TMS Taking Advantage of Injury Site

[GTfan]

Need some help again Support Team!

I broke my hand back in August refereeing a football game. I got knocked over an fell on my left hand. Long story short, I'm all good on that front now.

Of course, last week another player ran into me and I instinctively braced them with my left hand. This caused a jarring impact in my wrist that just kept lingering. There wasn't instant pain and swelling like with the fracture, just lingering pain that felt more like a mild sprain in the wrist (completely different area from the fracture).

I took it easy with the hand as much as possible, but now its been 9 days and the pain in the hand/wrist is lingering. There is zero swelling or bruising and the pain is moving around from the wrist to thumb to various fingers. And its basically nerve/tendonitis-like pain that I have had before in the Achilles (100 percent TMS). And to top it all off, when my mind is focused on other things, I've had times where there is zero pain at all in my hand.

For all these reasons, I feel like my brain is taking advantage of a sensitive injury site with a previous injury. And the fact that the tendon pain is moving around from the wrist to the hand and fingers and isn't consistent tells me that this is 90 percent a TMS thing.

Minor wrist sprains should be healed by 7 days, so I just need keep thinking positive. I know I have several factors contributing to my TMS tendencies right now, but any reassurance would help!

I've also noticed that any time my wife needs help with our baby, my hand starts hurting. I think this is my brain's way of giving me an excuse/distraction to try to get out of helping with the baby lol. Kind of funny to see how our brain's work.

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

Sounds highly likely to be TMS! Trust your instincts - only you know how hard the person ran into you and whether that impact correlates with having pain for 9+ days plus (especially if there wasn't instant pain).

I had a similar incident last week where I turned my head sharply in the car - and the left side of my neck got a shooting pain, it was quite bad at the time. I started to think of TMS instantly (hard not to when you do it for a living!), and I thought if I start to freak out here I could turn this into something that it doesn't need to be. I remained calm (whereas in the past I wouldn't have) and basically said to myself "that was a completely safe and normal movement, there's no way you could have injured yourself that badly". I stopped thinking about it, and the next day in the car something triggered the memory of it (maybe I was on the same road) and then I thought "huh, I haven't felt it at all in the last 24 hours" - I checked in on it and it was gone, and has been ever since. Fine margins in the moment can be the difference between a day and weeks/months

 

[GTfan]

Sounds highly likely to be TMS! Trust your instincts - only you know how hard the person ran into you and whether that impact correlates with having pain for 9+ days plus (especially if there wasn't instant pain).

I had a similar incident last week where I turned my head sharply in the car - and the left side of my neck got a shooting pain, it was quite bad at the time. I started to think of TMS instantly (hard not to when you do it for a living!), and I thought if I start to freak out here I could turn this into something that it doesn't need to be. I remained calm (whereas in the past I wouldn't have) and basically said to myself "that was a completely safe and normal movement, there's no way you could have injured yourself that badly". I stopped thinking about it, and the next day in the car something triggered the memory of it (maybe I was on the same road) and then I thought "huh, I haven't felt it at all in the last 24 hours" - I checked in on it and it was gone, and has been ever since. Fine margins in the moment can be the difference between a day and weeks/months

I also had an incident like that where I turned with my oblique when I was lifting some dumbbells and felt a sharp pain and it turned into several day fixation. All you can do is laugh at the absurdity sometimes lol.

Yeah its now been 10 days since the incident and my brains seems to be desperately trying to cling to pain area, because it has ramped up a bit today. (Makes no sense since I did nothing yesterday to make it worse)

I have full range of motion in all fingers and wrist, just sharp pain in the wrist tendons which reminds me of the tendonitis I've felt in my Achilles before. Its no longer a "sore" feeling in the fingers or hand muscles, this seems like TMS all the way since its localizing on a specific spot in the wrist tendons. In my experience, anywhere where we have nerves, the brain can send pain signals there to distract us.

Being a coach, do you have any tips on how to work through it? Right now I'm just trying to do everything I would normally do and not baby it because of pain (lift weights, swing a golf club, etc).

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

I also had an incident like that where I turned with my oblique when I was lifting some dumbbells and felt a sharp pain and it turned into several day fixation. All you can do is laugh at the absurdity sometimes lol.

Yeah its now been 10 days since the incident and my brains seems to be desperately trying to cling to pain area, because it has ramped up a bit today. (Makes no sense since I did nothing yesterday to make it worse)

I have full range of motion in all fingers and wrist, just sharp pain in the wrist tendons which reminds me of the tendonitis I've felt in my Achilles before. Its no longer a "sore" feeling in the fingers or hand muscles, this seems like TMS all the way since its localizing on a specific spot in the wrist tendons. In my experience, anywhere where we have nerves, the brain can send pain signals there to distract us.

Being a coach, do you have any tips on how to work through it? Right now I'm just trying to do everything I would normally do and not baby it because of pain (lift weights, swing a golf club, etc).

I would simply keep thinking psychologically - you can definitely work on your reactions to the symptoms, but your reactions to them will naturally improve the more convinced you are that it's TMS (as your fear will lower). I would keep building evidence of it being TMS (the fact that it ramped up today despite doing nothing, that's more evidence and you'll keep seeing more evidence if it is TMS the more days you spend thinking psychologically).

On the emotional side, you said the brain can send pain signals there to distract us, and that's true. My question is what is it trying to distract you from? That's up to you to figure out, but if you can make such connections and really reflect on what this pain might be trying to tell you, then it gives you another focus and takes the focus/importance away from the symptoms (as they are simply a messenger)

 

[GTfan]

I would simply keep thinking psychologically - you can definitely work on your reactions to the symptoms, but your reactions to them will naturally improve the more convinced you are that it's TMS (as your fear will lower). I would keep building evidence of it being TMS (the fact that it ramped up today despite doing nothing, that's more evidence and you'll keep seeing more evidence if it is TMS the more days you spend thinking psychologically).

On the emotional side, you said the brain can send pain signals there to distract us, and that's true. My question is what is it trying to distract you from? That's up to you to figure out, but if you can make such connections and really reflect on what this pain might be trying to tell you, then it gives you another focus and takes the focus/importance away from the symptoms (as they are simply a messenger)

Pain has ramped up today again with a vengeance

I think since I did a light upper body workout yesterday, my brain is now "punishing" me. My hope is to just keep pushing through until this goes away. Like you said, I need to find a way to lose the fear. And if I keep ramping down on my activity then I'm only feeding it.

I was dealing with a lot of TMS symptoms even before this wrist thing. Miraculously, all of my other symptoms have disappeared now that this is the big focus (more evidence perhaps). I've been getting back into my daily meditation practice and trying to get out of "auto pilot" and be more present and aware of my thoughts and feelings. We will see how this goes.

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

I think since I did a light upper body workout yesterday, my brain is now "punishing" me.

You acknowledged before that it can work to distract us, and that's true - it distracts to protect. Your brain is never punishing you with pain, it doesn't work that way, it's always on your side and it's always trying to protect you

 

[GTfan]

You acknowledged before that it can work to distract us, and that's true - it distracts to protect. Your brain is never punishing you with pain, it doesn't work that way, it's always on your side and it's always trying to protect you

Doubt is creeping in. I had a rough day yesterday at work so I went to the driving range to blow off some steam. I hit about 100 golf balls. There was pain in my wrist on almost every shot, but amazingly I was hitting the ball well for the most part (considering I haven't swung club in 2 months and I'm coming off breaking my hand 2 months ago lol).

So despite the pain, I just kept swinging. Now the wrist pain is really bothering me today. It's now been almost 2 weeks since I jammed my wrist, it just doesn't make logical sense for my wrist to be at the peak of pain right now when the injury happened so long ago. I'm half considering getting it evaluated, just to give me reassurance that noting is structurally wrong, but I also worry about them finding something to blame the pain on that sends me down that rabbit hole.

At the end of the day, my gut says TMS, just based off how I am hyper focusing on this and how good of a distraction it has become, but still trying to build my case to be 100 percent sure while also trying to lose the fear of the pain.

 

[Cactusflower]

Doubt is creeping in. I had a rough day yesterday at work so I went to the driving range to blow off some steam. I hit about 100 golf balls. There was pain in my wrist on almost every shot, but amazingly I was hitting the ball well for the most part (considering I haven't swung club in 2 months and I'm coming off breaking my hand 2 months ago lol).

So despite the pain, I just kept swinging. Now the wrist pain is really bothering me today. It's now been almost 2 weeks since I jammed my wrist, it just doesn't make logical sense for my wrist to be at the peak of pain right now when the injury happened so long ago. I'm half considering getting it evaluated, just to give me reassurance that noting is structurally wrong, but I also worry about them finding something to blame the pain on that sends me down that rabbit hole.

At the end of the day, my gut says TMS, just based off how I am hyper focusing on this and how good of a distraction it has become, but still trying to build my case to be 100 percent sure while also trying to lose the fear of the pain.

@GTfan
I think today might be a great day for some self-compassion! You jammed your wrist, broke a hand just a little over 6 weeks ago, and then now you've been hitting 100 balls and swimming! That is a LOT especially if you broke something and didn't use it for awhile and have not done any rehab after healing time.
Personally I think some discomfort is a sign that you are able to use the hand and have the muscles fatigue (a sign they are working as they should!).
You are pinpointing the fact that you are hyper focused, but I'm wondering if even that realization is a self-pressure to heal perfectly. What if you switched that up in your head: today I'm just "feeling it, I did a lot" (which biases to your success in getting to your fears) ... and also to focus more on your natural intolerance to discomfort and where that shows up in your life besides sensations. Recently there has been some science (don't ask me where, I'm only repeating what I heard someone else say lol) done with how discomfort effects the nervous system re: heat tolerance and those who find it really uncomfortable (this hit me, because I've had some increased symptoms in really hot weather when I don't feel like exercising and that feels like "not doing enough") there was some evidence that it's not the actual heat, but the reaction to the heat which changes the nervous system response in some people as "they" (whomever "they are") continue looking into how our perceptions influence the body. To all this end, I'm only thinking about the ways that the things we say to ourselves can increase our self-pressure in sneaky ways - the stuff we think is "normal" like we SHOULD feel completely normal and have no pain or symptoms within a short term after having broken body part might not be what we really need or is realistic.

 

[GTfan]

@GTfan
I think today might be a great day for some self-compassion! You jammed your wrist, broke a hand just a little over 6 weeks ago, and then now you've been hitting 100 balls and swimming! That is a LOT especially if you broke something and didn't use it for awhile and have not done any rehab after healing time.
Personally I think some discomfort is a sign that you are able to use the hand and have the muscles fatigue (a sign they are working as they should!).
You are pinpointing the fact that you are hyper focused, but I'm wondering if even that realization is a self-pressure to heal perfectly. What if you switched that up in your head: today I'm just "feeling it, I did a lot" (which biases to your success in getting to your fears) ... and also to focus more on your natural intolerance to discomfort and where that shows up in your life besides sensations. Recently there has been some science (don't ask me where, I'm only repeating what I heard someone else say lol) done with how discomfort effects the nervous system re: heat tolerance and those who find it really uncomfortable (this hit me, because I've had some increased symptoms in really hot weather when I don't feel like exercising and that feels like "not doing enough") there was some evidence that it's not the actual heat, but the reaction to the heat which changes the nervous system response in some people as "they" (whomever "they are") continue looking into how our perceptions influence the body. To all this end, I'm only thinking about the ways that the things we say to ourselves can increase our self-pressure in sneaky ways - the stuff we think is "normal" like we SHOULD feel completely normal and have no pain or symptoms within a short term after having broken body part might not be what we really need or is realistic.

Thank you this all true and great advice. The thing about this is though that my hand fracture is completely pain free now. Even after hitting the golf balls, the site of the fracture feels great. Now its just a different specific spot on my wrist that has been bothering me ever since I sprained it almost 2 weeks ago (different injury, same hand). Maybe I just need to chill and let the sprain heal. But its annoying the hell out of me because I just got done recovering from an injury on the same hand! Lol

I would rather just keep going on with my life without having to baby my hand constantly. I also have a golf scramble event tomorrow for my best friends wedding that I have been looking forward to for quite some time, and I'm defiantly pressuring myself to be there and be able to at least swing a club and contribute. And I proved yesterday that no matter how hard it hurts, I can get through it and swing a club anyway.

After typing all of this I'm still not sure if this is a real injury or not. Maybe its a bit of both. But the brain is defiantly "protecting" me by using this wrist pain as a distraction either way. I think regardless, I need to just accept the pain as something that is there, it isn't the end of the world, and it won't be there forever.

However to top it all off, I'm in a pickle with health insurance currently so I can't afford to go to the doctor to get it evaluated

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

but still trying to build my case to be 100 percent sure while also trying to lose the fear of the pain.

Nothing wrong with that and it's a good move - I understand your frustration, but trying to figure out whether or not something is TMS 10 days after a potential incident isn't easy. There's way too much pressure (and if it is TMS, then that's only going to fuel it). Time is your friend here if you let it be

 

[GTfan]

Nothing wrong with that and it's a good move - I understand your frustration, but trying to figure out whether or not something is TMS 10 days after a potential incident isn't easy. There's way too much pressure (and if it is TMS, then that's only going to fuel it). Time is your friend here if you let it be

Well played a full round of golf today. Still painful but I kinda just dealt with it. Just kind of letting time pass at this point. Thanks for your help

 

[Cactusflower]

"After typing all of this I'm still not sure if this is a real injury or not."

That is a bunch of hampster wheel mind chuff that you don't need to worry about. What does it matter? Truthfully - either way, compassion and patience is what you know is in your best interest. Trying to force yourself into being 100% isn't.
Love that you say "still painful, but just dealt with it". In other words, you were simply OK with not being OK and focused (I am assuming) on the experience of enjoying your game. That is 100% the way to do it!

 

[GTfan]

Well I survived a wedding weekend this past weekend in more ways then one. Yesterday, I was pretty hungover (LOL) and magically I had very little wrist pain going on. I know that alcohol is pretty good at numbing pain (both physically and mentally), so this isn't really surprising.

But now today the sharp wrist pain is back with a vengeance. I finally got my health insurance straightened out so I went ahead and scheduled an appointment with a hand specialist for Thursday to get things evaluated and at least put me at ease that there isn't anything majorly wrong. I assume they will just do an X-ray and diagnose it as a lingering wrist sprain, but we will see.

In the meantime, I'm just trying not to focus or waste a whole lot of thoughts on it since either way this isn't going to last forever and is just temporary state that I'm going to have to just be ok with.

Luckily, I didn't need a referral for this injury since I injured the same hand that I broke a few months ago lol

 

[Cactusflower]

Funny how that pain returns when you return back to the "grind" of daily life.
I went on a trip a few weeks ago. Had the BEST time, and did a lot of walking although not any other kind of excercise. Felt great.
Came home and.... you know the score!