spontaneous wrist pain

i have defeated tms before, but through a long and drawn out process.. i have been experiencing left wrist pain recently out of nowhere. i am a barber so work with my hands alot but i dont believe in rsi or overuse injury as per tms. and im not working too strenuously anyways. i am trying my best not to worry too much but i just wish i had tools to use to overcome the issue quick as possible. anyone have helpful techniques ?

 

Whenever I have fresh symptoms it means something has happened in my life. I have not yet become aware of how anger provoking it was. It drifted by without a thought. So...

I go and sit with a pen and paper (or an open word document on a computer) and list everything that MIGHT have bugged me by category.
Money,
Personal relationships,
responsibilities
Mental environment (religion , politics, conspiracy nuts)
Family of origin
Work

stuff like that. THEN, I choose something off the list, and any time I find myself paying attention to the pain, I turn my thoughts to that topic. It reconditions your brain AND it lets your unconscious know that YOU know what it is up to.

If that sounds insane or simplistic I can only promise you I have used that for a few decades and it has worked for everything...back, knee, arm, rsi, jaw and even stuff like gall bladder pain. I got it straight from Sarno in "healing back pain" and have turned it into a therapy.

 

Hi @Baseball65,

I'm doing your therapy (as you describe above).

In addition to the information above, in another thread you also wrote the following about it, which I'm also doing:

"I found that far and away the best strategy for NOT getting drawn into a symptom was Dr. Sarno's advice to focus on a source of recurrent irritation every time you catch yourself focusing on the symptom.
That did NOT mean random negative thinking. I did a lot of writing at home and came up with the one thing in my life I was the most angry about.... in that case I had recently been ripped off in a music deal. The guys name was Dave. Any time I caught my attention drifting towards my back, legs, feet, hip I instantly and consciously turned my attention to Dave and fantasized about beating the living snot out of him. Allowing myself those wild violent thoughts that civilized people don't have...pounding his face to a bloody pulp."

I have a few questions about this that I'd be really grateful to know your thoughts on...

Do you think it's important to be able to equate the onset of particular symptoms to a particular (rage inducing) irritation?

(I ask this because, although I do get new symptoms from time to time, the bulk of my pain and others symptoms are with me all of the time. My pain and other symptoms are in numerous areas all over my body - all having been gradually 'collected' over the 24 years that I've had TMS and I have no idea what irritations brought on what.)

Or, in your experience, is it enough to concentrate on the most rage inducing things that you can find - from the past or present - and that will suffice to take care of the rest of whatever else has and might still be bugging you from the past -- as the brain will still realise that you're on to what it's doing and it'll give up TMSing symptoms?

I've also found that, although mentally beating up the offending party has worked to take the rage out of a lot of my past enraging experiences, some rage inducing past events still continue to piss me off, even though I've imagined beating the offending party to a pulp and smashed a number of plates. Do you have any other suggestions of how to stop my brain continuing to TMS about these events or do you think it's just a case of repetitively imagining beating up the offending party - and smashing even more plates - and the rage will eventually go away and my brain will learn that it's pointless to keep giving me pain and other symptoms?

 

It is damn useful but not absolutely necessary. Oftentimes months and years have elapsed before I could really swallow the truth.... or understand it enough to put it into words.

"Dave" although a weeny, wasn't even close to being at the root of my pain... he was just handy and therapeutic. Sarno said pick one, and he was the most recent. As Sarno said, the important message your sending to your unconscious is that your aware of it's strategy... picking any irritation that is 'recurrent' will probably suffice....anything enough to get your face warm and your brain racing any time you think of it.... Some people might use politics or Religion.... maybe a problem relationship like a sibling or rival. Unless your Jesus or Buddha, there's someone.

Long before I read Sarno, from doing inventory in the 12 step program , I realized how boring and consistent my resentments were. I compared them to a Bear trap out in the woods. I wasn't hunting a particular Bear.... But eventually one would step in my 'resentment' trap. That's is how writing over a period of time really begins to show you your own shortcomings, becasue it is impossible to write it and NOT see how very consistent they will be regardless of era or Name and Face of the person involved... they are triggering OUR resentment traps.

That's tough. I would never want to speculate on another persons experience. I know that stuff still is available inside of me, but not static at any particular individual.... that's Grace for me for I was a very angry and cowardly violent person at one point in my life.
Some guy was talking smack to my Son at our ballgame last week (see my teeth post lol).... I had a split second where I wanted to walk over and harm that guy...actually planning out getting into an altercation....it was involuntary and very scary.... that my 'nice guy' veneer got broken that easily.
But I did come home and write about it, prayed for him and thanked God that in spite of being lost in all of that anger I could still tread water.... but the fact that it's there is what is relevant to TMS. That is where the inventory process is so useful because from doing it I have worked through anger WITHOUT succumbing to symptoms. It's only tough when I lie to myself about stuff NOT bugging me. I am petty. I am not spiritual. I am OK.

I DID get help from a great shrink after I resolved the majority of my symptoms. He was awesome at helping me get a little insight into the whole picture... RAGE/OCD/TMS/ALCOHOLISM are virtually interchangeable. All distractions, all destroyers and all treatable. I guess he gave me confidence that there is always a way out as long as I am honest and willing to look at it..

 

That’s quite a relief to know.

Which, as you are TMS pain free, proves that we only need to recognise the rage, and don't need to understand the ins and outs of it all, to be able to lose TMS symptoms – that’s very reassuring and, again, also a relief to know.

That's great advice – I have plenty of incidents from past and present that get my face warm and my brain racing…I shall use that as a ‘litmus paper’ test on what to concentrate on from now on.

I can see that one of my resentment themes (one of my ‘bears’) is that I hate being told what to do by anyone, not just by the ‘bears’ that particularly bugged me in the past. Such a wonderful metaphor -- I shall look for my generic ‘bears’ from now on.

A 'light bulb moment' for me in you saying this!...The reason I keep feeling ‘statically’ the same about certain people and events from the past is that I haven’t sussed out exactly what the generic ‘bear’ is that is associated with them! I shall continue to use the inventory process to 'bear' hunt.

Using the inventory process recently helped me realise about what I'm calling the battle of the ‘wills’ and the ‘wants’. What I didn’t used to take into account in associating with others is that they all have an inner child that has a will and wants what it wants and, when I don’t want to do what their inner child wants, I suffer the consequences (whatever the consequences may be). I have resented suffering the consequences in the past and resented people for not, for instance, being willing to try to me halfway or whatever. Now I see it's the child in them (and I try to recognise when the inner child is or has been operating in me) and I am starting to be able to move on from it better.

Many thanks for answering my questions and sharing your wisdom with me, Baseball. I greatly appreciate it.