TMS relapse or legitimate injury/timeoff needed?

Hi everyone,

9 years ago I was dealing with several years of chronic RSI pain in my wrist, arms, and upper back. I saw many doctors, tried physical therapy, took three months off of work, but nothing seemed to help. My girlfriend at the time (who is my now wife) discovered TMS and I ended up seeing a TMS doctor, who spent an hour with me and diagnosed me with TMS. From there, I read unlearn your pain, did several exercises, and at some point (can't remember how long it took), I was totally cured and the arm/wrist pain became a thing of the past.

Before I get into the rest of the story, I must share that I am a huge gamer. So, I've been able to game for the last 7-8 years without any issue. I also got into a type of gaming called sim racing, where you use a replica wheel/pedals for various games and absolutely love it

Using the wheel/pedals created no issue for me. However, I purchased a new, stronger wheel which can deliver alot more force. After using it for 30 minutes, I felt arm/neck pain so decided to stop. Since then, the pain has not subsided, has radiated between my left and right arms/wrist/neck, and I feel the TMS nightmare has returned for me and I'm constantly worrying about what it could be. That said, it's only been about 10 days so I'm hoping this is just an actual acute injury that will sort itself out.

With that - I'm looking for some advice. How can I determine if this is legit injury or TMS? Even though I believed and went through TMS before, I'm feeling super skeptical/doubtful. I've also dealt with really severe depression and anxiety the last two years, am stressed by work and two young children, a father who is aging and his health is deteriorating and I can't help but feel like - why me, why now? I already have had so much going on mentally over the last two years and this pain just feels like another burden/stressor which I don't have the capacity to handle. I'm feeling so desperate..

So - how can you tell whether it's TMS or a legitimate injury? If you encountered a TMS "relapse", how did you get better?

 

Call it out as tms - but give it some time - an actual injury will heal in a few weeks... if it don't heal - its tms....
Identifying the stressors in your life is a good start anyhow.... even if this were not tms - why wait to be chronically in pain? - just do the tms work (Structured educational prog for instance)
Life is stressful - wonderful but stressful.... so head it off at the pass - do the tms recovery stuff and it will help you decide how to handle the stresses in your life. Instead of gaming - for a bit - why not use a guided meditation or similar - it might work as a good calming escape. We all need a way to switch off !! Happy new year!

 

In addition to the suggestions above, think about specifically what you might have been worried/stressed/angry about right before this new pain entered your life. Also, do you feel any guilt over buying this new toy for yourself? Gaming peripherals can be expensive and we sometimes don't give ourselves free-reign to make expensive purchases sometimes without the subconscious making us guilty about it. Could be as simple as that.

 

Spasms move around anywhere in the body, it's TMS.