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chester
49 Posts |
 Posted - 10/23/2007 : 04:16:11
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I just got the Healing Back Pain audio book, and am about halfway through it. Sarno sounds so familiar with my situation that I’m going to check my house for hidden microphones later.
In late July, I woke up with a painful tightness in my lower back/buttock on the left side. Having been athletic when I was younger (I’m now 44), I thought it was a simple pulled muscle and basically ignored it. However, when it persisted for two weeks, I went to my GP. He took an x-ray, saw nothing but “a bit of arthritis,” gave me some pain pills, and told me to wait it out.
Another two weeks passed, and no improvement; in fact, it started radiating down the side of my leg. He then sent me to physical therapy. The stretching there definitely helped me loosen up some very tight muscles. But just when I thought I was almost totally recovered, it worsened significantly a few days after I went running for the first time in months. Looking back, I realize that this also occurred just around the time that we had a reorganization at work that negatively impacted my department significantly.
I then went to a chiropractor, but it took me only two visits to figure out how to crack my own back. Finally, my GP sent me for an MRI. It revealed a slight herniation of L4-L5, some degeneration and stenosis around the nerve. When he recommended that I see a neurosurgeon, I asked him if there could be any complications other than pain, and he said no. It was at that point that I decided to try to resolve this on my own.
I’m very intrigued by the concept of challenging the pain, assuming I understand it correctly. The day I ran, I was surprised at how the pain subsided the longer I ran. Unfortunately, being out of shape, I couldn’t run much further anyway. But I’ll be working on that.
Here is my question. How do I challenge pain that kicks in the worst when I’m lying down to sleep? If I don’t get a good night’s rest, everything during the day just snowballs. All I do is toss and turn trying to find a comfortable position. Thanks.
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mamaboulet
181 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2007 : 07:39:11
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This whole sleep and TMS thing is interesting. Some people say that their pain goes away at night, while others have trouble sleeping because of it. There is a third group. I can't remember which book mentioned it (Dr Brady?). Insomnia, in its various forms, also appears to have a TMS/AOS component. You think that revved up autonomic system and high evening cortisol has something to do with forms of insomnia? I do. I have the type common to older people, the go-to-sleep-fine-but-wake-up-in-middle-of-night variety.
Anyway, my whole point I'm leading up to is that poor sleeping was aggravating one of my TMS symptoms. Tennis elbow. I've got it really bad in both elbows. I'm extremely left handed and have had a series of issues with my left arm and hand, but about 6 months ago I noticed that not only was my tennis elbow in my left arm getting noticeably worse, but it suddenly appeared in my right elbow for no reason at all. Luckily, I stumbled on Sarno a couple of months later and found my explanation. But to continue, there was a specific behavior that was physically aggravating what I believe to be a psychological condition. I was sleeping so poorly that my body was not relaxing at all. I would wake up over and over to find my arms bent and clutched tightly to my body, with both arms completely asleep from the elbow down, due to the extreme tightly contracted position of my arms. Once I realized what was going on, that I was directly applying extended physical tension to a TMS site, because of another problem I believe to be TMS or equivalent (insomnia), I decided I needed a short term disruption of the cycle because it was escalating. I'm scared of anything habit-forming, so I've been taking one or two teaspoons of children's liquid benadryl at bedtime. I have been sleeping without clutching, I sleep until 5am instead of 2am, and my arms haven't been falling asleep. All that has reduced the added pain in my elbows. Now it is back to what I think is the TMS background level. Now they are calm enough to listen to me when I talk to them.
I would like to stop the insomnia, because I think it disrupts the body in ways that are particularly hard on TMS sufferers, but I've got some psychological work ahead of me to accomplish that. Not to mention all the other factors that influence insomnia (bed too small or not comfortable, pets sleeping on top of you, etc).
I don't recommend slurping benadryl if you have trouble falling asleep because of pain, but it works for my clutching problem.
Something that might help you is to take a hot epsom salt bath before bedtime. Magnesium is readily absorbed through the skin, and is both a sedative and a mild analgesic. Plus the hot water maximizes blood flow. Try it. |
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lidge
USA
184 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2007 : 08:45:24
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chester- I have a similar problem and started a thread on it too. Like you (at least as far as my back) I have the L4-L5 herniation. My pain has persisted and in fact worsened since May. A cortisone shot and the passage of time has only made it worse. Since finding and accepting TMS as at least part of my problem, my night pain in particular has worsened. I lay in bed all last night with the entire lower half of my body on fire. Like you, the pain seems to emanate from my very lower back/buttock area (sacrum) and even physiatrist told me that the L4-L5 herniation should give you pain going down the
back of your leg- my leg pain is more in the front.
I am trying very hard to challenge the pain but am finding like you the inability to sleep, waking up in horrible pain starts the day on a downhill path. When I feel as I do right now, it is impossible to think it is not physical, yet I have to ask myself, why is the pain so bad laying down if its a herniated disc?
I also have to ask why is my pain so long lasting and so severe? I read Fred Amir's book and tried to talk to my unconscious before I went to sleep, quite frankly, my unconscious has yet to obey. |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1397 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2007 : 13:55:48
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lidge -- the unconscious has a mind of its own, it seems! (Perhaps literally...)
I found it helpful to work through the inner child metaphor: children don't necessarily do what you tell them the first few times, you have to get consistent and then they start believing you. Maybe this perspective might be useful to you.
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It's not 100% belief that's required, but 100% commitment. |
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la_kevin
USA
351 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2007 : 15:16:47
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Listen to the audio book a few times a week in the beginning. Your mind will pick up things it didn't the first time. Then you can maybe move on to "The Divided Mind" audio book which is more in depth. I remember the first week I listened to "Healing back pain". One night , when I couldn't sit for ten minutes literally, I listened to it and next thing I knew I was sitting for two hours, then next day four hours(testing myself), then I went out and ran three blocks when I hadn't done that for years. That's what opened my mind to the whole TMS theory. Listening to it actually had that much of an initial impact. So I would say make yourself familiar with the concepts, then go into "deeper" stuff.
Good Luck |
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chester
49 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2007 : 15:56:58
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quote:
Originally posted by la_kevin
Listen to the audio book a few times a week in the beginning. Your mind will pick up things it didn't the first time. Then you can maybe move on to "The Divided Mind" audio book which is more in depth. I remember the first week I listened to "Healing back pain". One night , when I couldn't sit for ten minutes literally, I listened to it and next thing I knew I was sitting for two hours, then next day four hours(testing myself), then I went out and ran three blocks when I hadn't done that for years. That's what opened my mind to the whole TMS theory. Listening to it actually had that much of an initial impact. So I would say make yourself familiar with the concepts, then go into "deeper" stuff.
Good Luck
Thanks. Sounds like a plan.
Sarno mentioned on the audio that he has neurological reviews done for stenosis patients, although I'm not sure if he means always or just in more acute cases, and that sometimes surgery is necessary. With that in mind, I'm a bit reluctant to attack the pain by running for fear of further damage. Yet, I'm equally concerned that if I went to a neurologist, he'd say something (or anything) that would set me back psychologically. |
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la_kevin
USA
351 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2007 : 16:26:06
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Oh yeah,
PLEASE DON'T run because I did. I hope you didn't think I was suggesting that, lol. No no no, that was just an example of how after listening to his book I went out and did something that should have "injured" me and I went at it with full faith expecting to end up in the hospital, but nothing happened.
I was just conveying MY story. Everyone has to do what is right for them. |
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Stryder
686 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2007 : 18:05:16
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chester said: With that in mind, I'm a bit reluctant to attack the pain by running for fear of further damage.
That's a key word. Fear. Fear is TMS' fav ally. TMS uses your obsession and fear (of the pain) against you as a distraction from your inner rage. You are fooled into thinking something is wrong with your body. And that fear breeds inactivity. Activity is what you need to start your recovery. Inactivity will doom you. That doesn't mean go out and run a marathon. It means be as active as you can that day and do not let the pain stop you from being active.
And if it does hurt, just let it hurt. You will not be harmed since the pain is benign. Oh, its real enough, but you can choose to ignore it since you are not doing any harm to your body by ignoring the pain.
Focus on re-training your mind that the cause of the pain is in your mind and the cause not in your body. If your going to obsess about something then focus on the cure and not the symptom. You have a personality problem, not a back problem.
No fear. Sarno Rocks!
Take care, -Stryder |
Edited by - Stryder on 10/23/2007 18:07:06 |
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vikki
95 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2007 : 18:12:02
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Maybe I am more of a wimp than most people here, but I always took painkillers if I needed them. Just painkillers (Tylenol or Ben Gay), not anti-inflammatories (like Advil). I wanted to be clear that I was just masking the pain so I could go about my activities, not getting rid of any supposed inflammation.
My rule was just that I wouldn't let pain stop me from doing something. If I needed to take a painkiller to get through it, that was fine.
When I did this, I stopped fearing the pain, and it diminished. (The fear came from the disability.) |
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question from newbie
