TMS doubts... and frustration with doctors

[Seanh153]

I've been dealing with pain in my thumb joints for nearly 2 years now. I initially assumed it to be RSI, and have tried TMS due to it being bi-lateral, on and off. Unfortunately I haven't had much success - I guess due to not being convinced that I have TMS. So far I've had:

• Various physical examinations - no issues found except for hypermobile joints.
• X ray - which was normal.
• Ultrasound scan of hand joints - also normal, no inflammation in joints or tendons.

In the past few months my right thumb has started twitching/spasming uncontrollably when pinching/gripping - it feels like my thumb is trying to flex itself into my palm. I'm right-handed, so I decided to give my hand a rest as much as possible in the last month or so - I started using my left hand to mouse, minimal driving and use of my hand, etc. However, it only seems to be getting worse. It's especially bad when my elbow is flexed so that my hand is raised up - then my thumb joint starts feeling like it's popping and it shakes uncontrollably. The shaking in this video is exactly the same as what happens to me. This makes it hard even to do something basic like having a shower, and is now affecting my driving as well - quite worrying when I need to drive to work...

This has been really hard for me to deal with lately as I always assumed I would improve with rest. I've went back to the doctors, but they now just blame my issues on 'hypermobile joints' and tell me to wear a thumb brace. Even with the brace on, the pain is constant. To be honest I've been able to deal with the pain until now, but the shaking/twitching is scaring me the most.

Is it possible that these issues could be TMS? I'm going to try to go back to the doctors again but, unfortunately, in the UK their only answer tends to be to put you on painkillers or antidepressants...

Edit - the thumb shaking is exactly the same

 

[Cactusflower]

There's a great excerpt in @TG957 's book about her thumb. After doing much healing from dystonia and horrific hand pain. Out of the blue, one day her thumb bent totally backwards in an unnatural contraction. She was in a parking lot and just started meditating. Total opposite reaction to worrying, freaking out, thinking it must be medical etc. She just calmly responded to this sudden symptomatic burst and it totally resolved itself and she drove home.
A few weeks ago I had a similar thing happen to my finger. That made me just laugh! I laughed at it, and recalled this experience she had, and immediately my finger relaxed. I could think about what might be stressing me out, and realize that I might not be THINKING it's stressing me out consciously but somewhere in my mind I was having thought patterns which lead to symptoms.
If you had worked on TMS work - why (besides doubt) do you think that rest is going to cure your problem? Rest doesn't address the mental and emotional aspects that are TMS work.
Perhaps your first attempt at TMS work was very intellectual but didn't "sink in". You don't have to be totally devoid of doubt to begin TMS work, doing the work will help loose the doubt through knowledge and most importantly, understanding. It takes commitment and a realization that sometimes our stopping this work is a form of protective resistance from our brain, by it trying to convince you that you don't need to "go there" go deeper and get a better understanding.
My suggestion is to commit to some sort of a program and see it through. That can be through the free programs here, using a professional program, seeing a TMS therapist etc. Your doctor DOES recognize some sort of mind-body connection by prescribing anti-depressants, they just aren't educated in TMS (99.9% of doctors around the world are not!) and talking about it with clients is often not received very well. Most people are convinced that there is an easy solution with a pill or some sort of magic to make it just go away. They don't want to have to do the work and commit to looking inside themselves to understand how their problems are generated. That's hard and complicated and those of us with TMS often just want the easier and smoother road - to make it just "all go away" and not to have to feel the hard emotions around what might come up.
Learning about the science of pain (or replace pain with any symptom that doesn't seem to have any medical causation and is chronic) by reading a book by Dr. Sarno or watching a short video or lecture (many on youtube) Here's Dr. Schubiner explaining it

The UK has amazing TMS resources - https://www.sirpa.org/ (SIRPA UK) and they offer an online recovery program and a list of people who are qualified to coach you. There are amazing resources on Youtube with Dan Bugglio, Dani Fagan (who is in the UK, and who has a free website with TMS healing guidelines and has TMS oriented yoga and meditation https://mytmsjourney.com/ (My TMS Journey - the mind-body stress illness survival guide)

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Perhaps your first attempt at TMS work was very intellectual but didn't "sink in". You don't have to be totally devoid of doubt to begin TMS work, doing the work will help lose the doubt through knowledge and most importantly, understanding. It takes commitment and a realization that sometimes our stopping this work is a form of protective resistance from our brain, by it trying to convince you that you don't need to "go there" go deeper and get a better understanding.

worth repeating.

 

[TG957]

@Seanh153 , you were cleared by doctors, you don't have structural issues. You gave your hands rest to no result - this eliminates RSI. What you are describing is a progressive worsening of your symptoms, primarily because of your doubts in TMS and belief that something is wrong structurally. Every symptom you experience screams "TMS!!!!". The more bizarre and narrowly specific your symptoms are (like increase in pain when your elbow is flexed, etc), the more likely it is TMS. You are not the first one with those symptoms on this forum, so join those who were able to heal, there many of us here!