NEW MEMBER

[jorge]

HI!
I STUMBLED ACROSS THIS SITE LOOKING FOR ANSWERS TO MY PROBLEMS.
I FOUND THE SITE ON 02-04-07, AND I HAVE NOT GONE ANYWHERE ELSE SINCE THEN. THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF INFORMATION HERE. SOME THINGS I'VE READ BEFORE IN OTHER SITES, WHICH TELLS ME THAT THE GUYS HERE ARE WELL INFORMED.
MY PROBLEM STARTED ABOUT A YEAR AGO. I'VE ALWAYS THOUGTH THAT IT STEMMED OUT OF ONE SET OF SQUATS WITH A LOT OF WEIGHT, AND GOING DOWN TOO LOW. BUT AS I'VE LEARNED I KNOW IT DID NOT COME FROM THIS ALONE. YOU COULD SAY THAT THIS WAS THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMEL'S BACK.
IT STARTED OUT WITH PAIN IN THE BACK OF BOTH LEGS, THEN THE PAIN ON THE LEFT LEG DISAPPERAED. THE PAIN IN THE RIGHT LEG DID NOT, INSTEAD, IT WENT LOWER AND BECAME STRONGER.
WENT TO THE DOCTORS. SINCE I HAVE AN HMO, I WENT FROM MY PCP, TO X-RAYS, TO MRI, TO AN ORTHOPEDIC WHO JUST SAT W/ME FOR ABOUT TWO MINUTES AND SAID. "THIS IS A PINCHED NERVE, CAN'T DO ANYTHING FOR YOU". AND LEFT THE ROOM. THEN HIS NURSE CAME IN AND TOLD ME THAT I HAVE TO SEE A NEUROSURGEON. THE NEUROSURGEON PRESCRIBED PAIN KILLERS AND MUSCLE RELAXERS, AND SEND ME TO PT. AFTER 9 SESSIONS OF PT, I THOUGHT I WAS DOING BETTER. I TOLD THE DR. THAT I COULD NOT AFFORD THE PT ANY LONGER. HE TOLD ME TO DO THE EXERCISES AT HOME.
NEEDLESS TO SAY THAT WHEN MY PRESCRIPTION RAN OUT THE PAIN CAME BACK. TYPICAL MACHO MENTALITY TOLD ME TO TOUGH IT OUT, AND IT WOULD GO AWAY. I EVEN WENT BACK TO THE GYM. AT THE GYM I TRIED TO PRETEND THAT NOTHING WAS WRONG. BUT NOW I KNOW THAT EVERY TIME I HIT THE WEIGHTS, I WAS DOING MORE DAMAGE TO MY BACK.
I KEPT READING THAT THIS PROBLEM SHOULD GET BETTER IN A FEW WEEKS. BUT MY WAS NOT. AT THE BEGINING OF THE YEAR, I WAS SERIUOSLY CONSIDERING SURGERY. MY WIFE AND I STARTED WORKING ON A BUDGET TO PAY FOR IT AND TO COVER THE DAYS OFF. YOUR SITE HAS GIVING ME NEW HOPE. I DOWNLOADED THE RYB BOOK LAST NIGHT (02-08-07). BEFORE GOING TO BED, I DID THE FIRST SET OF HEALING EXERCISES. THIS MORNING I DID THE SECOND SET.
I AM GOING TO HAVE A LITTLE TROUBLE FINDING TIME TO DO THE COBRA DURING THE DAY (AT WORK), BUT I WILL DO THE STANDING ONES AS MUCH AS I CAN.
MY PROBLEM IS SCIATICA. PAIN ON RIGHT LEG, OUTSIDE OF THE CALF, RIGHT BUTTOCKS, TINGLING ON TOP OF THE RIGHT FOOT.
ONE THING DIFFERENT IS THAT THERE IS NO PAIN WHEN I SIT. IT HURTS WHEN I AM LAYING DOWN, STANDING, OR WALKING. NEEDLESS TO SAY I TRY TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME SITTING. I TRY MOVING AROUND, BUT I WILL USUALLY SIT BACK DOWN WHEN IT BECOMES PAINFULL.

DON'T WISH ME LUCK, JUST WISH THAT I AM STRONG ENOUGH TO STICK WITH THIS AND DON'T GIVE IN INTO THE FALSE THOUGHT THAT SURGERY IS A QUICK AND SURE FIX.



P.S. ON THE ANTI-BOT QUESTION, WHAT LOGO ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT?............ I NEVER GET IT RIGHT.

[Steven]

Hi jorge,

Welcome to the group.

I'm glad you've started on the RYB program. Let us know how it works out for you.

I don't know about the anti-bot questions. That's something new that Dean has just added to prevent spam. I think if you register you don't have to answer them any more. A "logo" is the business or company name. So, in this case, I assume it would be "Rebuild Your Back."

By the way, typing in all caps is considered "shouting" and is usually frowned upon in most forums. I could tell from your writing that you weren't shouting, but when I first opened your post, I thought it was going to be an angry rant of some sort.

Fortunately, that turned out not to be the case.


Steven

[Jorge]

Hi! Again,

As you can see, I'm not shouting any more. I ussually type in all caps all the time, but I have never written in a forum before. I guess it is true when they say that we learn something new every day.

I will keep you updated in my progress. This is day two, and my back does not feel as stiff as before. My sciatica feels that it went from the outside of my calf to the back of my leg. I think that means improvement.

I registered for a membership, and I'm waiting on the e-mail to verify my account. when I get it, I will write in the forums as lucer63e10.

Looking forward to post my progress and ask questions...... I PROMISE I WON'T EVER DO THIS AGAIN.......Just joking.

[Jorge]

I was wondering if I will be able to start running soon.
Does anybody out there knows how long I have to wait to get back into pounding some pavement.

[randolph]

Hello Jorge

Most likely, you will be running again. A lot depends on the effort you put into the exercises, your age, previous conditioning, your mental outlook, etc. So how long it will take is an open question ... but it's mostly a question of "when" you will run again, not "if" you will.

I have been a runner for over 30 years. Also do some weight-resistant exercising for strengthening. Running is a passion.

In Sept '05, my sciatica started pretty violently, after doing a leg squat with little weight, then exacerbated by a chiropractor.

Following RYB mostly, I am now running and exercising full tilt again. I didn't start running again until just a couple months ago, so I'm still working to reach my previous level of endurance, but that will just be a matter of conditioning as I gradually increase my time running each day.

For mostly wrong reasons, I did not attempt to run for a year. During that time when I "thought" I could not run, I used an exercise bike a lot to keep my legs and heart in some semblance of conditioning. I could have resumed running a lot earlier than I did.

Since you have now suffered from sciatica for a year (pain is now "chronic"), you might want to read a Dr. Sarno book and consider if you have a psychosomatic (TMS) foundation to some of your pain and disability. Most likely, after a year, any acute injury you suffered from your weightlifting mistake is healed. You just might be able to start running again, a little now, gradually increasing the time you run.

Randolph

[Jorge]

Last night as I was doing my exercises, tears rolled down my cheeks. There was so much physical and mental pain. Thoughts that I was never going to heal were running through my head.
Yesterday (Sunday) I went out with the family to the movies. I could not even be on my feet for the line to pay the tickets. the pain was so strong, that I had to tell my wife to stay in line and pay for the tickets while I looked for a place to seat. I felt so useless.
I read Randolph's comments today (Monday). and it gave me some hope.

Randolph:
A couple of months ago, I had ran 1 mile, and I felt great, there was no pain while I ran. I did not run again after that, because I thought tat I would make more harm to my back.
I will look for the book that you recomended, because there might be some thruth of what you say. Usually I feel more pain when I'm feeling sorry for myself.

I will be strong, and I will rebuild my back.

[randolph]

Quite right, Jorge. One of the strongest things we can do to recover from this horrible pain, coming from lower back injury, is remember we have realistic hope for recovery, in spite of how hopeless we might feel sometimes. The things we are learning to do to rebuild our backs have worked for others, and will most likely work for you, too.

Randolph

[lucero]

I've read Dr. Sarno's Healing Back Pain, and I also heard it on cd's while I drove. His work really makes you think. But I kept waiting for the secret formula to relieve my pain. As far as I understand, there is no secret formula. There is only hard work. If you really think of what he says, you will realize that he is saying things you already know, but do not practice. He wakes that voice that we all have deep down inside of us. That voice that we put to sleep the day that we started to feel pain.
I call this voice "courage". Reading his work and listening to his cd's, I realize that I have become a coward that was afraid of my own body.

The other day I had a talk with my brain, and the next day, my pain went from an 8 to a 4. It stayed like that for two days, then it went back up to an 8. I'm trying to figure out what I did right, and what I did wrong.

Dr. Sarno tells you to stop all PT, but to do regular exercises to keep fit. I'm doing the exercises in the rebuild your back book "to keep fit".

Jorge Lucero

[randolph]

Hi Jorge

I like your connection between courage and listening to our inner voice, versus being a coward and not listening to that inner voice.

Fear played a big part in my TMS. One of the common symptoms of TMS is apparently a hyperawareness of just what you think you can and cannot do and that pain boundary is formulated by fear. At first it's a natural fear; you simply avoid doing anything that might interfere with the healing taking place during the acute stage of injury, to prevent re-injury. But inappropriate respect of that fear, long after the injury has physically healed, leads to unnecessary disability, "babying your back". This hyperawareness, this unnatural fear, has a peculiar feel to it. Maybe "taste" is a better word.

The antidote for this inappropriate fear barrier (that we gradually teach ourselves to prevent doing ANYTHING that might cause more back pain) is, as you suggest, Jorge, courage. First the courage to remind yourself that you are physically healed at this stage. And second, the courage to challenge yourself GRADUALLY, to demonstrate to yourself that you can do more than the fear says you can, and you won't cause yourself more pain. (Maybe your pain worsened, Jorge, because you did a bit or a lot too much?)

At least that's how it's working for me. Anytime the fear tells me I better take it easy or easier, I push a little harder. For me, the fear has always been a hoax, and every time I've challenged the pain boundary, the pain has always subsided. When you say, Jorge, that the pain went from 4 back to 8, was it the same old pain, or did the pain move somewhere else? Sometimes, if we successfully challenge the pain barrier, the pain will move to other places in the body. You are also sure you've probably given yourself enough time and rest to heal from the initial injury??

Randolph

[lucero]

Dear Randolph:

Thanks for being here for us.

To answer your question, then, my pain came back as an 8 in the exact same place. But now the pain is moving around. i.e. from the side of my calf, to the back, to the outside of my ankle.......and always severe. The only pain that stays at the same place is the one on my buttocks.