Day 1 RSI

Hello everyone. I'm a 19 year old software engineer, so I do a lot of typing and mousing. A few weeks ago I began to noticed pain in my wrists and forearms, and after a bunch of research I thought it was most likely RSI (repetitive strain/stress injury). Eventually, I found TMS and read The Mindbody Prescription. My personality seemed to be perfect for TMS, so I figured there's a good chance the RSI is a manifestation of TMS.

As far as accepting that I have TMS, I really want to, but honestly, I don't think I'm there. The fact that my arms get better with rest and then worse again when I start using the computer makes me feel less sure that it's solely TMS. I decided to go through this program and try my hardest to embrace TMS, but I'm still doing a bit of myofascial and trigger-point massage because this RSI book I read says that is helpful (strangely, the RSI book didn't even mention TMS). Regardless, I'm committed to learning about TMS.

 

H. Brady. Welcome to the TMS "club." I healed from severe back pain after reading Dr. Sarno and learning about TMS and going through the Structured Educational Program. It helps us to discover repressed emotions or if we have a perfectionist or "goodist" personality wanting to help everyone and be liked.

It sounds like you are under a lot of work pressure, on the computer. Try not to associate pain with being on the computer. That just makes the pain stay around. You need to work on believing 100 percent that TMS is causing your pain. If it is from being a perfectionist, just modify that trait and take some more time to relax. Take breaks from the computer and when you get back to it, you will feel better and be even more productive.

Here is what Kevin says about the SEP, and he is 95 percent pain-free:

Welcome to the SEP and to the path of recovery. I am on my final two days of the program and I can say with complete confidence that I am a changed man. I started after 6 months of nasty low-back/butt/leg pain, could hardly walk, stand, etc. was in physical therapy, chiropractor, acupuncture, pain medications, etc.. the usual. My MRI showed 3 disk bulges/herniations touching nerves, so that is what I believe it to be....that is until I read Dr. Sarno and found this site.

I encourage you to really get involved, follow the instructions, do the journaling, take time to read all the suggested readings, and watch the videos. I'd say I'm 95% cured. There is still some very light lingering "annoyance", but I still have some work to do. I've been walking miles with hardly any pain these last few weeks. But even more, if the pain comes on now, it just doesn't bother me like it used to, I sorta just see it, acknowledge it, and go about my business. It took working the program to get to that point, but 6 weeks compared to 6 months is nothing! I made more progress in the first week than I did from two months of PT!!! It's going to challenge you and your "beliefs" in medicine, but you have nothing to lose. We generally wind up here when all else fails.

So give it a shot, especially before considering anything invasive like surgery. If you put the work in, you will get better. Have you read Dr. Sarno yet? I assume you have since you're here, but in case you haven't, definitely read Healing Back Pain. Again, it will challenge everything you've believed about your pain, and backs in general. You'll be encouraged to resume life as normal, i.e. stop ALL "therapies" (PT, chiro, etc.), stop taking medications, and most importantly, stop thinking STRUCTURAL problems are the cause of your pain and shift to psychological as the reason.....again, this can be difficult and takes some time to sink in, so be patient and kind to yourself.

It was a process for me. A few of the bigger moves in my case were: I ripped up and threw out my MRI test results (I found myself obsessively reading over them and comparing them to other results I could find on the web and even here on the TMSwiki site...); I got back to the gym and stopped using a weight belt; and I even cancelled an appointment I had made with a TMS doctor because it was more than a month away and it was hindering my recovery (that is, my 100% belief in TMS was lagging because I had this pending appointment, but as soon as I cancelled it, my recovery sped up significantly). Everyone's journey is unique to their situation, but I've found that really committing to the program and brining what I learn from it into my daily life has had profound results. Also, sharing along the way here in these forums has been extremely helpful - there's something about knowing that you're not alone in your TMS recovery that really helps. I encourage you to look through my past posts for some insight into my experience with SEP. Like I said, I'm just now finishing, tomorrow is my final day, and I feel like a changed person. It's amazing. And I feel as though it is something that one carries on with, not just like a one time 6 week thing and that's that...it has helped me to get to know myself and taught me tools to "deal" with my emotions. Learning and accepting TMS is a life changer for sure.