Recurring Pain During COVID-19

[Sandhu1218]

Hello Friends,
I have been healing from TMS for about 2 years now and in that time frame my pain comes and goes in times of stress and when I am in places or doing activities that I did when I had my acute episode from 2014-2018. I would love some advice and support as I am dealing with more increased pain in the last few months since we all have been quarantined and it does cause me to worry which I am sure is not helping my pain. Any stories, or advice would be helpful!

 

[raucus]

Hey there!

These are tough and stressful times. I'm sorry to hear that you've had some recurring pain, and I'd like to share a mini success story that might aid you in your healing process. I too had a recurrence of pain during COVID-19.

I have been free of "RSI" and hand pain since 2016. See https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/hands-pain-free-for-over-a-year-no-more-rsi.17740/#post-93949 (Hands pain free for over a year. No more RSI!) for the success story. It also has a link to my original post on the forum for help.

The start of the quarantine coincided with moving into a new apartment by myself for the first time. I was very excited to try living by myself. This combined with the quarantine got me regularly working on my computer for longer hours. About a month into the quarantine I had a flare up of hand pain. I had subconsciously convinced myself that the pain should return due to both my increased lethargy and computer use.

Here is what I did:

1. I first told myself to not panic and remain calm. This time I was ready. I knew that the pain was no cause for concern even though it was nagging me a bit.
   
2. I continued working and acting as normal. I didn't tell my boss. I didn't tell my friends. I didn't tell my parents. I made a conscious effort to ignore it.
3. I told myself that only a month of some long computer nights and less exercise isn't enough to cause my otherwise strong hands to fail me. I had been working on the computer for 4 straight years with no symptoms without slowing down. It just didn't make sense for the pain to return.
4. I focused more on self care. Herbal Teas, Long baths, etc.
5. I was feeling a bit tight all over so I started doing more regular yoga to loosen up. I had done yoga occasionally before, but never regularly. It gave me something to look forward to at the end of the day and I knew the stretching was undoubtedly good for me.

After a couple weeks, the pain disappeared, further solidifying my confidence that it truly was a result of psychological stress. I never stopped working at the computer. Before this flare up, there was always a small part of me that looked back on that year of pain in 2016 and questioned whether or not it really was TMS. Now I'm 100% confident it was. While the quarantine has been especially tough for those of us that struggle with chronic stress and mental health, I hope it will offer you a similar opportunity to heal in this way.

I hope this helps. I'm happy to continue the discussion in the forum as well