know I need to. Everybody is telling me to go to the chiropractor, I used to go all the time and my right hip / si joint was always out and they would pop it and id feel better in a couple days. I'm starting to get a phobia now as I'm afraid to go anywhere, I hurts to sit and drive. My anxiety is at a 8 all day and sometimes I'm back taking ativan when I start panicking. Depression is kicking in, pain gets real bad the longer I'm up, I’ve been in bed a lot for the past 3 weeks (really too much for 5 months, I haven't been working being I'm self employed). So now I don’t know what to do. I ended up going to the chiropractor and he said I have functional scoliosis and adjusted my right hip and said I would need visits 3 times a week till it stayed in place. I have gone 3 times now and I got to say I don’t believe him. I still think the hip is up because of when I had that muscle spasm, but that was 5 months ago… I want my life back, All I do is lay in bed most days. Thinking I’m damaged, the medical route basically tells you are damaged and you have to be careful to do anything, so now I’m paranoid, in pain and confused.
I really want to focus tms instead of thinking everything in the world is wrong with me so I was wondering if you could help me with these questions:
1. One time my back started to settle down during these past 5 months and I tried to resume normal activity, and had a bad response, My hip seemed to come down a bit and I felt ok, I went out and raked some of the lawn and felt ok, The next morning my hip was very high again and I needed to stay in bed again because the pain trying to stand on it was too much. Why would it do that?
2. Do you believe in functional scoliosis (chiropractor says )? Will my back straighten out by itself?
3. Shouldn't my hip be back level by now?
4. Coluld the right testicle hurt with tms?
5. The muscle spasm that I got when it happen, was more pain that I ever felt, Was that because the bulge hit the nerve?
6. Will that spasm return? Or only if I lift something heavy again?
7. Most important: Do you think I should stop all these treatments and only focus on tms?
Any advice from you would be appreciated because you have helped so many people in the past and I believe in you more than anybody I have seen or talked to.
I'm sorry this was so long,
Thanks for your time and any help you can offer,
Mark Arcaro
Dr Sarno wrote:
Hello, I'm sorry I cant give you advice on this as it would be unethical medically, As it says in my books tms is from the unconscious mind and not structural. If I had was suffering from tms I would find a good psychologist that understands the disorder.
So I think he is telling me you have to believe and I might need to talk to somebody to get me over this.
|
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| elise8 |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 10:25:05
You are right Suz. And it does take a while to realize that most all (about 99%) of pain and sickness come from the mind, and repressed emotional trauma. Even all the ancient medical systems, Chinese etc, believe this. The chi (life energy is somehow out of balance). First you have some emotional trauma (can be even a minor trauma, but if it was at all a trauma to you at the time, then it is an emotional trauma), and if it is not resolved right then, well later it will manifest into suppressed anger, rage, etc., and then move to the physical rhelm of the body. No doubt about it. It does not mean the physical pain is not real or even the sickness or other ailment, it just means that until you resolve the emotional issues of rage, anger, guilt, grief, etc., (especially subconscious ones) than your illness, pain, disease, etc will not go away...
Not to say that diet, lifestyle, exercise, etc. are not important also, it is just that the emotions are the key, that is where it all starts..
This probably does not help you now, but someday, everything will click, and you will realize what is behind all your suffering...
Just acknowledge that your brain/aka-emotions, are at the root cause of your pain, that is how you start the process of healing....
Elise
Elise8 |
| gevorgyan |
Posted - 01/17/2006 : 01:18:08
Thank you Suz, I wish I could forget about my symptoms or at least to see they are vanishing.
I wish I could jump on my head to swimming pool, which I love but now I am too scared do to it. If dr Sarno has opened the only gate to enter the pain-freedom, I have no choice.
Thank you once more!
|
| Suz |
Posted - 01/16/2006 : 20:14:54
Gevoyrgan,
Return to the book. It works. I am a different human being because of Sarno.I am free. Imagine not worrying about your back anymore? Imagine not worrying any more about any of those aches and pains? What freedom! Don't miss out on it because the doctor wouldn't answer you. Remember - he is still a doctor who can't diagnose without seeing you and he simply can't manage the numbers. Is this fair? - no. But I bet there is some way you can see a TMS doctor or talk to one on the phone. Sarno's work has reached many places.
His entire discovery is a total miracle. I believe he will change the face of medecine. It takes time - but he will. Most of it - almost all comes from the mind. I believe that all of my physical symptoms come from repressed emotions. Slowly - day by day - the symptoms happen less and less. When they come - I stop, turn to my feelings and have a good chuckle at my brain. The pain or the acne or the digestive issues are gone. My latest coup is that I am beginning to get rid of constipation - I have had it for years. Now - I simply don't care or worry any more. My skin is glowing - if I get a pimple, I laugh! I can now switch my back pain off very quickly. This has taken me almost two years. I had excruciating pain for 12 years - that is a long time. |
| n/a |
Posted - 01/16/2006 : 11:32:58
Dr. Sarno cannot ethically make a diagnosis on the internet or the phone. No doctor would agree to that. It just makes logical sense that he would have to examine you in person before making a diagnosis. In addition, it would not be suprising that since he is so well known that he gets hundreds of calls and e-mails and, since he is 83 years old, cannot possibly keep up with all of these requests. |
| gevorgyan |
Posted - 01/16/2006 : 11:01:19
Anxo69,
I also wrote the letter to dr Sarno and received approximately the same answer like you did, so I am wondering if there is any answering machine or simply assistant who answered already prepared formulas.
I wanted to get rig of one doubt which I had and the answer was “that it would be unethical to answer you”.
In my opinion this is unethical not to answer, because I had already trusted him. I wonder why the man who has written such a revolutionary book about pain treatment avoids answering simply questions (my was much more simpler and shorter). I am now seriously discouraged to return to his book.
|
| n/a |
Posted - 01/16/2006 : 08:03:04
On page 112 of Healing Back Pain Dr. Sarno says that although scoliosis is often blamed for pain in adults, that he himself has never found that to be the case. All of these "normal abnormalities" are merely a trick of your brian to make you believe you have a physical problem. Yes, the pain is real but based on what you have written and what Dr. Sarno writes about these types of symptoms, it appears the source of your pain in not physical, but lies somewhere deep within you. He writes in Healing Back Pain that "It has been assumed that neck, shoulder, back and buttock pain is due to injury or disease of the spine and associated structures or incompetence of muscles and ligaments surrounding these structures - without scientific validation of these diagnostic concepts....."
The fact that Dr. Sarno is suggesting you see a psychologist, and not a physical doctor, is significant.
Best wishes
|
| art |
Posted - 01/16/2006 : 05:44:47
Glad you got his point. Probably no sense in sending such a detailed letter. He can't say anything without seeing you.
Plus, no such thing as a free lunch. The man has only so much time. |
|
|
