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amissive
USA
8 Posts |
 Posted - 01/16/2008 : 08:35:09
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I have suffered from lower back pain for almost 2 years now for what I thought was directly related to my new found passion tennis. I followed the traditional medical path; specialists (x-ray and MRI performed and nothing found), 20+ physical therapy sessions, acupuncture, chiropractor, etc and nothing helped. I attended PT for 5 weeks without any other physical activity and everyday it felt like I had played tennis the day before. I gave up on PT, went back to playing tennis this fall and it progressively got to the point I could no longer handle the pain and stopped. I found Dr.Sarno's book 4 weeks ago, fully believe his theory, journaling (2x per day), read everything he has written and saw instant results. Within 2 weeks the pain had subsided to 10% percent of what it was. Two weeks ago I began playing tennis again and the pain came back with a vengeance. I'm still playing 2-3x a week and fighting the good fight knowing that I need to challenge this thing, but suffering hard.
I called Dr.Sarno yesterday since I live in NJ and was surprised to get the chance to speak with him personally. We talked about my symptoms and he half diagnosed me on the phone as having TMS and told me I needed to take his program. I was surprised at the cost of $1300 (not covered by insurance) and asked if there was anyone else in my area offering something more affordable for me and he told me that absolutely he was the only one who could offer treatment for this condition. I guess I am a little confused on my progress, but also on where to turn if going at this alone does not work for me. $1300 is just not affordable to me, plus in all the reading I have done it seems there are several Doctors that have worked with him that I thought could be a more affordable option other than seeing the man himself. Any suggestions? |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1397 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 09:06:35
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If I were you and I had the opportunity to see the man himself, I'd take it and do what I needed to to scrape up the money. He is The Man in the field. Overall, you'll save yourself so much money on medical treatment that it'll be worth it. I can't imagine that the acupuncture and chiropractic were without cost to you unless you have some kind of crazy insurance...I paid $600 to a chiro even though I was on insurance, and after committing to Sarno I swore it was the last useless money I would ever throw at such a practitioner. And so far it has been. :)
If your pain had already subsided so much from reading the books, though, you might just go ahead and give it some more time, keep working on journaling and keep challenging the pain mentally. You don't necessarily need to start back to full activity right away if that's undermining your confidence, which it sounds like it is. Challenging the distraction is what's important, especially at first, not necessarily how much activity you do. If you get in too much pain. it's harder to challenge the distraction. Do what you can comfortably and give it time; it might take a few more weeks, or even a couple months.
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It's not 100% belief that's required, but 100% commitment. |
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 09:09:58
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You do not need to see the doctor to follow his program. Everything is in his books. It might help to get a video of his lecture.
I would suggest to try on your own, and if you don't see improvement in a couple of months, then consider seeing the doctor. Note that some insurance companies will reimburse you for part of the expense, if you have out-of-network coverage.
It's really a simple program. The hard part is to follow it diligently.
1. Acquire the knowledge. Read 'Healing Back Pain' or 'The Mindbody Connection' repeatedly. Accept that it applies to you.
2. Repudiate structual diagnoses. Forget everything you've been told about structural causes of your pain. Accept that the pain is psychogenic.
3. Shift your thoughts. Whenever you are aware of the pain, think psychologically. Examine all the possible ingredients that add to the pool of unconscious rage. Try to figure out what is really troubling you deep down. Try to identify the pressures you are putting on yourself to be a perfectionist or goodist, that make the child inside you very angry. Journaling is one possible tool here.
4. Resume normal physical activity. Don't baby yourself. Take walks, go to the gym, do whatever you would normally do, ignoring the pain.
5. Take a long-term view. Avoid tracking your progress. Don't get frustrated with lack of results, or if the pain even gets worse. Give it time. |
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qso
USA
52 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 09:31:36
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To add my 2 cents to the excellent advice above:
I had to undergo a paradigm shift in my process of recovery:
When we take our car into the shop for repair they slap a bill of hundreds and even thousands of dollars and we somehow find the money to keep a piece of tin on the road. But I realized when it comes to spending that kind of money on ourselves we have a tendency to think it is a luxury. Then I thought- is a bunch of metal parts really worth more than than getting my life back? I decided I would borrow whatever it took (up to some limit) to get my life back even if I had to spend the rest of my life paying it off.
*HOWEVER* in the end I wasted it all on useless treatments because I didn't know any better. In hindsight I could have got my life back in less than 100 bucks (the cost of the books). I didn't see a TMS doctor in the end.
Have you read Fred Amir's book? - that may help with the final stages. I went back and forth with Sarno's stuff several times, thinking it wasn't working, but in hindsight the one key factor I was missing every time was the zero doubt (i.e. you have to believe at a very fundamental level that your brain is *entirely* responsible for the physical symptoms). Even a tiny tiny bit of doubt will prevent recovery. Then there is the de-conditioning: in your case it seems like your brain has set up a little subroutine for the tennis to make you think the symptoms are related to this activity. Again, Fred Amir's book is very good on this aspect. I remember thinking once, "will I ever be able to sit on a wooden chair in a cafe ever again?". "How on Earth do people sit on wooden chairs?" You must drop all such thoughts. You *will* be able to play tennis like a "normal" person because your brain is toggling signals at the source and they can be toggled back.
QSO |
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amissive
USA
8 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 10:00:36
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Thanks for the advice and I will take a look at Fred Amir's book as well. Since it has only been a few weeks, I will continue working on beating this before spending more money for treatment.
Does anyone else having any experience with TMS lower back pain related to tennis? I would love to hear any stories similar to mine. |
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qso
USA
52 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 10:13:49
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For full recovery remember also that you have to give up all physical treatments because it is not consistent with zero doubt. With massage therapy and physical excercise you have to tell your brain that you are doing it because it is good for your body anyway and not because it is going to fix the problem. Before I realized this it was actually a big clue: the massage therapy actually started to make it worse - one time after a session, for days I felt like I had been beaten up in a dark alley after a session which was no different to previous sessions; with the excercise I was hitting a brick wall with strength building..once I let go of the notion that massage therapy and excercise were going to help fix the problem my body's response to both changed completely, literally overnight.
QSO |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1397 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 13:01:34
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quote:
TMS lower back pain related to tennis
Your pain is not related to tennis if it is TMS, and its location is irrelevant, it's just the location that your brain picked to distract you. Your first task is to get out of this symptom and physical cause mindset. Besides, you should recall from reading the books that lower back pain is by far the most common physical form of TMS and that for many of Sarno's patients it's a "sports injury" that starts their pain troubles. You are in the most common possible boat as far as physical manifestations are concerned.
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It's not 100% belief that's required, but 100% commitment. |
Edited by - armchairlinguist on 01/16/2008 13:05:29 |
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skizzik
USA
783 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 13:51:51
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quote:
Originally posted by amissive
Does anyone else having any experience with TMS lower back pain related to tennis? I would love to hear any stories similar to mine.
look up "salamander", huge MRI problems that he beat and returned to tennis.
He suffered w/ back pain for a year after triggering back pain w/ tennis. After reading Sarno, he returned to a game of tennis and came home in so much pain he looked up Sarno's # and called him and yelled at him...lol...Sarno was patient and told him to bide his time.
He did that and is now pain free. I've contacted him via e-mail, he might take an e-mail from you.
His knee story is inspirational as well. |
Edited by - skizzik on 01/16/2008 14:59:54 |
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sagelady
USA
61 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2008 : 08:55:52
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Dr. Schubiner in Southfield, Mich. Prgram is $250.00 Once a week for three weeks. But of course you have to see him first in consultation for diagnosis. He was trained by dr. Sarno. And the program is "in consultation with Dr. Sarno."
I was seen by him yesterday and start the program the first week in MArch.
Sage |
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jdshetterly
USA
9 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2008 : 00:36:03
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Sounds like you are in a similar boat, in terms of your timeframe. It's been about 6 weeks for me and my pain is about 80% better. I still have some slight pain, esp when I wake up and get out of bed in the AM. It dimishes to about 10% by bedtime. I'd wait on the $1300 and plug at the books and journaling and mind shifting for another month, even 2 months. I've studied, read, and journaled like a madman for 6 weeks and it's helping. This forum is a great help too. I found it 2 days ago and it took my pain away to another notch, helping repudiate my stupid herniated disc.
Forgot the $1300 for now and try the program for another 2 months. I also bought his DVD, which I found helpful. It helps to hear all kinds of perspectives and stories when you're a perfectionist. The DVD (healingbackpain.com) was really helpful in that sense. There were a few people with my same condition. Also, in the DVD, Sarno mentions that some people lose the pain in 2 weeks, while some lose it in 2-3 months. In his books, he says 6 weeks. I think the point is it's variable. Give it 2-3 months w/out shelling out all that cash. It is a lot of money, and worth it on yourself, but try your own treatment first.
Also, I'm a big weight lifter and runner. To this point, I haven't been able to run comfortably yet, but can do most weights. Don't try to play tennis until your pain diminishes more. You're degrading your confidence and clearly still programmed to feel the pain. If you study Sarno's advice, he says to wait until you've got full confidence in the program and the pain is almost all gone or totally gone. Try the DVD and keep the consistency of your program up. I think your pain will go away totally within 2 months or even 1 month.
Good luck, as it sounds like you're on the right path. |
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Struggling....
