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'Mother's thumb' or just TMS?

Discussion in 'General Discussion Subforum' started by HappyHiker, Sep 24, 2023.

  1. HappyHiker

    HappyHiker New Member

    Hi there! A few years ago I healed my knee tendonitis and plantar fasciitis successfully following the tms approach, I got a few other ailments after that that went away as well, but a few weeks ago I developed a new pain that I can't seem to get rid of: I got a 1 year old child which likes to be picked up and carried around a lot and is getting a bit heavy now (a little under 10 kg), and after a few days of carrying her (often using just 1 arm) a lot, my right wrist started to hurt a lot. Especially when the thumb is extended outward and the hand is bent backward, the exact movement you make when picking your child up. Apparently this is called 'mother's thumb' according to google and is common in new mothers.
    So far so good. I guess my question is, is there anybody who has experienced the same type of pain (maybe in the same circumstances, as a mother)? I know that I am prone to developing tms symptoms and I also know that right now I have enough stresses to justify why a new symptom would pop up, but then again the pain feels quite real (of course it does) and I couldn't make it go away until now. I also didn't have it checked out by a doctor yet and am wondering if I should. A few times it felt like the tendon or something got stuck during movement and then released, which is a kind of feeling that I haven't had with my other tms pains. Can this be a real injury? I hope not, because there would be no way I could rest the arm as I constantly have to pick up my child, so rest/ice/braces which seem to be common treatments would not really help I think. Or is this type of rsi thing always tms?
    I would appreciate to hear about similar experiences :)
     
  2. Baseball65

    Baseball65 Beloved Grand Eagle

    Had to look up 'Mothers Thumb'. AKA
    "De Quervain's Tenosynovitis". It's sort of funny how the same condition gets renamed based on the 'blame' ..that is what action they think caused it.
    Yes, it is very common. I have had it a few times but it never stuck around long because I always recognized it as TMS. Playing Guitar , lifting weights and using my hands all day long at work it has tried to sneak in a few times. It is a GOOD distraction because you need your hands for virtually every task!
    It was one of the first conversion symptoms I got after returning to work after my back pain left. Blamed it on Sanding too much that time...until the Medic told me it was 'RSI' which Sarno had always warned us about.

    I would tend to guess based on TMS theory that is is repressed anger about parenting which ALL of us parents have had.

    I think our conscious mind is so afraid of being a 'bad parent' or a 'bad person' that we don't ever allow frustrations with feeling overworked/trapped/isolated to come to the surface. Both of my sons were small when I read Sarno and got better... and more than once i had to turn my thoughts to how angry/frustrated/alone being a solo dad made me... It Never turned into getting angry at them, violence, etc.... I think that is what our unconscious mind thinks its protecting us from...but consciously trying to dig out that little blackened truth while we are feeling the symptom is what usually works to disable the pain..Sarno discussed that one at length in his books, particularly in "Healing Back Pain"...multiple stories of Moms.

    In 25 years I have found that anything that ends in 'ITIS' or 'ALGIA' is always TMS. I just got over a Foot thing that was an 'ALGIA' and the discovery it had a name coupled with some good questions about why I had it and the causes made it go away quickly. It was about being a "Good Pet Owner" and some other abandonment crap.
     
  3. HappyHiker

    HappyHiker New Member

    A few months have passed so I figured I should write a little update - the bad news is the pain in my wrist lingered for quite a long time, I couldn't make it go away with any of the approaches I took, the good news is it DID eventually go away gradually without any specific treatment after maybe half a year or so - I didn't use the brace I was prescribed, I didn't rest the arm, I continued picking um my daughter (although slightly changing my holding technique sqishing her ribcage more with my whole hand than letting my thumbs do most of the work, which is a better technique anyway), but I never could find out if it was (part) TMS or not. With the amount of time it took it to 'heal' my guess would be 80% real, 20% TMS, but to be true I have no idea.
     

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