Arm Burning

Hi guys,

Ive known about TMS for a while now, it even helped me very rapidly cure back pain 6 years ago.

4 years ago I had two accidents, both involving my dogs. The first one left me with a chronic mallet finger which hurts and makes me very nervous to get finger fusion about, and I constantly feel anxious and very uncomfortable about since I use my hands a lot for work and hobbies (gaming, for instance).

My second injury was some months later, where two of my dogs, which are big and strong, were fighting brutally. I made a mistake and tried to separate them and I ended up with a slight bruise on my forearm, and I had to do A LOT of strength to shove one of my dogs in. A few days later suddenly out of the blue I had very strong nervous shock/burning sensation on my left arm, mostly from my mid arm to hand included, and I really felt the nerve stretch when I stretched my arm. I believed and was told by doctors this could happen and would go away, but it never did, and it occasionaly hurts quite bad (burning from mid arm to hand).

From everything Ive read (I have Dr Sarnos book, as well as The Pain Deception, and just started Unlearn your Pain) and from going through the forums, Im a prime candidate for TMS given I was going through a very rough time when the accident happened (my parents were leaving my country and I was staying, plus I already had the finger injury, I felt compeltely destroyed, and I was and am extremely disappointed with my father whom I once loved as a parent). I went thru a very rough period during and after that, where I had mild depression and am still working on improving via therapy.

I also have lots of personality traits Ive read in the books (goodism, ruminating, perfectionist), and can feel pain anytime (intensity varies) but mostly when awake and there are specific triggers that intensify it a lot, such as dogs barking, strong sounds.

Ive had my moments where Ive thought it really could be TMS, mostly because ive gone through two MRIs (arm and cervicals), arm ultrasound, EMG and NCS, blood tests, and they never found anything. I havent had a SFN test because I think it does not exist here in Argentina but it doesnt seem likely (I wouldnt really know too much) given that the pain is only localized on my left arm.

I even went thru a nerve block at the left cervical level last week, which did no difference at all. That is when I finally came to terms with the fact that it is extremely likely it has to be TMS, given my personality traits, stressful life events, been diagnosed with some sort of CRPS (which Ive read many here have had and ended up being TMS), and the nerve block not working at all finally made me realize that, given that I am a numbers guy and the odds of it being TMS are extremely higher than me having a rare non obvious injury.

Thank you for taking the time in reading this, I wanted to share my experience.

But mostly I wanted to ask one single question which puzzles me: I can feel my fingers tingling on my left arm when I move my head around (even when my arm pain level is very low or almost not there), as if the nerve pathway signal was getting disrupted I guess? Can this still be caused by TMS?

 

Yes, what you have is neuropathy, and it is TMS. Tingling and numbness are common when you have any disturbance in your nerve. I had a similar set of symptoms and CRPS diagnosis, and fully recovered, without nerve blocks, prescription drugs or other medical weaponry.

I am a numbers gal, too. Excel spreadsheets have calming effect on me .

 

Hi , thanks for the answer It is sometimes difficult to separate it from being an injury given that it happened very soon after the dog fight and when I used a lot of strength, but from what Ive read that is what TMS could attach to / maybe there was an initial injury and then TMS just perpetuates it.

On another note, Im going thru your book and having read in another thread that meditation was a very important tool to help you heal, I wanted to ask if you mention in your book what type of meditation you used, and if you dont, I would really appreciate any insight into that.

Thanks!

 

Yes, I devote a big portion of Chapter 5 to meditation and various types of meditation and meditational activities that I used. Happy reading!

Successful meditation is what you make it to be, as long as you get to the end result. I am working with a woman who came up with her ingenious way of meditating. She works on jig saw puzzles and sees pain reduction as a result - real story!