Month: July 2017

Ted’s Thank You

I had severe pain in both legs from the ages of 12 to 20. I was diagnosed with everything under the sun, underwent treatments for all, and never get better. Chondromalacia, adolescent femoral patella syndrome, severely pronated feet, childhood arthritis, and of course fibromyalgia- a diagnosis defined as “pain symptoms of unknown origin.” I was in crippling pain my entire childhood. Eventually a family member heard Howard Stern talking about Dr Sarno and approached me about the idea. It had to be the answer. And of course, it was. I read the book, met with Dr Sarno, and within a year, I was as pain free like I was 11 again. I suffered my entire childhood because of a faulty medical system that didn’t give Dr Sarno the spotlight he deserved. I feel extremely lucky to be part of the minority that crossed paths with Dr Sarno’s dedicated work, and received the simple and effective treatment millions of other sufferers may never see.

Thank you, Dr Sarno. I know you never liked hearing it, but I owe my life to you. I refuse to not say it, its the truest comment I am able to make. I heard Howard Stern call you his hero this week. I guess he’s a little better with words than I am. When he said it I realized thats exactly how I feel.

You will never be forgotten.

Ted H

Sherri’s Thank You

I do thank Dr. Sarno everyday, but mostly I feel immense gratitude for his amazing intuition about human beings, and their pain. Dr. Sarno clearly perceived what most doctors, regardless of how long they practice, will never understand about themselves or their patients.

As experienced by many people; my low-back pain came out of the blue one day, and stayed it with me for twenty years. Similar to many people in my situation, I thought there was something terribly wrong with me, as I was struck with intense pain that I had never experienced ever. I searched for help from a dozen different doctors, and practitioners over the years, and I would find some relief for a while, but I was never completely pain-free, and never cured. Eventually, I’d have another devastating episode, seek treatment, and then be able to function again for a while.

After two decades, I listened to a story about Dr. Sarno on the radio, and I immediately knew this was my problem. I quickly read as many of his books that I could find, and then set upon creating a method to cure my pain. It took me a little more than a month to be completely pain-free. At first I feared it wouldn’t last, but I’m pleased to report that three years later I have no low-back pain. I can sometimes feel my muscles tightening during stressful situations, but I know I can always quickly resolve it in a few moments. So many thanks to Dr. Sarno, and I am hopeful that his legacy will continue to bring relief to millions worldwide for generations to come.

Jim’s Thank You, The Magic of Dr. Sarno

I was suffering from severe back pain for months. More than once I was unable to get out of a chair because my back was “locked.” It was almost as if my brain wasn’t sending signals to my legs. I nearly collapsed while walking on more than one occasion. The pain got so bad that I thought I would have to give up my passion of performing magic. The equipment is extremely heavy and requires a lots of bending and twisting for an hour to set up the show. I remember a phone conversation with my father about the fear of needing to stop performing, and I vividly remember tears rolling down my face as I told him.

I had tried pain relievers, muscle relaxants, physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractors, steroid injections, ….

In 2014, I found a YouTube video of Howard Stern interviewing a magician. Near the beginning, Howard got side-tracked and started talking about Dr. Sarno. Intrigued, I looked at the reviews of his books on Amazon and was shocked at the countless success stories. Long story short, within 4-6 months, I was pain free! I have remained pain-free to this day. In fact, 3 days ago, I ran in a 5K race and finished in 23:20. (44th place out of 447 runners — not bad for a 42-year-old). In 2013, even completing a 5K would have seemed impossible to me.

I recommended one of his books to my girlfriend’s father. He had been in such pain that he couldn’t sit in a car for more than 45 minutes, so his ability to travel was limited for many, many years. After reading Dr. Sarno’s book, he experienced success as quickly as I did. He actually began lifting weights again, and this summer he will be driving from Pennsylvania to Boston to see his daughter again!

This picture shows me happily performing a handcuff escape routine in my show. Dr. Sarno is the real magician here as he made the pain for me, and thousands of others, disappear!

His work will live forever. After I was cured, the doctor who had tried the pain injections asked what happened. I told her about Dr. Sarno, and I am happy to say that she asked me to jot down his name so she could read some of his work. It’s exciting to think that there will eventually be a shift, even in the medical field, in the mindset of pain treatment, and it’s all thanks to Dr. Sarno.

He was a saint and a savior. I love you, Dr. Sarno! Thank you!

Magical wishes,

Jim Munsey

Drew’s Thank You

I am forever in debt to the work Dr. Sarno contributed to the world. During hard times I developed pain in my right knee and hip. This pain kept me from my love of running. After seeing multiple doctors and countless hours of physical therapy my tenacious attitude towards solving things (which ironically helps fuel the RAGE) led me to his work. Finding his books and the community of those who suffer from TMS have led me to getting back to what I love.

In the 2 years since discovering I have TMS and working on applying the therapeutic principles I have been able to complete FIVE half marathons. And just this past May completed my first FULL marathon!

This amazing photo would not exist without the work of the good doctor.

Walter’s Thank You

Thanks Dr. Sarno, I can do many things, that I could not do any longer.

After big exertions I can lie down also on a hard surface to recover and enjoy.

Even after lying for half an hour, I can get up by myself without any pain and without help.

Walter Z
Austria

Luise’s Thank You

Hearing about Dr. Sarno at 90 came about through a friend. I had some neck discomfort and she loaned me his book and video.

What transpired was the realization of how many insidious and serious TMS Equivalents were part of my life experience. For the last four months, I have done the Daily Study Plan every morning and watched his video every evening. Without going into my issues, I want you to know that my life has changed radically. ‘Thinking psychological’ sometimes erases and at other times mitigates my experience to the point that each day is a wonderful adventure, not a trial or at best, an endurance test.

My concept is that Dr. Sarno discovered, medically, that the world isn’t flat. It came to him as a surprise and a mystery, not from research…and his life was about figuring out what happened to those under his care. By facing ridicule and staying true to his Hippocratic Oath…he wrote of his experience and a few of us, worldwide, were willing to get that we didn’t know…and therefore could learn.

Gratitude abounds…

Gerry’s Thank You

He changed my life and how I look at and deal with pain, infection. I have the power to heal myself and I do it time and again. I have given his book and name to sooooo many people.

Amy’s Thank You

I found you serendipitously after approximately less than a year of back pain that seemed like so much more. My story is not as long as some of the others here, thankfully. The pain came at a stressful time in my life, though I had been prone to back spasms since my teenage years. As a physical therapist, I had been trained to see the body as a particularly complicated machine of sorts and to believe that pain occurs due to purely mechanical reasons. Deep down, I think I always knew that there was something more going on. Reading Healing Back Pain opened my eyes to a new, truer reality. I couldn’t rip myself away from it and finished all three of your books in a week. Like thousands of others have said, I saw myself on every page. My pain has left me and my view of the human condition has been forever changed. It is one of my life’s goals to bring your ideas into my own work and profession for a better, more holistic way of viewing people and their health. I am so thankful for your work, writings and perseverance despite rejection by the mainstream medical community. You helped me bring joy back into my life and change how I practice my career, I am forever grateful! Rest in peace, Dr. Sarno.

Rob’s Thank You

Thank you Dr Sarno.

Your books transformed my life and I will be forever grateful.

It really was a paradigm shift to change the way we process pain from a structural to an emotional cause. For me now pain can be used as a guide to how I feel emotionally and now I will journal how I am feeling.

It is a sad day that you have passed but your legacy will live on. Your past patients and readers of your books will continue to share your knowledge and insight.

Eventually people will realise that TMS is very real and that the mind and body are one.

Thank you once again to a great man.

You will be missed.

Rob B

Stef’s Thank You

Three years ago I was immobilized by back pain for 4 months. I was unable to walk, work, sleep, or do anything without excruciating pain. I spent a lot of money on chiropractors, acupuncture, anti inflammatory medicine, doctors visits to pain management clinics, surgeons, etc. I was on different kinds of medication and one of them began affecting my short term memory. I was scheduled for a spinal steroid injection to relieve my pain and as I was searching for side effects and risks of the procedure, I came across a video on YouTube that talked about Dr. Sarno’s book Healing Back Pain. I spent about 30 minutes listening and 1 hour reading about Dr. Sarno’s Mindbody approach to pain and it all made complete sense! None of the doctors I had visited had asked me about my emotional state of mind and I was going through a lot at that time! After a couple of hours of reading I was able to get up from bed and drive myself to the library to check out the book. Mind you that I had not left the house for the past 4 months! I read the book in one sitting and started applying everything. I was cured in less than 3 weeks and I have not had back pain since 2014. Dr. Sarno has touched many lives and helped many hopeless cases without using harmful and expensive medications or tests. His book costs $15 and it cures you for good! The mainstream medical community will not acknowledge his successful treatment because it is not profitable. I hope that each one of us whose life was touched by Dr. Sarno can help at least one more person! THANK YOU DR. SARNO!

Stef S

Richard’s Thank You

Thank you Dr. Sarno for encouraging me to join the thousands of anecdotally insignificant refugees from the mainstream medical establishment who have been cured after years of chronic pain distress and ineffective conventional treatment. Hopefully some day it will be like: yeah, we believed in that Dr. Pasteur back when they were still using leeches. May you RIP (as, too, Sen. Harkin, who tried to spread your knowledge for the benefit of the millions still suffering). Thanks to you I can now move heavy boulders with a back, and a neck, and a shoulder, and a leg, and a shin, and a foot, and an elbow, and a wrist that have all at least once been a shifting site for my mind’s painful play of emotions. We, thanks to our personal healing experiences, will continue to push on after you are gone in sharing your material. It may at times be Sisyphean (Hey, John Stossel, any luck with that Harvard MD brother of yours?), but at least it will no longer hurt.

richard13

Dan’s Thank You

I wanted to write to pay my respects to a man who changed my life in more ways than one. Before learning of Dr. Sarno and his writing, I endured eight years of crippling back pain. The pain not only dominated my life and was excruciating, but it also left me feeling hopeless, alone, and completely disillusioned with the medical field. Dr. Sarno’s commitment to science, combined with his tremendous empathy and lack of ego, allowed him to put the puzzle pieces together that were right in front of us. As a result, I was able to resolve this baffling and confounding torture within weeks. I cannot thank him enough for that, but he also gave me three other gifts in opening this understanding about my mind, my body, and life itself: 1) Through the process of recovery, I was able to gain a degree of confidence in myself that I did not know possible; 2) He helped unlock a passion in me that gave me a purpose beyond anything I had expected to have in life — to heal others from TMS and spread the word of his revolutionary ideas; and 3) With these things backing me (pun partially intended), I was able to escape a toxic relationship that could have destroyed my belief in myself and will to stay true to me. Because of these things, Dr. Sarno is probably the single biggest influence in my life, other than my mom. He will always be a great, great hero of mine, and I am devoting my life to showing the world just how right he was and how important it is to accept and embrace his convictions. Dr. Sarno, you gave more love to the world than most people ever can dream of and it has made the world a far better place. Now, we continue your work. Thank you from the depths of my heart, mind, and soul.

John’s Thank You

Dr Sarno changed my life in so many ways. When I first discovered “Healing Back pain” I was a 27 year old wreck. I had always been super fit and healthy but after getting married at 22 and starting a pressure packed job I soon began having significant back pain. The doctors told me I had degenerative disk disease, and thatI needed to stop physical activity and to be on strong meds. An idiot Chiropractor told me I had a 70 year old spine. My life became a mess, my marriage was difficult and I was sinking fast. I found Dr Sarno, saw myself on every page of his books and went to see him in NY.  Dr Sarno told me I was completely normal and healthy. I told him if the other diagnoses and he said “That’s nonsense.”  My life began to change right then and there.

Over the years TMS has hit me in other places like my feet, my upper back, and my knees. I’ve always fought it off (sometimes by re-reading Dr. Sarno, Steve Ozanich and others and reminding myself of the basics of how to manage this disorder. I live a physically active life now.

I rode my road bike over 4,000 miles last year, I’ve hiked all over the Rockies and have tried to live life to its fullest. I’m 58 now and I can’t imagine how I would have ended up if I would have only believed my Doctors. I really don’t think I’d even still be around.

Thank you Dr. Sarno, RIP.

Nick’s Thank You

Dr Sarno,

No words are sufficient to express the gratitude I have for the impact you’ve had on my life. There are zero words. Zero.

The brilliance of your insight is matched perhaps only by the courage you exhibited in sharing that insight, despite all the criticism you must have known you would face.

I don’t know that I would’ve had such courage. But I know I’m a beneficiary of yours. And for that I am eternally grateful.

You will be forever remembered.

Libby’s Thank You

My God bless Dr. Sarno! After seven years of desperately trying to solve my roving neck and back pain, pain that was so intense and varying that I was becoming depressed and disillusioned, my husband purchased Dr. Sarno’s book Healing Back Pain. As soon as I started reading it, I felt like Dr. Sarno was speaking directly to me. Dr. Sarno changed my life. Because of Dr. Sarno, I have a clear understanding of my pain and my brain’s role in my pain. I replaced my weekly appointments with deep breathing, affirmations and correct thinking. I’ve shared Dr. Sarno’s message with anyone who will listen. I love Dr. Sarno and could never thank him enough. I am pain free. Dr. Sarno’s legacy will last forever. God bless you, Dr. Sarno.

Angie’s Thank You

i am sad to hear of Dr Sarno passing. He was a very special person you changed the lives of thousands of people including me ,may he rest in peace. I am so thankful to him He changed my life. I read all his books and I learned through him to understand my pain and the connection between the mind and body. I have no doubt he was correct and in time the medical profession will honor him. For years I suffered with chronic pain . The doctors could only prescribe medication and eventual surgery but I am now retired and I’m doing fine, no medication and I haven’t yet had any surgery. Thank You Dr Sarno

Sarah’s Thank You

I was very sad to hear of Dr Sarno’s passing, but love your idea of building a very tangible tribute to him, so please find attached a photo from my pedometer app which shows me having walked in excess of 31,000 steps in one day. I had lots of foot pain for a long time, and nothing showed up on any x-rays or scans. I run my own dog-walking business so was in a very difficult situation, but it’s only by discovering TMS that I’ve managed to make such (literal) strides. So, I owe my business, as well as my health, to Dr Sarno’s pioneering work.

Best wishes
Sarah

Josh H’s Thank You

If it wasn’t for a scribble barely legible on a handout given to me by my Orthopedist about Herniated discs, which read “Healing Back Pain by John Sarno”, who knows where I would be today. Never did I think that looking up those words and consequently buying and reading that book would ultimately save what felt like a doomed life. While not fully healed yet, I feel that I now have the knowledge and power to complete my journey.

I am forever grateful to Dr. Sarno. He will forever be revered in my mind. I tear up just writing this, knowing what the words of a man I never met did for myself and my family.

While gone from this Earth, for those who have heard and taken his words to heart, he will forever live on.

Josh H.

Nancy’s Thank You

As a past shoulder pain sufferer who visited him and took his seminar 25 years ago. Dr. Sarno saved me from “frozen shoulder”. The knowledge is so important, and I use it anytime I get a transient pain for moments, or days. It’s mild oxygen deprivation… what am I angry about? Keep moving, and off I go.. with courage and the knowledge that its harmless. I’ve shared his books with many, some believe it and get better…others really need the ” diagnosis” that there is structurally something wrong with them and that is causing the pain.

Either way, this “good-est” is grateful.

Rest In Peace, Dr. Sarno, your work here made a difference, and you are appreciated by all those who “get it”.

Nancy

Billy’s Thank You

As someone who suffered from various forms of chronic pain (mostly mid back but also eye pain and shoulder pain) for over 6 years I can say for certain that I would not have the life I do today without your influence Dr. Sarno. I have always been a hard worker, an achiever- pushing myself to meet or exceed goals and expectations. My pain came on suddenly one night while I was sleeping and I spent the next 5+ years searching for a way out of it through traditional medicine and even some alternative medicine. We are all trained by our current health care system- dominated by drug and medical device companies to get on pills or have surgery.  I bounced around from one doctor to another and to dozens of specialists in pursuit of ridding the pain.  A rheumatologist actually diagnosed me with an incurable disease called ankylosing spondylitis. I would have to take drugs the rest of my life and my pain would eventually kill me.  Somewhere deep inside of me I didn’t really believe that.  I believed that I could get well again but I just didn’t know how.

It was my wife who saved me.  She bought ‘Healing Back Pain’ for me.  I was willing to try anything so I started reading that book. I accepted and believed Dr. Sarno’s premise that pain is an unconsciously triggered response in people who are perfectionists, are overly critical of themselves and also in people who are always worried about pleasing others. The light bulb went on. I was thrown a rope just at the time I was nearly over my head in the river of pain. The pain had taken over my life. It consumed my every waking thought. Agony, misery, helplessness, resentment were how I would describe my feelings… I prayed for God to help me across the raging river.  I needed to get to the other side.

I have read all of Dr. Sarno’s books and a couple of them two or three times. I wasn’t healed immediately or even in a few weeks like so many others- (lucky suckers Lol), and that caused me to question this concept and even go back to other specialists for a 2nd or 3rd time hoping that they had overlooked something. I wanted to believe but I wasn’t healing fast enough so I stopped believing for a while. The pain raged on.  I had to take a long path with the TMS approach.  I was led to the TMS Wiki site and from there to having conversations with Steve Ozanich and from there to meeting with Dr. Schecter to get a confirmed TMS diagnosis and from there to psychotherapy with Alex Bloom and from there to a totally new perception of myself and my life. Each step of that journey gave me more confidence and allowed me to take the next step. Each person was very instrumental in getting me across that river.  I am now pain free and have come to realize that Dr. Sarno was far ahead of his time. Someday he will be rightly credited for his life saving work in the field of mind body medicine and pain treatment. Thousands and thousands have been cured by him. Millions more would be if they would only accept this new way of thinking about physical conditions that he taught for decades.

I am so very grateful to you Dr. Sarno. I am also grateful to your family who allowed you the time and support to do this great work and write your books. I hope you can see from high in the heavens how many people you saved from a life of pain and suffering. Those of us who have been in that river know how dark and scary it is. It sweeps us away. But I realized that the only way to get to the other side was to let go of the side I was holding onto (surgery, stretching, braces, physical cures). It’s all about faith. You taught us that we are OK and we will be fine just fine.

Kasie’s Thank You

My heart hurts at hearing the passing of such a wonderful and innovative man who has brought so much happiness and healing in my life.

In 2013 I was sitting in a chair and leaning to the left while I spoke with a friend for several minutes. When I got up to leave, my back went into a horrible spasm and I couldn’t walk for a week which turned into a relentless 9 months of daily excruciating sciatic pain shooting down to my foot. On one particularly difficult day, I was laying on the floor of my living room crying out of sheer frustration and something told me to go to Amazon and buy the top rated book on back pain. To my amazing luck Dr. Sarno’s book healing back pain came up and the rest is history.

It took another year and half for the TMS concepts to really sink in for me and not fear the pain. My career in the Army ended and some other big life changes occurred through this process but it forced me to live a new and better way of life.

Over the past two weeks I’ve been doing yoga a couple of nights per week, walking, running and doing water aerobics. Having my identity back as a physically active and healthy person feels so good!

In the enclosed picture, I’m hiking Mt. Mitchell which is the highest peak east of the Mississippi River in North Carolina. Words can’t describe the beautiful and life changing gift that I received after reading that book. I know that Dr. Sarno’s legacy will live on through the work of many others who’s lives he has touched.