Back Pain and other Syndromes

 

My blogs here have been few in the last few weeks partly because I have been sufferring from some back and leg pain that has been excruciating at times.  I even ended up in the emergency room one night and have tried a number of medications and been to the doctor 3 times.  Sciatica has been diagnosed, which is supposedly when a herniated disk or other thing (tumor e.g.) is putting pressure on the sciatic nerve.  The doctor has put me on an number of not so great medications and recommended seeing a specialist (which I have not gone to yet) and I am pretty sure that osteopath will suggest an MRI, X-ray and who knows how many other tests, which as an artist with limited insurance, will end up costing me a small fortune.  I have been down this road before with a supposedly pinched a neck nerve and knee pain. I have found that when I have been experiencing these kinds of problems that they seem to go away whether I seek traditional medical help as described above or whether I do nothing.

Years ago I became familiar with Dr John Sarno when I had my neck pinched nerve.  He now has developed his way of diagnosing these kinds of problems and many others in some new books, which I am now beginning to read.  Already I feel better just remembering his system of treatment.  His hypothesis is that we suffer from pain and many "diseases" because of various kinds of emotional tension and stress and calls this syndrome TMS.  His recommended course of treatment is often very simple and straightforward, although not always easy.  I have found that just by reading his books things improve and I am becoming convinced that most of my own current pain is TMS and that there is actually nothing wrong with my bones, cartilage or muscles that would cause the pain but that it actually originates in both my mind and my body.  Spending thousands of dollars to have doctors and specialists is often a complete waste of time and money, in my opinion.  Thanks to our heavily marketed, fear induced, industrial, enterprising and totally screwed-up health care system, millions of us subscribe to this traditional way of diagnosing and treating these kinds of problems. 

I encourage any of you who have experienced these kinds of pains from various so called conditions or diseases to check him out.  It costs nothing and only a few dollars for a book. He I think, rightfully calls the high number of people suffering from some form of back pain an epidemic of a mindbody disorder.  He has successfully treated many well known people and his success rate is extremely high, even from people who just read his books.

Word of warning: Obviously there are real physical conditions we have that do cause pain, such as sprains, breaks, etc from real accidents, so it is always advisable to make sure there really is not something physical going on, before trying Dr Sarno's methods.

Here is a website with more information.  If you are in pain, I suggest you watch the video clips which introduce his methods.  http://www.healingbackpain.com/