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Plantweed
USA
109 Posts |
 Posted - 03/06/2006 : 09:51:10
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Some background:
I'm 37. When I was around 25, I played football at a family reunion and was introduced to the wonderful world of lower back spasms. Got them about every 2 years afterwards, usually doing something common like picking up a bathmat. My saint of a wife would get me to the doctor, and they'd say to take some pain meds and muscle relaxers, and lay in bed a few days. It usually took a whole week to recover, and was not fun. Over the last five years or so I developed a steady pain and stiffness in my lower back that's almost always there.
Went bowling last spring and got another spasm. This time the doctor said to NOT lay in bed, to move around as much as possible. I was able to recover a few days quicker. I decided to stop messing around, and to treat this back once and for all. I started an intense PT program of stretching. A couple of months go by, and no relief. I figured I was doing too much and stopped for a month to see if it got better. (There's a lot of mystery with the back, I learned.) I started seeing a chiro, but he didn't help any.
I was sitting at my desk at work in July, and the pain turned into a grinding feeling bad enough that I couldn't sit, and had to go home (think about all the lost work back pain causes). The spasm got worse as usual; it took about 15 minutes of grunting, yelling, and weird manuevering to get from the bed to the bathroom next door. After two or three days, it wasn't feeling any better. I was in the process of turning over when a gigantic bolt of pain hit me so hard I screamed at the top of my lungs and went into the fetal position. The heroic doses of Hydrocodone and Flexiril obviously weren't working. I could NOT move without excrutiating pain. I called my GP's office, to see if I could get a stronger painkiller prescribed immediately, but was told I'd have to come down there. Yeah, OK, I can't move, but I'll be right down. I called my chiro and learned they can't prescribe drugs. We had to call an ambulance to the house where three amazing EMTs got my 290-pound body out of the bed without shifting positions.
I got the nearby hospital (2 hours into the pain blast), where a very skeptical doctor gave me some Demerol (I think) and had x-rays done. Nothing wrong. My GP's office authorized an MRI, but I think the doctor thought I was a junkie or something, as after my pain subsided from a 10 to a 7, he sent me home, even though the spasm still had me twisted sideways like the Elephant Man.
Well, we figured there must be something majorly wrong with my back, as I started developing numbness and occasional heat-like pain on the outside of my left upper leg. I got an MRI done, and got sent to a busy orthopedic office for the diagnoses (sounded grim). The guy took one look at the MRIs and said you have degenerative disc disease in the three of your lumbar-area discs, there's no cure, and you'll just have to get used to it, you're too young for surgery. The only hope was that as I got older the discs would rot away enough that the pain would diminish but I would get stiffer. I was devastated. I was told I had an incurable disease and the pain was not going away.
I somehow figured the twisted stretching I was doing for PT was to blame, and started a different program based around core strength and losing weight. It felt a little better, and I started losing some pounds (15-20 so far), but it did little to diminish the pain. I had good days and bad days. I couldn't sit for more than 30 minutes without getting "locked up."
We had planned a vacation to Vegas (a long plane ride from the east coast). I was very worried about the trip. I got up about every hour from my seat to walk to the bathroom, but was still in a good amount of pain for the whole vacation. Soon after we went to Florida to visit family. I knew what to expect so it was a little better, but I was still in pain and was stiff. After the trips I broke down in tears to my GP, who sent me to a pain specialist. I got two steroid epidural shots within 2 weeks of each other. After the second, I was much more limber, and the pain almost disappeared. After three weeks, it slowly crept back, and I was back where I started.
The past couple of months, I've been freaking myself out, worrying about another spasm. All I could think about was my pain, and the more fear that built up the worse it got. I would awaken at night and not be able to get back asleep. I started becoming overly sensitive to things and easily upset. I worried about any little physical activity that was out the normal for my ever-shrinking little box of routines. I started to suspect something was psychologically tied to my pain. To make things worse I started having heart and upper GI problems, and then got laid off from my job!
I've been a Howard Stern fan for years, and remembered his mentioning Dr. Sarno a few times. I was very skeptical about it, but figured I better try something before I get depressed, let my wife down, and become a vegetable with a bedpan and morphine drip.
I got the book last Friday, and read about half of it that night. The next morning, the pain was gone in my back. I was pretty startled. As I went on through the day, it started to come back a bit, as I did certain bends or reaches and I "expected" the pain. I read more and kept telling myself the reminders from the book.
Now I'm almost done with reading it. I'm about 85% limber, and the pain comes and goes, depending on how much I think about it. This is the hardest part I think, just not "caring" about the pain, though I know this is where I'll get results. I'm now going to ignore any fears I have about travelling because of my back. I'm going to assume I have no problems at all. I'M PHYSICALLY NORMAL.
Now, for the question: Sarno's book suggests stopping all PT-based exercise. I'm on a fitness program at the therapist's office; I do cardio for 15m, stretch for 15m, then do core-strengthening equipment-based exercises, three times a week. I've lost weight and would like to continue, as I like the exercise. Would it be OK to continue, if I just "forget" it's about my back and just for losing weight?
I'm ready to get on with life and glad there's something out there that will reverse this cycle I've gotten myself into. Thank you for your attention. |
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Jena
USA
195 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 10:21:32
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Finally someone on this forum who i can relate to probably the most! Plantweed i am a 20 year old female who has suffered with buttock pain, muscle spasms, and not being able to move because if i do it almost feels as if i will pass out from pain. i have been to the hospital for this when i new nothing about Sarno or back pain. I was 18 years old. Now i have been diagnosed with Dr.Sarno himself on Jan 23rd of this year. I have tms! Now your question about doing exercises. The answer to that question is only do them for health reasons such as Ex. lowering blood pressure and situations like that or if u enjoy working out and want to be in shape but DO NOT and i mean DO NOT do it if you think this will have anything to do with causing or stopping pain from returning because pain is a symptom not a cause with tms. Your brain is causing the pain. I have been conditioned to an extreme. If i do a cerain postition i feel this tightening in my buttocks and if i stretch my leg my back will go out completely..meaning cannot move and it usually happens laying down flat. So i must lay on my sides. now my pain has been improved dramatically. unfortunately that excrutiating pain (i like to call it a pulling pain) it kinda feels like somewhere deep in my buttock and in my leg is a little person stretching and pulling a muscle or nerve and when he lets go my back goes into severe pain and i cant move... my heart starts pounding 10000 times per every 10 seconds! then the fear comes in... last week i ran 2 miles no pain...2 days ago i worked waiting on tables for 16 hours straight YES 16 HOURS STRAIGHT OF WAITRESSING NO PAIN! the next day which was yesterday excrutiating pain! now what does this tell u? if it doesnt make sense its tms! why would my pain hurt that much after ? and not during? Dr. sarno told me its my nerve not my muscle but it sure feels like both! when you wrote
"After two or three days, it wasn't feeling any better. I was in the process of turning over when a gigantic bolt of pain hit me so hard I screamed at the top of my lungs and went into the fetal position. "
i know that feeling... read the books and study them like you have an exam at the end of the semester. I am going to see the good doctor tomorrow. if you have anymore questions feel free to ask.
-jena |
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Baseball65
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 11:31:53
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Hey Brother////
Working out is fine as long as you are working out for the sake of good health.When I recovered ,I immediately began lifting weights again...the way I had before injury (standing with dumbbells...not on some machine)
For the time being,I dropped all the stretches and excercises that THEY had given me..THEY being the PT,chiro,pain center,etc.
As long as you keep a running dialogue going with your brain,you will be fine...knowledge is the cure.
Keep reading the book and focus on the conditioning ,like you already seem to be doing (expecting pain,etc)
-Mpiggy |
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Sean
34 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 11:34:07
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WOW, Plantweed...I could have typed your post almost exactly. I experience my first back episode in college and have had the intenst spasms every 2 years as well. I've got the same treatments by my doctors that did not work. One of my spasm episodes (about 4 years ago) put me in bed and I could not get out for anything. If my house would have caught fire I would have gone up with it. I had to have 6 doses of morphine for the paramedics to get me into the stretcher for the ambulance ride to the hospital. Fortunately my GP had me stay in the hospital for a few days and did not send me home.
The only place where we differ is that I had a bulging disc, then it herniated, and the last MRI says the herniation is gone but I have 2 degenerative discs.
I'm glad to hear you are getting better with the book. So far I have not. Maybe you can help. I guess I need someone who knows my exact pain to help me believe it truly it TMS. I feal like I believed it 100%, but like I said I have not improved in 3 or 4 months (I'm not really sure I have not kept track) so I am losing faith. I know a lot of people on the site are going to say everyone on this site knows what pain you are experiencing, but many of these people also say stuff like "I just ignored the pain and went out running anyway". Guess what?...I wouldn't make it down the driveway. I can't stand in one place for more than 5 minutes, I can't be on my feet moving for more than 30 minutes, so it is hard for me to relate to these people. I'm sure there are people who do understand, but I have never heard a story so close to mine.
My questions for you are what was/is your pain like? (Please no negative comments from other saying that it does not matter. To me it does). My pain seems like it is in the nerve and it is a knawing pain that aches and sends jolt of pain in certain positions. I never feel like it is muscular and I have no pain in the pressure points Sarno discusses. The only time when it is remotely muscular is when the nerve pain is so bad it causes my muscle to tighten which is only when I over do it. I rarely have pain when lying down. According to Sarno all of my pain seems to be a conditioning over the last 10 years. So I am wondering if you symtoms are similar. It would give me a little more faith.
Thanks,
Sean |
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Jena
USA
195 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 11:49:48
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Sean,
i can relate to your pain and have been feeling very better i dont know if you read my last post after plantweed wrote but i have different pain levels. I have also read people writing i get this excrutiating pain and continue to run WELL when my back does go out or i do feel this specific pain there is absolutly no way i can do anything at all. So i can definitly relate to that... i felt it was muscle Sarno told me nerve. the pain starts right near my tailbone... i was also born with this "overextended" tailbone and doctors have told me and u can actually see it if i bend down and show you but my mom has the same thing and no pain... Sarno told me it does not matter that is no reason for pain and i no he is right because ive had this since i was born and the pain only began at 18 years of age. ANYWAY conditioning is extremely important Sarno had told me in his next book he stresses it a lot more..
i to have a slight bulging disc at l5 s1 and my neurologist told me i healed i should not be in pain which i was and her herself told me that she has a lot of patients that she believes the brain is doing this to them and she is a neurologist (MD). So thats when i went to see Sarno. Another doctor told me i had Degenerative disc disease, Sarno told me it would be strange if your discs wereN'T degenerating its a normal abnormality. |
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Plantweed
USA
109 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 12:09:42
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Sean: aside from the spasms (which are agony), my everyday pain is a general soreness and stiffness in my lower back. Feels like muscle. On the worst days the tops of my legs above the knee hurt.
Sounds like it may take you more time. The hardest part seems to be breaking down the fear. Fear creates more pain, whcih creates more fear, etc. You have to ignore the fear and pain like you'd ignore some little snot calling you names. I wish you the best. |
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Plantweed
USA
109 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2006 : 12:12:55
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| Oh, I forgot to mention: when I went back to the pain specialist after the epidurals for a checkup, a PA looked at my MRI and said I had a herniated disc and arthritis down there. So, everyone who looks at the image says a different thing. Kinda tells you something... |
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My story, and a question
