Neuropathy

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Chris27

New Member
Hi everyone. I have chronic pain in much of my body. Neck, back, arms legs. For me it feels like repetitive stress injuries from video games/exercising for too much without rest. They never heal and I have tried physical therapy, acupuncture, massage, chiropractor, etc. Sometimes I get temporary relief and sometimes it makes the problems worse.

One of the things I tried was buying a cellulite massager that had good reviews for hand pain. After using this product for a few days I started getting tingling in my hand when I hold stuff. It goes into remission if I don't use my hand for long enough.

About a month ago I started getting into tms and have convinced myself that my chronic pain issues are tms. I started doing more exercises and playing video games and telling myself that my pain is just perceived pain and that I am safe. A couple of days ago the tingling in my right hand flared up again.

My question is do y'all think the tingling in my hand is tms? For some reason the pins and needles scares me more than the regular pain that I experience throughout my body. I want to believe that this is tms and just ignore the tingling when it flares up. I just found this website and registered. I look forward to learning from others on this website.

Tldr
I get tingling in my hand when I hold things too long. Is this tms? Can I ignore the tingling and continue to use my hand or would it be better to avoid using my hand until the flare up of pins and needles calms down? If anyone else has tingling in their hand(s) and got better using tms please let me know what techniques worked best for you.
 
"Repetitive Stress" injuries and "tingling" are two very common TMS complaints.

Question: what methods are you using to help yourself and TMS?
Have you read a book by Dr. Sarno? Dr. Sarno talks about TMS being benign (it can't hurt you) and temporary. It's important to read one his books to get a better understanding of what the TMS mechanism truly is.

I also suspect you have anxiety because you seem afraid to use your hand if you experience what you describe as pins and needles.

Claire Weekes books are oldfashioned, but really help with recognizing and overcoming anxious thinking.

Lastly, Dr. Sarno suggests, once you understand TMS (after reading one of his books) that you get back to all regular physical activity. Most people interpret that as exercise, but really, it means anything. Don't hold yourself back from any movements that you'd do on a regular daily basis.
 
The method I use is to remind myself that I am not in danger. I tell myself that the pain is a false perceived danger due to possible repressed emotions and that I need to be unafraid and do the things I love regardless. I have listened to part of Dr Sarno's audiobook healing back pain. Currently my favorite person to listen to is the YouTuber Dan who has a channel called painfreeyou.

I am an anxious person and I appreciate your advice. For some reason the tingling in my hand scares me more than the nagging traditional pain that I experience in my body. So would you say that when I experience tingling in my hand that I should ignore it and try to not let it bother me? It seems like the tingling only stops when I stop using my hand for long enough. I guess I just feel worried about making things worse even though the general idea of tms is that you are not in danger.
 
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Chris27 said:
My question is do y'all think the tingling in my hand is tms? For some reason the pins and needles scares me more than the regular pain that I experience throughout my body
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Yes, it’s TMS. Very common! The first time I had it was in 2017 in both of my hands. That’s when I discovered Dr. Sarno. I read the Divided Mind by Dr. Sarno, did what he advised and had a book healing. The tingling went away —-all the way away. (Proof it was TMS!) Then, in 2020– that wonderful year— it came back again, along with a dozen other symptoms. Most of my symptoms are nerve related symptoms, not muscular like a backache. I think nerve related symptoms are really scary and even harder to believe that they’re TMS. But they really are! Recently I read the MindBody Prescription by Dr. Sarno— and in the early part of the book, he describes how nerves are deprived of oxygen and can cause all sorts of crazy things. For some reason, I was really comforted reading this; you might like to read it too. It’s a short good book.
 
Dan at Pain Free You has some excellent advice, and he's a great person to follow. Please listen or read all of Dr. Sarno's book. To the very end it is filled with valuable advice, and much of it is not the path that Dan follows, but is important for long term recovery and especially anxiety. One of the biggest pieces of advice that Dr. Sarno offers is to think PSYCHOLOGICALLY and that means to deal with your anxiety. Dan doesn't necessarily deal with this aspect in a person's total life - that's not his mission. But it's a key part of dealing with TMS. Dr. Sarno felt that the anxiety which creates internal stress is usually from a combination of things: Our personality types which is important and our inner rage. Meaning not the anger you feel on a daily basis but a deep inner rage of the subconscious which is one of the things pain is distracting you from...deep internal feelings, all inter-related. Dan isn't a psychologist, so he doesn't much go to this area - but if you watch his success stories, many of those people do touch on these aspects in relation to TMS.
"IGNORE" is not a word in Dr. Sarno's vocabulary. You've been ignoring yourself, your emotions etc. for a long time, probably most of your life. It takes some work and insight into understanding that part of healing.
When these sensations you don't like happen, you think psychologically. What scares you? What is making you so anxious and nervous that you need pain and sensations as a distraction. Are these things real, or are they just your thoughts and perceptions that are not real and tangible things to be afraid of?
If you are worried about WORSE then please read my message again, above and listen to Dr. Sarno. Look up the word benign (it's the word he uses) and note TEMPORARY. If these symptoms are truly generated from a psychological phenomenon, how can anything physical make them "worse".
Keep working on your TMS skills and knowledge. You'll get there!
 
Oh, I wanted to add—it doesn’t matter what you do with your hands. It’s emotionally based, not physical. Do everything.
 
Thank you for the replies. I will look more into Dr. sarno books.

Often times my pain occurs from simply using my body. I had to give up running from knee and hip pain, lifting weights from arm pain etc. The thing is I am getting pain from doing things I enjoy and am not sure of any specific emotional reasons for these issues.

I do fit some of the criteria of the personality types of someone with tms. I am anxious, I have social anxiety, I am a perfectionist and a people pleaser. I have tried but I struggle to remove these negative personality traits. I have also come to the conclusion of tms because I have had chronic pain for over 7 years and no matter how many physical therapists and other professionals I see it has never worked for me.

When I say worse what I mean is I worry about the symptoms increasing and or lasting longer or possibly becoming permanent which I know is irrational but it's a thought that sometimes pops into my mind. I think the most harmful thought I get is what if this isn't tms and I try to remind myself that if this was a structural issue then surely I would have recovered by now. I also have an identical twin brother with chronic pain but we both have come to the belief that mine is worse off than his because he is less anxious and doesn't think about his symptoms as much as I do.

I have been using my left hand more because the numbness and tingling in my right hand scares me but perhaps I should start using my right hand more and remind myself that this numbness and tingling is benign.
 
Good, read Sarno! Try his book, Healing Back Pain. Replace back pain in the book with any symptoms you have. You are supposed to do everything despite the pain. That will make it go away.

It’s not that simple, quick or easy to do the work involved on this journey. It could take quite awhile to learn about everything and try to heal and change yourself. So don’t write it off as not working if you don’t get results right away.

You and your brother are right. Less anxiety will help to keep the symptoms down.

You are in the right place and on the right track!
 
Cactusflower said:
Please listen or read all of Dr. Sarno's book. To the very end it is filled with valuable advice, and much of it is not the path that Dan follows, but is important for long term recovery and especially anxiety. One of the biggest pieces of advice that Dr. Sarno offers is to think PSYCHOLOGICALLY and that means to deal with your anxiety.
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I 100% agree with this.

Chris27 said:
I do fit some of the criteria of the personality types of someone with tms. I am anxious, I have social anxiety, I am a perfectionist and a people pleaser. I have tried but I struggle to remove these negative personality traits. I have also come to the conclusion of tms because I have had chronic pain for over 7 years and no matter how many physical therapists and other professionals I see it has never worked for me.
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I'm also going to recommend that you answer the 10-question "quiz" about childhood experiences and their relevance to physical suffering: it is explained and linked here:
https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/aces-quiz-online-printable-versions.27061 (ACEs "quiz" - online & printable versions) (ACEs "quiz" - online & printable versions)
Be sure to read the introduction to the quiz and answer the questions from your irrational childhood viewpoint, not your rational adult viewpoint (that important advice is thanks to @Cactusflower).

I've heard that Dan is terrific for educating people about certain aspects of overcoming chronic symptoms, but honestly, we see time and time again that when knowledge alone doesn't work or doesn't work for long, it's an indication that you need to go beyond TMS knowledge and "do the work". This means getting vulnerable and emotional and unlocking old negative emotions that have been repressed by your survival-above-all-else fearful brain - perhaps for many years.

It's not easy, and it can actually cause symptoms to get worse before they get better. The good news is that the unlocking results in your freedom. The symptoms have no more reason to exist, and you will have developed lifelong skills you can employ when your negative fearful brain tries to trip you up with new things to repress in the future as life goes on and shit happens. Because that's life. Also, being negative and fearful is unfortunately how our brains are wired, so we have to learn how to be mindful of that tendency, and take charge with our rational brains instead of giving in to irrational fear and anxiety.

"Doing the work" can be done for free with our easy-to-follow Structured Educational Program on the main tmswiki.org - free of cost and free of any kind of registration - you just do it on your own. Pay attention to the introductory information and do the program with mindfulness and commitment, and above all, do NOT rush through it. One "Day" per day. This takes time.
 
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