| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| flutterby |
Posted - 05/22/2009 : 02:35:48
Does anyone know whether 'fibrous scarring around the nerve roots' can be a physical cause of back and sciatic pain?
That was what showed up in my MRI some years ago and I've read elsewhere on the internet that it can cause intermittent pain.
I'm quite sure that if I went to my doctor she would confirm that this was the cause of my pain, although my guess is that she would add that any pain can be exacerbated by emotional/psychological factors, though not causedby them.
I've posted this question on the wiki but so far no response so I'm wondering whether anyone else has had this diagnosis but discovered that their pain is actually TMS and responds to Dr Sarno's method?
I really need to clear up this little niggling doubt about whether I in fact have TMS but not sure how to go about it. |
| 14 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| HellNY |
Posted - 05/23/2009 : 19:55:09
Fibrous scarring arounds nerve roots is often related to post surgical scarring that forms after a discectomy or other back surgery.
The scarring may connect to the nerve roots in some way.
Some believe it causes pain. Doom and Gloom!
Another in the long list. Where is facet arthritis when you need it? |
| Garth |
Posted - 05/23/2009 : 12:54:51
quote:
Originally posted by flutterby
And BTW, I do believe that Scott Peck also says somewhere, 'Question everything'!
Yes ...Question Everything. What is the truth?
The truth..... is relative to each of us. My truth may, or may not be your truth.
For any "truth" I ask myself this question......
Is it true for me? |
| sarita |
Posted - 05/23/2009 : 11:57:37
hi flutterby,
well, dr. ziggles, hihihi, is the name of a doctor who sometimes writes something in this forum. i believe he is a neurologist. look him up on members. good luck! at any rate, he will be more able to explain what this fibrous scarring is.
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| flutterby |
Posted - 05/23/2009 : 11:25:21
Hillbilly - I am afraid that practically all of what you've written is totally irrelevant to me but you could not know that as you do not know me. In any case it doesn't answer my straighforward question about fibrous scarring which is what concerns me at the moment.
And BTW, I do believe that Scott Peck also says somewhere, 'Question everything'! |
| Hillbilly |
Posted - 05/23/2009 : 09:49:02
flutter,
Have you been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder? Ever had panic attacks? Any time when you were in a crowd you couldn't concentrate, mind started whirling around everywhere, and you felt like you would die if you didn't get off to yourself? Easily embarrassed? Does the feeling of embarrassment feel like death to you? If so, you can forget about the fibrous scarring and concentrate on dealing with stressors in your life. That will bring the healing you need. If you've had this issue for 42 years and it hasn't crippled you yet, you are dealing with a nervous tension issue.
Once again, and you can decide to do this or not, the best thing for you to do is to get off this forum, stop looking up stuff on the net, and start dealing with your life moment by moment. Let the pain be there like it's been the past 42 years. Nothing is going to come of it. Stop feeding it your attention and it will die away, probably slowly, but just as surely as you are reading this. Difficult, yes, but very possible.
A couple of extra things that might help speed the recovery: go do everything you resist now. Start small and work to the biggies. The little ones that thinking about make you anxious are where to start. The biggies can come with renewed confidence. You cannot coddle your symptoms AT ALL. If you do, you are allowing your life to be dictated by your resistance to the FEELING of FEAR. That's right. The feeling of fear, not the fear, but its manifestation in your tensed-up body. Learn a relaxation technique and do it if you start to get strong symptoms and are tempted to flee.
So how long will it take? A few months, likely, if you do it religiously. Longer, much longer, if you lose faith during the journey and start to coddle your symptoms, look up stuff on the internet medical websites, post questions here, etc. You have to be willing to suffer for a while. That attitude will get you through. Seeking relief means longer suffering.
M. Scott Peck, author of "The Road Less Traveled," starts off by stating that life = suffering. Once that is understood and accepted, everything can then be weathered. Think that over, go back to your life, and let us know when you are better. Godspeed in your journey.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
| flutterby |
Posted - 05/23/2009 : 06:50:04
Thank you, Sarita, but who is Dr Ziggles?
(Google didn't bring up any likely candidates.) |
| sarita |
Posted - 05/23/2009 : 04:15:43
you could ask dr. ziggles? maybe this scarring is something that needs to be evaluated in the mri though.
GOOD LUCK |
| flutterby |
Posted - 05/22/2009 : 17:38:30
Thank you, crk - the only other names I've ever heard in this context are 'tethering' and 'adhesions'. I believe they are more or less the same thing but I'm not completely sure as they were terms used by a physio and an osteopath who didn't have access to my MRI scans.
I do actually mostly 'use my body as if there's nothing wrong with it' because I don't believe I can actually do any damage to 'fibrous scarring' - it is not an injury as such.
Perhaps I should add that my laminectomy (in 1984, I think) was successful in that it enabled me to walk without excruciating pain, which seems to indicate that I did have a physical problem at one point which the surgery seems to have permanently relieved. But I was warned that it probably wouldn't relieve all of my pain because of the length of time between the onset of my backpain (1968?) and the surgery. I had convinced myself that my pain was 'all in my head' so when I eventually had a myelogram that showed that I had bits of disc fragment floating around and was recommended for immediate surgery, I was not convinced and delayed the operation for a few days to get a second opinion, from a neurologist.
The trouble is, crk, that I haven't had a 'TMS diagnosis' to trust! 
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| flutterby |
Posted - 05/22/2009 : 17:20:34
Thank you all for your input.
I had assumed that I had TMS but then I watched one of Dr Schubiner's video clips a couple of days ago in which he said that it is really important to make sure that you are actually suffering from TMS and I don't know how I can do that. All I have to go on really is the consultant's letter from 1991, with the offer of an epidural, which I declined because I had seen at first-hand some disastrous and frightening results.
Garth, I do agree that 'pain can be an emotional reaction to life' and that it frequently is. But I don't think that even Dr Sarno is saying that pain is always entirely an emotional reaction to life, just that much of it is.
I think that looking at the emotions/stressors etc (through journaling etc) is extremely valuable and I have no doubts whatsoever about the mind/body connection in general - I have always asked myself thing like 'who's being a pain in the neck at the moment?' or 'who's giving me the cold shoulder?' and 'am I taking the weight of the world on my shoulders?' and so on and so forth.
But as long as I have any uncertainty at all about whether all my pain is due to TMS, I'm afraid I may be 'barking up the wrong tree' and hoping for an impossible outcome, which will of course get in the way of my progress.
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| crk |
Posted - 05/22/2009 : 17:12:44
Hi Flutterby, I just looked in the index of Healing Back Pain, Mind Body Solution, and Divided Mind under "fibrous scarring." Nothing there. Could be called something else?
I know you are sincerely looking at everything that could be an answer, and that is a rational thing to do. It is hard for you to have blind faith. That'ok. You are intelligent and this is your health we're talking about.
I don't think that *wondering* about a physical cause is incompatible with trusting the TMS diagnosis. But there are going to be moments when you have to choose, like when you are going to use your body as if there is nothing wrong with it. That is crucial.
Garth - great post! |
| Garth |
Posted - 05/22/2009 : 16:30:12
First of all...... I have pain of unknown origin. Is there a cause? .. or not?
I don't know.... and the thing is.... neither does anyone else.
I do know a little of how my mind works though.... as I've lived with it for 40 some years now.
My mind is always looking for a reason to suffer. I've come to believe that pain is an emotional reaction to life itself. This is my view only. Everyone is a little different in how their mind works...... but there is much in common for those that experience it.
When I step back and examine my life.... my thoughts..... I can clearly see the suffering. How that transforms to physical pain isn't as important as it's doing it right here and now. If you've read Scott Brady's book Pain Free For Life, there are many questions that can help you look see how your life is working for you... or not. It's a good self examination.
So, now when my mind is wondering if X can cause such and such pain.....I say .... does it really matter? Am I looking for an excuse to suffer more?..... because my mind is always looking for any excuse for more pain. I'm not talking cut or scrapes to the finger here.... btw.
And further..... what if there was a cause that a MD claimed was the culprit...... then what? Some of us are told it's incurable..... live with it.... take drugs.... etc. How many of us have been told that our pain is from X. Then we read from Sarno's work that most if not all of chronic aliments have no physical cause. That leads to a crossroads of faith. Do I believe in surgery, drugs and suffering..... or do I believe true health is possible?
The whole point here...is you, I and everyone has to decide within themselves weather or not to believe that our mind can cause our pain..... and we that we can be healed of suffering. The cure's not coming from outside of us....... but within. It's faith. Trust. |
| sarita |
Posted - 05/22/2009 : 16:10:50
yes, in one of my many sarno reads  i also ran into this statement. |
| Capn Spanky |
Posted - 05/22/2009 : 14:18:13
Of course, I don't know specifically about your condition and I'm definitely not qualified to give medical advice. But I do know that Dr. Sarno generally pooh-poohs the theory that scarring causes pain and I believe him. |
| flutterby |
Posted - 05/22/2009 : 13:44:06
Nobody out there with this diagnosis?
Unfortunately I've taken my 'Sarno' books back to the library and they'd take a week or so to order again so I can't check whether 'fibrous scarring' was one of the things that shouldn't cause pain. 
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