SUCCESS after years of pain..

I just wanted to share my story in hopes that it may help someone else.

I am a musician and I had hand problems/"injuries" for years. Here are just a few (there were MANY more)

- Overuse injury to left hand approximately 9 years ago from playing guitar so I switched to an instrument called the dobro because the left hand is only required to hold a slide.
- I fell in love with the dobro, but shortly there after my right wrist would start hurting a lot. I was told by the doctor i have a ganglion cyst in that wrist. I proceeded to wear a brace while I played and never really bent my wrist in order to avoid aggravating it. (did pushups on fists for example)
- Later on I started getting muscle spasms in the thumb and fingers on my right hand and once again was told it was overuse by the doctors. This issue shut me down for a few weeks to a month on multiple occasions.
- Then my right thumb started hurting a lot which shut me down for a month on a couple of occasions. (was told overuse.... again.)
- These injuries kept me from the gym and working out as well which is another thing I love.
- Also a sufferer of anxiety here and there.

All this time I was being told my injuries were overuse I was not playing more than a couple hours a day so it didn't really make sense to me that they would be overuse..

I then came across a comment on the reddit RSI forum mentioning TMS and that led me to look up DR. Sarno.

I then found this video on youtube and there was no doubt what was wrong with me...

I decided all of my physical and mental ailments over the years were TMS. Later that week I took acid in the morning and repeated the phrase "My hands are healthy and strong" for hours. By then end of that day I knew I had beaten it. The pain was still there for a week or two more but i just pushed through it and it eventually went away. That night I called my occupational therapist and also my masseuse and cancelled all further appointments (which was a little scary to do while still in pain but TMS can be scary to overcome!).

It has now been ten months and I have been playing my musical instruments for an insane amount of time every day (I played for 14 hours in a day twice last week). The pain in my hand has occasionally come back over the course of these ten months but every time it does I just tell myself I know exactly what it is... TMS... and I press on and then it goes away.

Im also back in the gym this whole time and every time I tweak something while working out I just tell myself its fine and the pain will usually go away within a day or two. Doing regular pushups and bending my wrist just fine too!


The biggest thing I found to be helpful on my journey has been MINDFULNESS. Using Sam Harris's "Waking Up App" has been a total game changer and has led me to try to pay attention to the present moment as much as possible as apposed to letting my mind wander around without even realizing it.

 

Congratulations on your success! Can we publish a short version of your story on the website "Thank you, Dr. Sarno!" ?

 

yeah!