Recovering from RSI and Carpal Tunnel

Hi,
My story starts 10 years when I was 19 years old. I was a junior in college studying computer science. I just landed my first internship and I was ready to give it my all and excel at my internship. I didn't just want to be average, I wanted to be one of the best programmers in the world. I had dreams of working at the top companies, starting my own startups, being on the cover of Forbes magazine. I wanted to be the next Mark Zuckeberg. At the same time, I developed a passion for powerlifting and I shared similar ambitions for that part of my life. I wanted to be one of the best. I wanted to be strong and have an amazing physique. I was working out 5-6 times a week following a strict diet. I thought I had it all figure out, all I had to do was put in the work. Focus 100% on my goals and achieve all my dreams and ambitions.

1 month into my internship I started waking up with a trigger finger, which is when your finger gets stuck in a bent position. I initially thought that it was just due to my sleeping patterns and that it would go away on its own. However, the trigger finger sensation soon developed into what I thought at the time was RSI (repetitive strain injury). At the time I believed the cause of the "injury" was my internship. I was typing on a keyboard for hours (8+ hours a day) and I really thought the excessive typing was destroying my tendons. I was devastated. I am a very anxious person, I struggled with sever panic attacks as a teen. I was just starting my career and was already developing a potentially career ending injury?

Over time the pain only got worse. My anxiety worsened as well. I was struggling to type on a keyboard for my internship and also struggled with my other passion of powerlifting because the RSI prevented from gripping the weights. The pain eventually moved from the fingers to the palm of my hand (Carpal Tunnel). To alleviate my anxiety I spent hours every day reading about RSI and Carpal Tunnel. I read stories about programmers and professional gamers have to end their careers early due to the pain. I started looking into voice recognition software as an alternative. I bought ice packs and would literally put them on my hand while typing and when I got home from work. I was a mess. I could only work in 5-10 mins blocks before the pain would become unbearable. I bought special ergonomic keyboards, mouse, and desks. All the fixes would temporarily improve my condition but the pain would always come back.

For some reason that I can't explain the last month of the internship the pain slowly dissipated. When I went back to school for the fall the pain was gone and I had moved on with my life. For months I lived pain free and completely forgot about the pain. Until finals. I was working on a project that I was really struggling with and all of a sudden all the pain came back. I was unable to type on a keyboard again. I began becoming anxious and depressed again. I started to believe that this was a lifelong condition that I would just need to accept. Again I spent hours reading about RSI and fortunately this time I saw someone recommend a book called "The mindbody prescription" by Dr Sarno. This person claimed that he was able to cure is pain completely by simply reading the book. I was intrigued. So I googled Dr Sarno and RSI and started reading the success stories and started to believe. I read the personality traits prone to TMS described by Sarno and I couldn't believe it. The traits were a perfect description of who I am. A perfectionist, highly ambitious with low self-esteem who puts a lot of pressure on himself to be the best and succeed at everything. I read the theories outlined by Sarno and they all made sense to. me. I fit the traits and I also had some repressed rage due to my father.

I didn't even buy the book, by just reading all the information online my pain completely disappeared in less than a day. I never felt happier in my life. I was free from the pain. I didn't need the ergonomic accessories, I didn't need the ice packs, I didn't need to take any breaks. I was free!! Once I understood the mechanism of the pain, the pain had no more power over me.

Since discovering Sarno it's been around 10 years and I am proud to say that I am still 100% cured. I still feel some pain in my fingers when I am angry about something. But I now know that there the pain is created by mind and I am not be afraid. Fear is the fuel for TMS.

Sarno saved my life before it even started. Thank you DR. Sarno, I don't think where I would be today if I hadn't discovered your books.