I wrote this review several years ago but didn’t have a website at the time so I wanted to share again on here since this continues to be something near and dear to me. I have added a couple lines here or there, but this is mainly the original review I wrote after reading the book.

CHANGED MY LIFE! I have written this on so many sites now since reading this incredible book. In short, I was a long time sufferer of low back pain. Pain ran down the leg and all over the core area in excruciating fashion. I had minor back surgery at age 19 due to a herniated disc. All my love of sports and competing was ruined. This led me to be angry most of the time and even when I wasn’t, I was in so much pain that I just wished I wasn’t alive anymore. Besides surgery, I had done physical therapy, hundreds of decompression sessions at $75 a pop, used a Tens-unit, dozens of epidural injections, massages, trainers, acupuncture from several different specialists, pain management doctors, creams, and more opiate pills (Morphine, Oxycodone, etc.) than any person in life should ever take... I had done it all.

I was used to being in pain and feeling decent enough to live my life that way until I had major setback once again. This time made the last time look like a small bruise compared to the horror I was about to go through, but it was the best thing that ever happened in my life besides the birth of my two children. I saw four neurosurgeons in NC because I knew Duke and UNC had amazing doctors. The last one I saw said I needed emergency surgery YESTERDAY. He said I may never be able to go to the bathroom on my own again and could lose full feeling/function to my legs due to the bad case of foot-drop I had from the explosion in my back. After weeks of appointments and more pills, therapy, etc., I decided to have surgery. If I was lucky, it would be a double laminectomy this time, but only if I was lucky. Three of the four surgeons said I needed a fusion with rods installed. One day when I was out of pain meds, I had a refill sent in to the pharmacy but I was in so much pain that I couldn’t even make it to my truck in order to pick them up. Feeling completely empty and lost, I remembered buying the book “Healing Back Pain” by Dr. Sarno. I actually purchased it two times after hearing about it on a talk show that I listened to and both times I tossed it in the corner and forgot about it, but this time I had no choice.

I read the first 90 pages within a couple hours and I knew this was special. (The concept is a bit difficult to just toss out on a review, but in short, the pain you feel IS REAL pain, however, it’s not really hurting you. You are causing it yourself through your subconscious mind. It’s almost like signals that we are giving ourselves but we are trained to ignore the real reason for these pain signals and it’s like throwing gallons of fuel on the fire when you go see a doctor or look at an x-ray or MRI because then you truly believe it’s an injury that needs to be fixed properly by a surgeon, etc. Dr. Sarno gives many examples in this book, but one thing that really made it click for me is that the femur bone, aka the largest bone in the human body, takes about 6-8 weeks to fully heal from a break, yet people get whiplash and complain ten years later that they are still in pain from it.) Anyway, I called my dad immediately and told him about the book because he also had been a sufferer of chronic back pain his whole life. I was so excited. I couldn’t contain the tears. I finished the 225 page book in 24 hours.

My pain was gone already. Well, at least 75% of the pain was gone. Good enough that I cancelled my scheduled surgery. I couldn’t have cared less if other people thought I was nuts. All I knew was TMS was for real in my eyes and Dr. Sarno is a genius. As I went from 75% pain-free to 80%, then 90%, and so on and so forth, I had moments happen where I was throbbing in pain again. But once I learned that it was happening because the pain signals, or “TMS” as Dr. Sarno calls it, were purposely attacking me. He says that it’s like a child throwing a temper tantrum. This is why the pain attacks when you are trying to do something. It’s a child that wants it’s way, and if it doesn’t get it’s way, it flips out. The same pain that would make it so I couldn’t sit in my truck, the same pain that made me highly addicted to opiates (which I will share a great story about overcoming that later), the same pain that made me wonder if I should have surgery or jump off a building, was all bullshit. My best example of pain being a temper tantrum for me was when I was just a few weeks post reading this book and starting to feel like a normal man again, when I was driving to the gym to workout and pain rushed down my leg so bad that I yanked my truck over to the curb, opened my door and stuck my leg out, screaming in pain. At this point I thought about the teachings in this book and knew it was my subconscious screwing with me. It was throwing a temper tantrum because I was fighting back and heading to the gym when it wanted me to lay down, pop pills, whine and cry about the “injury” - so I literally told the pain to “burn in hell” and loudly, as I closed my door and drove to the gym. I proceeded to have an hour long high intensity workout including burpees, squats, running, push-ups, etc. And I felt amazing. Three months after I read the book, I ran a half marathon.

I emailed Dr. Sarno and found out he retired a year prior at 90-years-old and I wouldn’t be able to reach him. The next day I received a call from Dr. Sarno. I had star shock like never before. I called him back and we talked for 30 minutes. I cried like a baby thanking him and asked him what I could do to repay him for giving me my life back. All he said was to spread the information. What an amazing man…

Some day the world will be talking about how Dr. Sarno was WAY ahead of his time. And the fact that he took the time to call me and answer all my questions just because I wrote him an email shows how caring he is.

Thank you Dr. Sarno.

*** Since I wrote this review, Dr. Sarno has passed. But I will continue to spread the word and try my best to at least offer this information to others who suffer from chronic pain. I found the audio book for free on youtube recently, but it had been removed shortly after. The book is $7 on Amazon and the audio version is $8 on audible. If anyone is in chronic pain and can not afford a copy, please message me from my contact page and I will send you a copy of the book free of charge.

*** Update 8/28/19 - It was brought to my attention from a reader that they weren’t sure if I had surgery or not. I had the one minor surgery at the age of 19, but after that I had cancelled any surgeries lined up. And in case I wasn’t clear before, my “injury” and diagnosis for the back issues in my late 20’s, and early-to-mid 30’s, was MUCH worse than the herniated disc I had at 19. There are no words to describe the amount of pain at that point. When I was 19, it was a clear discomfort, but not the screaming, crying, wish you were dead kind of pain that I had later in life. Sorry for any confusion.

Please feel free to email me or leave a comment if you’d like to know more about my story or how this can help you. This was a very short summary of what I went through. My goal is to help as many others with chronic pain and/or illness as I can in order to show my sincere gratitude to Dr. Sarno.