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Alex B. Hand and wrist tendonitis

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Question
Hi, I’m a 38 year old Korean living in Singapore. Two and a half months ago, when I was preparing for the piano exam (I was going to pursue to become a piano teacher) my little finger started to hurt. I even took the MRI, only to find some swelling. But a week later, my thumb starts to hurt, then the left hand little finger…..eventually my entire both hands and wrist were hurting. Each finger take turn and hurt, and even when it doesn’t, both hands are on fire, tingling and numb. Called Tendonitis. Tried everything, saw every doctors, nothing worked. Finally my doctor says simple injury should’ve been cured by now, and suggests I take Lyrica, saying this might be neurological damage. You can imagine how the last few months has been frustrating and fearful for me. Then I come across this website and a success story – quite similar to my symptom. After reading, I realized my pain is down to 20% for the first time, although it came back 2 days later. I felt so confident and thought this must be it. For the last 2 weeks, I’m trying to follow through the TMS cure programme in this website, read and educate myself. My pain maintains about 50% of what it used to be, but wouldn’t budge from there. Actually last 2 days were worse. Then I had pain on foot, shoulder….I don’t want to doubt, but pain coming back is very discouraging. I currently teach at a language school. I already gave up piano, I don’t want to lose this other job too, very hard to keep up with pain dominating my life. Please help me.

My question: 1) Am I TMS? 2) Should I take Lyrica or not? 3) There’s no TMS doctor or therapist in this country (neither in Korea). If I have faith and keep trying with the journaling, trying indifference…etc.. would it work?
 
Answer
Hi, thanks for the question.

I'm sorry to hear about what you're going through, it definitely sounds scary. The good news is that what you are describing sounds very much like TMS symptoms to me. Slowly increasing pain, changing locations, negative MRIs, symptoms that affect important parts of your life...and all topped off by the fact that beginning the process of educating yourself about TMS has led to change in symptoms! All of that is good news and in my experience points very strongly to a TMS diagnosis. I know the idea of neurological damage can be scary, but in your case I would suggest trying working with this from a TMS perspective.

The number one issue with TMS symptoms is the fear and anxiety that those symptoms cause. This is why it would affect your fingers, because you depend on them as a piano player and therefore anything that affects them will grab your attention and have a very high potential to create tons of anxiety and preoccupation. So at this point your task is to try and help yourself overcome the fear of the pain. You have strong evidence that you will be able to overcome this: simply reading about it made your pain drop! It can take some time and effort to continue to progress but the key is being patient with yourself and working on addressing the anxiety. I would suggest trying to confront your symptoms. Try playing a bit of piano. You don't have to push yourself too hard, and you shouldn't be pressuring yourself, but if you want to play just let yourself and be reminded that what you are feeling isn't necessarily a structural issue.

Keep working on this and see how it goes. Remember,m the most important component is addressing the pain's capacity to keep you in fear.

Any advice or information provided here does not and is not intended to be and should not be taken to constitute specific professional or psychological advice given to any group or individual. This general advice is provided with the guidance that any person who believes that they may be suffering from any medical, psychological, or mindbody condition should seek professional advice from a qualified, registered/licensed physician and/or psychotherapist who has the opportunity to meet with the patient, take a history, possibly examine the patient, review medical and/or mental health records, and provide specific advice and/or treatment based on their experience diagnosing and treating that condition or range of conditions. No general advice provided here should be taken to replace or in any way contradict advice provided by a qualified, registered/licensed physician and/or psychotherapist who has the opportunity to meet with the patient, take a history, possibly examine the patient, review medical and/or mental health records, and provide specific advice and/or treatment based on their experience diagnosing and treating that condition or range of conditions.

The general advice and information provided in this format is for informational purposes only and cannot serve as a way to screen for, identify, or diagnose depression, anxiety, or other psychological conditions. If you feel you may be suffering from any of these conditions please contact a licensed mental health practitioner for an in-person consultation.

Questions may be edited for brevity and/or readability.

 
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