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Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease
Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease NoceboThe name itself, LUMBAR DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE conjures up visions of a crumbling spine due to some malignant illness. The diagnostic nocebo effect is extremely powerful when presented to a patient. A simple change in terminology would make this condition much less scary sounding. Let’s take a look at 2 distinct case scenarios:
* Patient A is diagnosed with lumbar degenerative disc disease. He is frightened and feels he is sick. There must be some horrible process working on destroying his spine. The doctor tells him that this condition is causing his pain and will probably worsen in the future. The patient immediately suffers a severe worsening of his symptoms until he becomes partially disabled by his back pain. Eventually, surgery is performed to “stabilize” the affected discs. The patient continues to have severe pain and is now permanently limited physically due to his surgery. In this case, the patient has been condemned by the power of the nocebo.
* Patient B is diagnosed with idiopathic back pain. The doctor informs the patient that her discs have undergone normal changes associated with aging and there is no physical reason to justify her back pain complaint. The doctor continues telling the patient that there is nothing to fear and informs her that her pain will go away soon with some minor treatments. The doctor gives the patient some exercises even though she realizes these might be a placebo treatment, but can not do any harm. The patient learns the exercises and experiences a complete recovery in a matter of weeks. In this case, the patient has been rescued by the power of a placebo. Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease FactsDisc degeneration is ALMOST UNIVERSAL at levels L4/L5 and L5/S1 by the age of 30. Severe degeneration DOES NOT guarantee physical symptoms will be present. Many patients have COMPLETELY COLLAPSED discs and experience no pain at all. They are not even aware of the condition. It is common for all the lumbar discs to experience moderate to severe degeneration throughout life, since the lower back is a location of abundant spinal movement. Treatments for DDD have some of the worst curative statistical results, since DDD is rarely the actual cause of the pain.Recommendation on Lumbar Degenerative Disc DiseaseI have severe lumbar DDD. My entire lumbar spine is a mess, with one herniated disc (L4/L5), one ruptured disc (L5/S1) and DDD throughout all the lumbar levels. I developed the start of these conditions at 16 and they continued to worsen throughout my life. I always blamed my pain on these degenerative changes since that is what the doctors diagnosed. It took me time to figure it all out, but in the end, I am finally pain free. It turns out that my pain was not caused by DDD at all. Learning the truth took much time and effort, but led me to the conclusion that my pain was actually psychosomatic. I also learned that the vast majority of all back pain is also psychosomatic, so I realized that I was in good company with literally millions of other patients. I managed to cure my own pain in a matter of months.I still have DDD and in fact, my disc degeneration is more pronounced than ever. I do not worry about it, since there is nothing to fear. DDD is just a part of getting older. It might cause a dull ache every now and again, but is certainly not usually the cause of severe pain. If you have been diagnosed with DDD as your primary source of pain, I implore you to research the condition for yourself. I am sure that you too will discover that this completely normal condition has simply been used as a reason to keep you in extended treatment. Discover the truth and be free. Free from doctors, free from treatments, free from pain… Best of all FREE to live life again with no restrictions or fear. You do not have to beat DDD. You simply have to accept that it is rarely a problem…
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