I have had chronic pain in both my wrists since the end of 2013, when I was 16. My right wrist is worse than my left wrist. The pain goes up my arm to my elbows. The pain has gotten progressively worse since I first felt it.
When I first saw a rheumatologist for the pain in 2013, he told me I had RSI, gave me a few exercises, and told me that I’d just have to live with it. The only other thing he recommended was an injection. I then had a blood cancer scare, and my wrists weren’t a priority.
It wasn’t until 2018 that I tried to find an alternate way out of the pain. I saw an osteopath, who assigned me exercises. They seemed to make me feel better, but my wrists still got worse. I developed pain in the right side of my neck as well. My osteopath was giving up on me and I was frustrated. He was my only lead and it took me a while to finally give up on him too. However, it still helped me to see my condition in a different way, and was an important step for me.
I began doing pilates, and these exercises helped me feel strong again. Even if they weren’t necessarily curing my pain, they made me feel less weak and more purposeful. I had massages, and talked to a masseuse whose mother had surgery for her RSI. She told me that the surgery is gruesome and to never resort to it. I saw a hand physio, but she recommended a bunch of gadgets to set up my workspace, and I never got around to it.
But because of all these leads, I was still in a better space about my wrists. If I googled RSI, I used to go into a panic reading stories of atrophied muscles. I was finally comfortable enough to google it without feeling my heart drop and feeling like I would be stuck in this rut forever. And while googling it one day, I found out about Sarno. I’ve read his book and I find it inspiring. I love how he tells us to view ourselves as healthy and strong, unlike what the medical world has told us.
Now when I look back at the times that my wrists got worse, they were all times of high stress, and high pressures that I placed on myself. I hate being dependant on others as well, which is exactly what the pain has caused me to do. There are many tasks at work that I can’t do with my current pain and have to delegate to others. This additional frustration creates a vicious loop.
I am now 23. Currently, it hurts to type this post. I love writing and drawing, and the thought of one day being able to make art pain free is almost scary because of how much it means to me. I am working on dispelling the negative conditioning that has ruled my adult life so far. I am so ready to try.
When I first saw a rheumatologist for the pain in 2013, he told me I had RSI, gave me a few exercises, and told me that I’d just have to live with it. The only other thing he recommended was an injection. I then had a blood cancer scare, and my wrists weren’t a priority.
It wasn’t until 2018 that I tried to find an alternate way out of the pain. I saw an osteopath, who assigned me exercises. They seemed to make me feel better, but my wrists still got worse. I developed pain in the right side of my neck as well. My osteopath was giving up on me and I was frustrated. He was my only lead and it took me a while to finally give up on him too. However, it still helped me to see my condition in a different way, and was an important step for me.
I began doing pilates, and these exercises helped me feel strong again. Even if they weren’t necessarily curing my pain, they made me feel less weak and more purposeful. I had massages, and talked to a masseuse whose mother had surgery for her RSI. She told me that the surgery is gruesome and to never resort to it. I saw a hand physio, but she recommended a bunch of gadgets to set up my workspace, and I never got around to it.
But because of all these leads, I was still in a better space about my wrists. If I googled RSI, I used to go into a panic reading stories of atrophied muscles. I was finally comfortable enough to google it without feeling my heart drop and feeling like I would be stuck in this rut forever. And while googling it one day, I found out about Sarno. I’ve read his book and I find it inspiring. I love how he tells us to view ourselves as healthy and strong, unlike what the medical world has told us.
Now when I look back at the times that my wrists got worse, they were all times of high stress, and high pressures that I placed on myself. I hate being dependant on others as well, which is exactly what the pain has caused me to do. There are many tasks at work that I can’t do with my current pain and have to delegate to others. This additional frustration creates a vicious loop.
I am now 23. Currently, it hurts to type this post. I love writing and drawing, and the thought of one day being able to make art pain free is almost scary because of how much it means to me. I am working on dispelling the negative conditioning that has ruled my adult life so far. I am so ready to try.
