Wrist Pain

Hello, I just want to share my story and see what you people think about it, is it TMS or what?

To start with Im an animator, I do lots of drawing and always have done, I love doing it and it gives my life purpose.

4 years ago I started getting a cramp in my wrist when I was drawing for some time, maybe like a few hours or so, not like a really long time.
Then I went to university to study animation, and my wrist pain got worse, much worse, it feels like my nerves are really tight along my arm, and most painful in my wrist, and the back of my hand feels numb, and I get tingling in my fingers. These symptoms I just mentioned I have them constantly, but they get worse the more I use my wrist (drawing, typing, things where I make small movements with my wrist). When I draw for too long my wrist feels cramped, and it will click loudly. I also feel this slight shaking in my hands, thats again aggravated by using my wrist.

I dropped out of uni after a few months because I wanted to go to a better uni, so I spent a year working on my drawing to get my portfolio up to scratch to get a place in the university, what helped my wrist pain was drawing things big, on an easel, in charcoal, because that way its less pressure on the wrist, and your using more of your arm than your wrist. I got in to the uni, but then my wrist hurt so bad I decided to defer my entry, and now this year Im suppose to go there, but I think my wrist is still too painful to put myself through 3 years of constant drawing using a pencil. So Ive decided to let it go for now, and come back to it if I find some kind of solution for my wrist. Its been a hard 4 years, seriously depressing and Ive got this constant anxiety about the whole thing.

The other thing is that I get pain in my left hand sometimes too, and at that time the pain in the right hand seems to go away, but still in this situation its uncomfortable to draw with my right.

Its worrying because about a decade ago I actually fell from a great height, and fractured both wrists, then didn't get medical help until the next day because I wanted to see how I felt in the morning. I was in plaster for 6 weeks, and didnt do any physio after as the doctor didnt recommend anything, something I really wish Id done.

Ive been to lots of doctors, physiotherapists, hand and joint specialists, they've checked my blood, given me exercises, x-rays, nerve tests, MRIs, acupuncture, gels, pills, etc. They say my wrist is fine, strong, healthy, no problems.

The doctors say my bones have healed after the fracture, and they all look fine on the X rays and MRI.

The only thing that worked was the ibuprofen, I had a big project so I was working on it all day every day, and was taking ibuprofen 3 times a day for around 6 weeks. This actually triggered a condition called Ulcerative Colitis, so Ive got that for life now, which is a whole other thing, but I know colitis is also related to stress/TMS, but in this case I'm pretty confident it was due to way to much ibuprofen.

One thing that makes me think this is TMS, is that when I smoke weed, my symptoms are always always so much worse, I can really feel all the pain so much more, and its impossible to draw or enjoy it in any way because its so painful, which is super annoying because Ive loved getting stoned and drawing and listening to music for so many years.

Does anyone have an insight on any of this? I want to believe its TMS but Id love some opinions on the matter.
If you think it is, does anyone have any techniques, mental exercises, processes, ideas, ways that they cope with it or anything at all that might point me into the right direction to fix my stupid brain and telling it that its all in your head?

Any advice of any kind on the matter would be a life saver,

Thank you kind folks,

Theo.

 

Sweetheart, please take a look at the story posted by @Forest. Just click the link and then 'my story' on the bottom left. Forest is the man who created this forum in gratitude for recovering from RSI.

I have suggested this jumping off point to a handful of people suffering with wrist/hand/rsi issues and they seem to find it both reassuring and inspiring. I do appreciate that your experience may be or feel slightly different but TMS is as much about neural pathways as emotional issues and both can be successfully challenged and overcome.

Start there and then let us know what you think.

(Incidentally I truly miss getting stoned and dancing in the dark hours. Very good times. I empathise with the missing of this pleasure).

 

Thanks Plumb,
That story is really great, gives me some confidence and hope for the future.

What do you think about my symptoms? Do you think they might be TMS related? Any ideas about what I might be able to do?
(Do you find that weed aggravates your symptoms too? Is it related to TMS at all?)

Thanks again Plumb,
Theo.

 

The biggest flags that you are dealing with TMS are first, the all clear from the different doctors and such, and second that TMS is doing its annoyingly brilliant act of hijacking the very activities you love. People wax lyrical as to why that is but whatever the reason, it remains a major sign.

I'm sure most chronic pain is TMS or at least has a TMS overlay that seems to complicate things. I've found it's best to think about TMS in terms of tension. What increases your tension levels? What brings them down? A huge amount of healing comes from learning these aspects of yourself and then habitally applying techniques and practices that take you out of the fire.

What do you know about TMS?
Have you read Sarno?
Have you done either of the programs here?

(I was fine with weed. It was something that naturally fell away as I got older and life made demands that left little time for such things. I had a bad experience with skunk in the past which put me off sourcing it from strangers. Back in the day we grew our own.)

 

Hey Plumb, sorry for the long reply.

I've read about half of Sarnos 'Mindbody Prescription' and then I lent it to someone I live with because he has seriously bad back pain. after 2 months of him not touching it I took it back just yesterday, and am continuing where I left off.

Its taking a while because Im going through it thoroughly, making fairly detailed notes on anything and everything that feels important or stands out to me, just so I can look through them without having to read the whole book over and over. I think when Ive gone through the whole book Il make my notes all nice and readable and upload them somewhere to this site. I assume theres no need to read chapters that dont apply to me? like when he talks about specific parts of the body like legs and lime disease etc.

Is this one of the programs your talking about?: http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/ (Pain Recovery Program) it looks pretty interesting, and Il go through it once Ive read the book. What was the other program?

Thank you for your support,
Theo.

 

TMS can be a tricky thing to grasp. Intellectually we get it but translating it into applicable wisdom can prove harder. While I understand the skipping of chapters that don't concern your ailment, you run the risk of not fully grasping the concept. TMS lends itself to repeated reading because this saturation builds the foundations. Just something to bear in mind.

My own problem was not mentioned in the book you are reading, in fact it's rare to see it mentioned anywhere. This was a bit of a hurdle for me initially but once I really understood what was happening in my mind~body, I was able to start truly healing.

The good thing about taking notes is that you are making it your own. This is part of the process. Once you're done with that you ought read Forest's story again because you'll realise that he overcame his problem by challenging the conditioning that had built up around it.

This approach lends itself well to the Alan Gordon program you reference above. Alan's work is on the frontier of pain science so if you like your theories to come belt and braced by scientific research, he's your man. That program is not structured though so if you need more guidance you are best following the SEP (Structured Educational Plan), which takes a more classic Sarno emotional approach and was peer-created by those who had recovered from TMS. It rolls out over 6 weeks and is generally the one we guide people to who are just beginning their recovery.

http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Structured_Educational_Program (Structured Educational Program)

You can of course do both, and you can complement that by maintaining an active presence on the main forums.

Regarding wrist pain specifically, on day 5 of Alan's program there is an audio featuring one of his therapists, @Christie Uipi MSW, who recovered from wrist pain.

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/day-5-changing-your-brain.16477/ (New Program - Day 5: Changing Your Brain)