Could these hand problems be TMS?

I posted this in Ask a TMS Therapist, but just in case it doesn't get answered, I'd like to make a thread on it as well.

So I don't know if any of you are familiar with the esport of Super Smash Bros. Melee. It's incredibly technically demanding and many players suffer from hand problems. I myself had "RSI" so severe I was thinking I might've had to quit playing, which was devastating to me as this is the biggest passion in my life. However, after discovering Dr. Sarno, I was able to cure myself like magic! Amazing! I come here today to ask about not myself, but someone else. A huge figure in the SSBM community, Aziz "Hax" Al-Yami, has suffered severe hand problems for years now. He's had multiple surgeries, and at the end of it all, he's forced to use a different controller to play the game, which is currently holding him back. Plus there's a whole lot of debate about weather or not that controller should be legal to use, so he may not even be able to use it in the future. I came here to seek an opinion on how much of his symptoms may be caused by TMS. To get yourself informed about his situation, read all the blogs here, in chronological order: http://ssbmhax.blogspot.ca/2015/ (.: 2015). Also watch the first 13 minutes of this video

(you can do it on x2 so it doesn't take as long). I know this isn't the smallest amount of information to ingest, but I hope someone's up for it. Some things I can add myself are that Hax is a huge perfectionist, and this injury was no doubt one of if not the main focus in his life since it happened. He also talks somewhere in the things I linked about how MRIs couldn't find anything, and doctors saying he has "micro tears" (which as far as I know may be legitimate, but sounds a lot like just something to just blame the pain on). If you have any questions let me know, I may be able to answer them. Thank you so much for your help.

 

Hey Mason, welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your own recovery!

I admire your desire to help your gaming compatriot, but I think you already know that 99.9% of our members are not TMS specialists here, and even our TMS specialists can't diagnose someone via proxy.

I've read a lot of lengthy introductions, here's what I have to say about them: whenever someone goes into detail about their symptoms and especially about their surgeries and their diagnoses and their MRI findings, my eyes just glaze over. I can't be bothered to read any of that, because it's totally irrelevant to TMS recovery. Many times I have given new members this advice: "when you refer to your condition, let go of the technical details. Boil it down to one simple generic phrase such as 'my back pain/my wrist pain/my stomach problems' ". This takes the focus and the obsession away from the symptoms and towards the important work, which is the personal and emotional issues.

Going back to those lengthy intros - I always skip over the symptom details, and I look for the personal, emotional, psychological stuff.

The best thing you can do for your friend is to get him to read one of Dr. Sarno's books. Or watch the famous 20/20 episode. Definitely find a relevant success story (about RSI, and about people who've had failed surgeries) on our Success Stories subforum, and have him read that. Something to nudge his thinking into a different direction.

I wish you both the best!

~Jan