The nature of TMS is that it is often excruciating and yet the pain from TMS is totally harmless.
And, this is the most challenging aspect of the disorder!
We’ve been conditioned to believe that serious pain MUST mean that something is physically wrong. Of course, in the case of any pain, we must be thoroughly checked out by our doctor to rule out serious disease. Pain is often our bodies mechanism to tell us that there may be a physical problem.
But not in the case of TMS.
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When I hear the word “placebo,” I always think of the sugar pill.
The image of a doctor handing a patient a bottle of capsules with a great flourish, “Take these, they are very powerful and they will do the trick!” The patients takes the sugar pills, believes it’s powerful medicine and the pain goes away.
The notion that symptoms can disappear simply by the power of suggestion is a compelling one. However, it is widely accepted that a placebo is never a cure and use of a placebo as treatment is bad medicine.
So, why is surgery for TMS a placebo?
I spoke with a nurse today, who has actually witnessed spine surgery. “I’ve done a few backs”, he told me, casually.
Brian, a 42 year old male nurse from Missouri called me with questions about Dr. Sarno’s program. He circulates throughout the operating rooms at a major medical center, running the OR’s from the background.
“Spinal surgery always makes me uneasy”, he explained. “Other abdominal procedures not so much. It’s watching the surgeon working so close to the spinal cord that freaks me out.”
Of course, I had to ask why.
As a child, I was blessed with good health. When the occasional common cold would take its hold, my Mother would snap into action. Exiled to my bedroom, I became the recipient of all items meant to comfort and heal: extra blankets and pillows, hot soup and toast, liquids every hour on the hour. Aspirin as recommended.
If my aches and pains, sore throat and runny nose lasted for more than a day or two, Mom and Dad would confer and agree: “Time to call the doctor.”
Just like my childhood, my adult life has been, for the most part, disease, injury and pain- free. A few sports related broken bones healed quickly. Colds came and went with no particular fanfare. Good health and feeling good were constant companions. I was quick to repeat the common wisdom: “If you have your health, you have everything,” and I meant it.
I’ve always been an athletic guy. I played starting left wing on my high school varsity soccer team. I had a regular running regime in college. After graduating and joining the full-time working world, I still made time for regular visits to the gym. I worked out hard and ate healthily.
Some days we remember well. The day my back pain started is one of those days for me.
The swelling to my lower back did subside, however the pain remained – sometimes a low grade burn, other times a stinging, sharp and deep. Over the next year, I suffered and searched for answers. It was a long a difficult year of grinding lower back pain as well as profound fear, anger, frustration and sadness. Despite the creeping doubt that I would every find my way out of the pain, I never gave up hope. I read. I asked questions. I visited health care professionals who provided every possible treatment I could find. Each had a different diagnosis of my condition and, coincidentally, a different treatment strategy that would treat that exact cause.
The answer to my search came to me in the form of a man — John E. Sarno, M.D., the Mindbody medicine pioneer who has, for the past 32 years, helped thousands of people to become pain-free utilizing a revolutionary approach to treat common persistent musculoskeletal pain. Dr. Sarno’s provides an educational program that uses only knowledge and information as treatment and cure.
Of course, I didn’t understand any of that when I first heard his name. In fact, I felt nothing in particular when my friend Scott recommended one of Dr. Sarno’s books. At that point, I had learned not to get my hopes up. However, since I had made the commitment to try everything, I listened. Eventually, Scott’s enthusiasm provoked my curiosity and so I read the book. I was cautiously optimistic.
“Healing Back Pain” by Dr. John Sarno was a major turning point for me. This was my first exposure to the doctor’s work and I was thoroughly captivated. It was as if the doctor was writing about me.
“Wow!” I thought, “this is a completely new way of looking at the problem. Just what I needed!”
Attending Dr. Sarno’s lecture, was comfortably reminiscent of a college class. There were about twenty people in the room. A mix of varying ages and walks of life. Although we were all total strangers, I felt a kinship with everyone, as if we were all part of a community. And, of course, we were. We shared the common experience of chronic pain.
Wearing a white coat and half-rim glasses, Dr. Sarno had the aura of a seasoned professor. He stepped to the front of the room and after roll call, he jumped right to his presentation, complete with projector, slides and a long wooden pointer. For the next two hours, he presented his entire lecture.
He spoke calmly in measured, balanced tones with the patience of a scientist explaining his theories to a group of laypeople.
