My TMS recovery story

My pain began one afternoon in 2003 or was it 2004. I was reading a novel and my

arm began to pain. I then developed pain in the index finger of my right hand. If I

did not type, there was no pain. I am blind and have a partially formed left palm so

all the typing is done by my right hand. I do use my left hand for hitting some of

the keys like escape, "e", "a", f1 etc.

My parents and I were worried and consulted several doctors. I was 25 years old at that time so no one could believe that I would have such

pain. The pain was not disabling. It was annoying. I have tried wrist rests, acupuncture and Lyrica along with ultra sound therapy. I tried a lot of soft keyboards and they helped some. The acupuncture and physiotherapy helped so did the ultra sound. By help I mean that they did reduce the pain.

Most doctors I saw diagnosed my pain as tendinitis.

Along the way, I discovered J-Say and Dragon Naturally Speaking and got very

involved with the technology. I changed jobs in 2005 which meant moving to

another city. I started researching on RSI. Thanks to the knowbrainer forums, I

met Hilary N who knew about Dr. Sarno. She was a programmer and Dr. Sarno's method had worked for her. She was absolutely grounded and we had some lengthy Skype conversations.
I had to get the books in accessible format and avoid the shipping costs. That

did not happen as soon as I would have liked. My cousin finally got them for me in 2008 in paper format. I read the healing back pain book and went on to Fred Amir's book. The pain by this time was very bad. I would be in a lot of pain especially if I would sit and type in a position where my hands were lower than the level of the keyboard. My parents and I had changed the computer table in my room. We believe that the pain was a result of bad posture on the previous table. After reading Dr. Sarno, I am sure this is not the case.
Before I forget, I was also diagnosed with muscle spasms of the spine. No doctor

recommended any radical measures and all of them dissuaded me against doing

anything drastic. I was just told to exercise, put my hands in warm water and not

to type. My current doctor (I have not seen him for over 5 years now) put me on

some finger stretching exercises. They really helped reduce the pain.
I have also tried a pain management clinic. This is where the acupuncture and

lirica came in.
My current status is as follows.
1. I am not on any medicines thanks to Fred Amir and Dr. Sarno.
2. I still occasionally get finger pain but can get rid of it in a matter of seconds. I

either think of the blood vestals of my finger filling with oxygenated blood or

remind myself that the pain is not structural. If it was structural, it would be

occurring all the time. This incite has come recently.
3. I had the opportunity to participate in a session conducted by Dr. Alan Gordon

on this wiki. He suggested that I focus on the fact that 99% of my pain has gone.

Before I spoke with him, I was always working on ridding myself of that 1% of

pain.
4. I continue to use speech-recognition but as a productivity application.

I have typed this story pain free.

 

Congratulations! This is so inspiring to hear. Finding the answers is the hardest part. There are so many sources that tell us we have a structural problem. This only keeps you thinking you have something wrong with you and conditions you to expect pain. It is great seeing that you have been able to resume full activity and have control over your TMS. Thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks for sharing this inspiring story!

 

Hi Chuck and Birdie,

I am glad to have been of service. <smile

Yes, our conditioning is incredibly hard to break. I have been told things like "your spine is shaped like the letter c" but it should be something else. I forget what the other shape is the doctor mentioned. This was before I went for acupuncture. Guess what, the doctor even said that I will show you via an ex-ray that the shape of your spine has changed. Now, that is very logical since:
1. My spine is at state X.
2. An intervention is made.
3. The spine reaches shape Y.

The strange thing is that the pain actually reduces so you believe you are making progress.

 

Pranav,
Thank you for pointing out focusing on the 99% of pain that is gone. I, too, have wondered how to get rid of the 1%. Must be the perfectionism at work.