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Fox
USA
496 Posts |
 Posted - 10/03/2005 : 09:07:33
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| Reading and implementing Sarno's ideas has really helped me with the sciatica that I have had in my left leg and buttocks (especially bad in the ankle and foot) for over 20 years and that 5 surgeries did not resolve. Now, I'm about 85% better and I have successfully overcome most of my silly conditioning -- such as fearing to bend down to pick stuff off the living room coffee table whereas I could bend down to pick stuff off the ground -- how stupid, but regardless, I couldn't do it without pain for years until a few months ago.....I've been walking briskly each morning for 45 minutes for about 5 years with no problem, but I've wanted to get back into running to lose some weight and to reduce my anxiety. (I ran 6 miles a day for about 10 years - even with the sciatica - it never made the sciatica worse, but I stopped regular running about 6 years ago on recommendations of my orthopedic surgeon and started walking instead.) I think that my surgeon's advise (echoed by his PT)is still haunting me and has developed a conditioning problem for me regarding running activity. Over the last several years, I have run two miles several times a month, but I only did this when my pain was already so severe that I needed to take drastic action and "had nothing to lose." The running always diminished the severe leg pain (but did not totally take it away) as well as improving my mood. However, I have been afraid to run if the pain was not already there, because I feared that the running would initiate a period of pain. On Saturday afternoon, I ran/walked 3 miles and had no problems during the activity or for the next 30 minutes, but I got some leg and buttocks pain 30 minutes later (and this got much worse 5 hours later when I reached forward playing "tag" with my son -- after, of course, fearing that performing this movement might initiate pain). The pain was gone by Sunday morning, but I did lose my balance a bit that morning and early afternoon walking a few times because my left leg felt weak at times. The weakness was gone by late Sunday night and the pain was still absent....This morning, I ran the full 3 miles (no problem wind-wise). I didn't have any pain until 30 minutes after the run (and then only in my TMS affected areas). Since then, and it's been about 4 hours, I've had horrible left leg and foot pain, twitches, cramping, and numbness....I think all of this is BS. It's particularly ridiculous because I had no pain during the run and none for the next 30 minutes....What do you guys think? Should I bail out on the running? Do you have any suggestions other than the standard Sarno stuff like disputing the structural, yelling at my brain, thinking psychological, looking for the anger, expressing the anger, and ignoring the pain? |
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JohnD
USA
371 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2005 : 09:50:30
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| i think you answered your own question |
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Fox
USA
496 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2005 : 10:05:24
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| Do you mean that the pain is due to conditioning? |
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leegold
USA
66 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2005 : 15:51:04
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as soon as i had my primary symptoms resolved, i had a secondary, then a tertiary, now some anxiety- just keeps moving around!
Lee
"A tranquil heart is life to the body, but passion is rottenness to the bones" |
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redskater
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2005 : 16:02:04
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I think you should just keep doing the activity until it stops, it's the only way to conquer the fear, if you stop now your brain will think you are buying into it again. it's probably saying "yipee" I'm back in business!
I had a similar experiance yesterday. I haven't swung a golf club in over 5 years, the one time I tried I had pain in my mid back under the shoulder blade. I had had this TMS symptom for 5 years before hand and had been able to play golf without any pain, but when the pain went into my low back, I found that if I swung the club it would hurt in my mid back. Well yesterday I went to the golf course and just swung away. No pain at all in my back (elbow pain is the current symptom) but I continued to just work through the pain of the elbow. Well today, i started having the mid back throbs. Now I know my brain is just trying to find a way back in so it pissed me off and now I just plan to keep on swinging until I beat it. BTW, the elbow pain is not hurting quite so much today which tells me it has to be TMS too!
Do not let it back in, fight it until it no longer has any hold over you.
Cheers,
Gaye |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2005 : 16:28:03
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Reread your own post as if it were someone else's. What would you tell them?
We are such hypochodriacs, we TMS'ers, tuned into every little nuance of every little pain. And if we notice the little stuff, imagine how we respond to something bigger.
Run your guts out and enjoy yourself. Life is way too short.
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marytabby
USA
545 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2005 : 16:32:54
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| Run until your mind accepts the diagnosis. |
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Baseball65
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2005 : 19:58:32
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Maybe it's time for a 'brainstorm'
sometimes,when all else failed(or FELT like it rather) I would grab a pad and pen and write down everything in my life that was going on,good or bad,what I knew I was angry about,what I speculated I could be angry about and stuff I was Happy about(new job,more money,wifes promotion at work)...this is NOT journaling.
I would write it as fast and as negligent as possible...not giving my brain enough time to rationalize it away...sometimes it was near illegible,but I knew what I'd written.
Than,I'd call my wife or a good friend...soemone I could trust,and just fire away with my wild speculations.
I'd always get at least one 'Aha!',presume it as the cause and go back to ignoring it...which was easy because the 'episode' was usually over by the time I was through.
I only recommend this for veteran TMS sufferers having a relapse..not for first-time-thru-the-deal people.
It was mentally exhausting,but always worked.
...just an idea.
-piggy
Baseball65 |
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Fox
USA
496 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 11:40:16
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| Thanks for the encouragement, because without it, I wouldn't have run again this morning due to the extreme left buttocks, leg and foot pain that I experienced all yesterday and last night until bed (took an Ambien). Woke up with no pain, ran 3 miles, and the tremendous pain came on about an hour later, though it is a bit less intense than yesterday, and I still have it....I noticed as I walked up the hill, before starting the run this morning, that I was having pain in my right ankle (only briefly). I figured this was a good thing because I never have pain there. I thought that I must have TMS on the run - that my brain was about to give up on my left leg because I wasn't buying the structural/ruptured discs link to that area anymore, so my brain thought it had better try a new site.... Running is so much better than walking for me as to reducing my anxiety level, so I need to stick this out. I plan to try the "Back Sense" thing - perform the activity regularly - the same activity at the same intensity and the same duration - and see how the pain level varies - which shouldn't happen with a structural problem. I tell you what - TMS work isn't for sissies...I welcome any other comments. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2005 : 05:43:31
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No, not for sissies, which is kind of ironic because as inveterate hypochondriacs and worry warts that's just what some of us have gotten into the habit of being.
Just so you'll know, as an objective bystander and a runner reading your posts, there's no doubt in my mind really that there's not a thing wrong with you...I don't even think there is a legitimate injury that would account for your symptoms..*
*Course I'm no doctor. |
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Fox
USA
496 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2005 : 15:31:25
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| Thanks for the feedback. It's funny that I know that I would give some other poster the same advise that I am getting, but it's so hard to be clear on the direction I should take. I guess I'm just too close to the problem to be objective and need the forum in this case to be a sounding board....And of course, when you're actually feeling the dreaded severe pain, even if perhaps only temporarily, well, that makes a big difference, too, regarding what course of action to take. |
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I'm about to chicken out
