Hand/fingers pain with inflammation and loss of mobility

[codeina]

I'm back after a month, I was suspecting I might have TMS before I went to a rheumatologist. I still was looking for an answer; still had that nagging voice telling me maybe I wasn't just my brain causing this very physical symptoms.
The rheumatologist told me I looked like a classic case of psoriatic arthritis, gave Meloxicam. Had blood drawn, x rays and 2nd appt scheduled. Then two weeks later a letter "there is no evidence of inflammatory arthritis yadda yadda yadda".
I was still going to physical therapy, massage, taking Meloxicam, going to hand therapist, resting/not using my hand. My hand was still inflamed, achy and pretty much I became a pitiful version of myself.
Still decided to go to a hand surgeon appointment, he looked at me and then proceeded to inject a cortisteroid. Yet, symptoms persisted. I stopped Meloxicam one week before the injection.
I got tired of this, so I scheduled an appointment with an MD that is a big believer of TMS. He listened to me, he saw all of my test results, he did a physical check...we talked for an hour and a half.
He told me "you have TMS, resume your physical activity." That night I watched All the Rage.
I kid you not; I'm two days into resuming my life and the inflammation and pain and numbness is gone. I don't fear the pain anymore and my hand got better!
It sounds ridiculous but I can't believe just telling my brain not to fear pain has been more effective than steroids and NSAIDs!

 

[codeina]

PS. And yeah, the hand issues started out of the blue after a big financial change. I was having lots of anxiety because of Pandemic/finances; got the hand issue and my anxiety went M.I.A.

 

[miffybunny]

Oh yes! I had something similar happen to me a couple of months ago! One of my fingers hurt and it woke me out of my sleep. Within a week all my fingers and knuckles and even wrists were aching. I have a long history of TMS and in recent months I had accumulated a lot of stress. At fist I did wonder if I had rheumatoid arthritis but then I realized that made no sense as that is a process that happens gradually...not in the course of a week. Then some old TMS symptoms popped up and the TMS had tipped its hand. Within the next week all symptoms were gone. Once I realized "oh it's just tms" and I looked back on my stressors it all made sense and I pulled myself together mentally. Great job!!

 

[codeina]

Awesome! I do have a history of anxiety and history of random aches and pains that I usually ignore and they go away to spawn somewhere else. This is the first time it got to my hand and as I became worried-sick it might be some form of autoimmune disease my symptoms got worse.
It's funny that the day of my rheumatologist appointment, I woke up with a semi-normal hand and as I got to her office my symptoms got worse (I even got hives on my thumb!).