Hi all,
This is my first post. I've been lingering and reading for the past week, you all seem to be a supportive and kind group so I feel safe that you'll understand my situation and frustrations.
Just a brief introduction first. I am 39 yrs old, have had chronic neck and shoulder pain since I was 24 yrs old and numerous other painful conditions in those years. In all this time I never once had a test that came back positive for any disease or structural abnormality. I tried all the treatments known to man kind to stop the pain but not one of them over the years did anything to relieve the pain.
I haven't worked for over 10 years due to never knowing how I'll feel from one hour to the next, I do have some fairly good days with manageable pain in between the awful ones.
I only learned about TMS 2 weeks ago and what led me to this, was researching treatment options via Dr Google, my GP has diagnosed me with Carpel Tunnel in both wrists but the left is the worse.
This pain in the wrist/hand fingers has fast become a nightmare, it is at its worst during the night starting around 2am and waxing and waning until I get out of bed around 7am, from then on it's usually mild to annoying and some days are better than others. This has all developed whilst caring for my Dad that had terminal bowel cancer and taking over the responsibility of care for my mother that has Alzheimer's and trying fertility treatments to get pregnant.!!! Too much stress.lol
Interestingly when I first learned of TMS and devoured many books on the subject, inc Dr Sarno's and the great pain deception amongst others I convinced myself 100% TMS was my problem and that night I only had a very mild tingling/burning and for the next week I felt fairly much cured of this problem and was even able to do a lot of weeding in the garden, I had no fear. I was about to start working on reducing my neck pain.
Then something must have shifted in my thoughts, you see I'd also got a blood test result back from the Drs 1 week prior to thinking I had TMS showing that I tested positive for the Rheumatoid Factor (my results weren't off the scales though). I conveniently put it out of my mind because the test results alone aren't definitive of a diagnosis for RA and the treatment options for RA are very hit and miss and it seems hard to get under control so of course my brain would prefer to latch onto a more successful treatment plan and that was TMS also the treatment for RA uses some very strong and nasty drugs which I'm not prepared to take.
So now my belief in TMS has changed from 100% belief to 60% belief and the carpel tunnel is back with a vengeance despite my best efforts at telling my brain it's not physical it's psychological!
I don't know what to think I know Dr Sarno says that Rheumatoid arthritis can't be treated with the TMS belief but I'm not convinced one positive test showing I tested for the rheumatoid factor means I have RA, my Dr seems to think there's a possibility I may develop RA in the future but also said RA can be difficult to diagnose as you need to meet a number of criteria and some people can test positive for RA but not have it.
I just wish I hadn't had the test now as it's given me the doubt that I now have RA and not TMS.
One question I have is this: is there such a thing as genuine carpel tunnel that can be fixed with surgery or is it mostly from TMS? It's just annoying to me that I'm imagining the carpel tunnel I now have is because I have RA in the wrist/hand even though it's fairly unlikely and from what I've read most carpel tunnel isn't as a direct result of have RA, in fact even those that have RA and also have carpel tunnel don't necessarily get told its because of RA they have carpel tunnel.
I really don't want to start going on the wild goose chase again with specialists, X-rays,MRIs but there's now this annoying nagging doubt I have RA, I've really latched onto this idea as I think it's preferable to the concept I have TMS that's an emotional problem, the idea I have pain from my emotions is really quite embarrassing to me and I haven't told anyone my latest discovery that I probably have TMS you see I've told numerous specialists over the years the pain is real and not something due to depression or anxiety (which some have hinted at).
Interestingly since the carpel tunnel has made its appearance the neck pain isn't at its worst, which tends to make me still feel this is really only TMS since you tend to have one problem at a time just like when my IBS is bad then my neck pain takes a back seat.
I hope I'm making sense, the words seem to be a jumble in my mind and sometimes I find it hard to convey what I really mean, anyway I'm just tying to make sense of my situation and focus on the belief that my health woes are due to TMS nothing else is wrong with me!!!
I guess I'm just hoping for some reassurance from others I'm one the right path,I definitely fit all the personality traits for TMS I am a very hard task maskers and perfectionist, that's for sure.
Thanks for reading. Cheers.
This is my first post. I've been lingering and reading for the past week, you all seem to be a supportive and kind group so I feel safe that you'll understand my situation and frustrations.
Just a brief introduction first. I am 39 yrs old, have had chronic neck and shoulder pain since I was 24 yrs old and numerous other painful conditions in those years. In all this time I never once had a test that came back positive for any disease or structural abnormality. I tried all the treatments known to man kind to stop the pain but not one of them over the years did anything to relieve the pain.
I haven't worked for over 10 years due to never knowing how I'll feel from one hour to the next, I do have some fairly good days with manageable pain in between the awful ones.
I only learned about TMS 2 weeks ago and what led me to this, was researching treatment options via Dr Google, my GP has diagnosed me with Carpel Tunnel in both wrists but the left is the worse.
This pain in the wrist/hand fingers has fast become a nightmare, it is at its worst during the night starting around 2am and waxing and waning until I get out of bed around 7am, from then on it's usually mild to annoying and some days are better than others. This has all developed whilst caring for my Dad that had terminal bowel cancer and taking over the responsibility of care for my mother that has Alzheimer's and trying fertility treatments to get pregnant.!!! Too much stress.lol
Interestingly when I first learned of TMS and devoured many books on the subject, inc Dr Sarno's and the great pain deception amongst others I convinced myself 100% TMS was my problem and that night I only had a very mild tingling/burning and for the next week I felt fairly much cured of this problem and was even able to do a lot of weeding in the garden, I had no fear. I was about to start working on reducing my neck pain.
Then something must have shifted in my thoughts, you see I'd also got a blood test result back from the Drs 1 week prior to thinking I had TMS showing that I tested positive for the Rheumatoid Factor (my results weren't off the scales though). I conveniently put it out of my mind because the test results alone aren't definitive of a diagnosis for RA and the treatment options for RA are very hit and miss and it seems hard to get under control so of course my brain would prefer to latch onto a more successful treatment plan and that was TMS also the treatment for RA uses some very strong and nasty drugs which I'm not prepared to take.
So now my belief in TMS has changed from 100% belief to 60% belief and the carpel tunnel is back with a vengeance despite my best efforts at telling my brain it's not physical it's psychological!
I don't know what to think I know Dr Sarno says that Rheumatoid arthritis can't be treated with the TMS belief but I'm not convinced one positive test showing I tested for the rheumatoid factor means I have RA, my Dr seems to think there's a possibility I may develop RA in the future but also said RA can be difficult to diagnose as you need to meet a number of criteria and some people can test positive for RA but not have it.
I just wish I hadn't had the test now as it's given me the doubt that I now have RA and not TMS.
One question I have is this: is there such a thing as genuine carpel tunnel that can be fixed with surgery or is it mostly from TMS? It's just annoying to me that I'm imagining the carpel tunnel I now have is because I have RA in the wrist/hand even though it's fairly unlikely and from what I've read most carpel tunnel isn't as a direct result of have RA, in fact even those that have RA and also have carpel tunnel don't necessarily get told its because of RA they have carpel tunnel.
I really don't want to start going on the wild goose chase again with specialists, X-rays,MRIs but there's now this annoying nagging doubt I have RA, I've really latched onto this idea as I think it's preferable to the concept I have TMS that's an emotional problem, the idea I have pain from my emotions is really quite embarrassing to me and I haven't told anyone my latest discovery that I probably have TMS you see I've told numerous specialists over the years the pain is real and not something due to depression or anxiety (which some have hinted at).
Interestingly since the carpel tunnel has made its appearance the neck pain isn't at its worst, which tends to make me still feel this is really only TMS since you tend to have one problem at a time just like when my IBS is bad then my neck pain takes a back seat.
I hope I'm making sense, the words seem to be a jumble in my mind and sometimes I find it hard to convey what I really mean, anyway I'm just tying to make sense of my situation and focus on the belief that my health woes are due to TMS nothing else is wrong with me!!!
I guess I'm just hoping for some reassurance from others I'm one the right path,I definitely fit all the personality traits for TMS I am a very hard task maskers and perfectionist, that's for sure.
Thanks for reading. Cheers.
