1.5 years neuropathic hand/wrist pain gone

I struggled with chronic hand/wrist neuro pain for 1.5 years. I posted my story here

- Sharp pain in my wrist after playing excessive guitar one evening.
- Opening doors, picking up the lightest items, washing my hair, was painful.
- I eventually had symptoms of muscle tightness, burning sensation, increased skin sensitivity, stabbing, and parasthesia. The pain was predominantly on the radial dorsal side of my left hand/wrist, though later I would get start feeling increased sensitivity on the volar side, as well as some stabbing and dull feelings on the ulnar side.
- Early on it would calm down with less activity so I figured I needed to let it rest or work it out carefully.
- After a few months of it sticking around I went to multiple doctors, for over a year, and was diagnosed with carpal tunnel, tendonitis, wartenbergs syndrome, cervical stenosis.
- I thought about the pain 95% of the day. I stopped doing what I loved and became a vegetable. I spent so much time online trying to fix myself.
- Work became extremely hard to stay ahead of. I work in tech, which involves a lot of typing, so I felt so useless with my ailment.
- I learned about Sarno/Gordon 6 months into my chronic pain. I thought it war a neat idea, but felt like it was too good of an outcome.
- About 9-10 months in I tried to apply ideas from A Way Out. The pain got worse, twinges would wake me up at night. Soon after I started having insomnia/reflux. More on this at the end.
- A few weeks ago I lost my dog to cancer. We learned 1.5 months earlier that he had 2-7 months to live. My pain got worse, I was panicking, and I made my first post here, wanting to vent.
- There was great advice given, and I decided that I needed to make a choice. I'm not the type of guy to put faith in things without evidence, and I'm no doctor so I wasn't sure I'd even be good at parsing said evidence. Given that, I said screw it, I have enough weak evidence I feel is in favor of tms, so lets just take that approach.
- I spent 3 weeks typing more at work than I have in months. I thought more about what I'd want to do at work, played video games, and practiced guitar. These things triggered symptoms, and I tried my best to calm myself down, and look forward to doing it again instead of fearing it. I went bouldering again, something I thought I'd never get to do. I really focused on changing what my brain was wanting me to think about to what I wanted to think about.
- On Monday Sept 26th I felt different. I had to drive to an appointment in the morning, and noticed I wasnt thinking about my hand at all. Mind you there was some pain, but it felt different, like a weaker version of it.
- On Wednesday I had the day off work, and played on my computer for hours, and had nearly zero pain, which felt like a dream. I was so excited. I'd continue to play excessive amounts of games, practice guitar, and go climbing again. No pain.
- It's been over a week and the pain has been getting even better/more minimal. I'd say it's 90% gone, and I'm confident the rest of it will go away in time. It tried cropping up while pushing a cart grocery shopping on the weekend and I just embraced it.

I really didn't think I would be posting this. Just a month ago I was going through the usual cycle of desperation and somehow now I'm able to do things I love without pain. It's such a wonderful feeling.

I still have work to do however. As my mind has mostly stopped thinking about hand pain its switched to thinking about the digestive and sleep issues that have cropped up. Part way through my journey I had sudden insomnia and acid reflux. The worst of the reflux lasted around 3 months, where I lost over 20 pounds and could barely eat/drink anything without pain, even on PPIs/acid reducers/diet. It eventually calmed down/stopped, so I don't feel heartburn or pain, but I get chest pressure and random other pressures in my stomach and esophagus, and it seems to happen even if I haven't had anything to eat/drink in several hours. In fact I know I've had a near instant reactionr of chest tightness after getting/worrying about hand pain in the past, so I'm thinking that maybe this is just my brain cranking up the digestion symptoms give myself something new to worry about now that I no longer think about my hand.

 

@Exuro89
What a great healing story! Now you have your evidence. TMS is real. And working to heal it works! The new symptoms are typical. It means The fight isn’t over yet. You might have to also address some rage by doing some journaling, I personally like Alan Gordon’s method in The Way Out, but you might have to also mix some Sarno in there too (emotional work). Have you checked out Nichol Sachs yet? She’s queen of healing journaling. She has a great podcast (The Cure for Chronic Pain). Start at the beginning. She will explain everything. You are on your way!

 

A not so great update. Could use some comfort/hope/anything.

On the positive side, my wrist pain has been basically nonexistent, not something I've experienced or thought about, which is not something I thought Id ever say. My stomach has been getting slowly better as has my sleep.

About 3 weeks ago I started to develop pain/numbness in my thighs. My left outer thigh is completely numb, and it hurts/sore to touch. Both legs get burning/stabbing/tingling pain periodically, be it sitting/standing/lying down. I feel like I have to curl up into a ball and ignore any sensations. Its hard walking my dog as my jeans rub against the skin and cause pain. I feel like Im in a similar place to last year when my arm pain was at its worst. On black friday I went to urgent care as the pain was getting worse and worse. They did an mri of my lower back but said other than a mild disc bulge in the wrong vertabrae they didnt see anything. I was prescribed oral steroids for a week and some light core exercises. The steroids only made my sleep worse and Im back to the feelings of last year panicking that this is my life now. It feels different in that with my wrist the pain would come and go, while here the numbness is constant.

I was feeling pretty good for a while after my previous post. I had bouts of pain but it was getting better and better. I was getting back into hobbies, noticing that my thought patterns were changing to thinking about things I wanted to do and would end up doing. Right now Im feeling trapped again, trying to get rid of this pain through any means necessary. I know about symptom imperative and feel like this could be it, but I also think about this as what bad luck I must have.

edit: I've also been having jaw pain and tingling in my right ear.

 

First off, relax. This is so damn normal you wouldn't believe it.

Your description of the symptoms and the feelings and the cycle is all 100% Normal for people with TMS. There isn't a thing on either of your lists that we haven't felt before, including the Fear/Panic about it.

In fact, I would bet my checking account that it's TMS so y'all don't need to spend any time agonizing over seeing more specialists, Docs.

Just Do the work again. We have all had that amazing recovery...when I first got better in '99 I thought I was 'saved and free' and would never have a relapse....and I was right...for about a year. Oops..just like yours?

Timing of onset...family issues or loneliness issues or both. This is a maintenance deal... We integrate the work, that is being aware of new emotional phenomena and waking up old ones...and everything in between.

Get a copy of Sarno's Healing back pain and start doing the stuff in the book. I just got over a small relapse in Hands! Surprise! I thought I had 'played too much guitar'...Nope. I just played too much "I'm normal and not prone to psychosomatic symptoms"

Get back into the Groove of TMS work and this too will also go away. If you have nay questions or need support you can reach out to me or many of the other forum members.

peace

 

Ditto what @Baseball65 says! Totally TMS land. I have a numb thigh with burning, stabbing tingling. I flipped out when it came on. It is definitely weird! But the more I read people’s stories here, the more I realize this happens. It is “normal” TMS. And I would also throw in to go with your Sarno reading, add the book Hope and Help for Your Nerves, by Claire Weekes. TMS is a form of anxiety. This little book by Dr. Weekes explains it all so clearly. It will make you realize that you have been on adrenaline so long your body is just blowing off nervous tension. She explains the healing process. It’s the main thing I use to combat fear.

 

Thanks everyone. I do really need to get in touch of my emotional side and work things out. I have therapy tomorrow so maybe thatll shed some light. I have both of those books and need to give them more thorough reads.

I had a telemedicine with my pcp this morning discussing the new symptoms and how my sleep has been getting worse, worried about there being something more sinister going on that ties this all together medically. She... started talking about stress and how we store trauma in our bodies. She basically said to work on my mental health, that this really sounds stress related, and offered some natural remedies to help calm myself in the meantime. I'm kind of flabbergasted by her response but I feel like this is really what I need to focus on. I was getting better, physically and mentally, but I think I have a lot to work on from the mental/emotional aspects...

 

Hallelujah! What a wonderful doctor! So there you have it. you have your marching orders. seriously, read those two books! start with those two books and your therapy. You’re gonna be OK. you are so on the right track! (Not easy, by the way. But possible! Face your demons. )

 

I think Telehealth appointments also help. There is a buffer, a barrier to the Dr.'s difficulties being up front with the patient and getting blow back. I think a LOT of Doctors have an awareness of stress related illnesses and symptoms but are afraid to deal with the fallout from clients - many of whom are afraid to deal with their emotional stuff.