Day 10 Musician recovering from RSI (TMS)

Hey everybody, it's been a year now since my chronic pain set in. It hit me heading into finals week of my first semester at Sonoma State studying jazz guitar. I was really stressed out and had been practicing my ass off when I woke up one morning with pain in my fretting hand more intense then anything I'd felt before. Days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, it was a nightmare. I've seen multiple orthopedic doctors and every test that I've undergone has come back negative for Carpal Tunnel or anything of the like. There was a point when the pain had spread to both my arms and my back and neck. Since reading Dr Sarno's book about a month ago I've experienced incredible relief from my pain. There have been instances when it's completely gone. It still persists most of the time but at a fraction of what it was. I stopped babying my wrists and they've continued to get better. This literally feels like a second chance at life, it was soul crushing not to be able to continue to play my instrument over the course of this last year. The TMS diagnosis really makes sense to me. I've experienced tendonitis and other RSIs while all my friends around me do just fine playing music without injury. I struggled with depression through my adolescence and I suspect there's a lot of repressed emotions from those years. I'm not chronically depressed like I used to be but calming my mind and making peace with my self is still my biggest struggle. I stopped therapy years ago but have recently resolved to go back, the stress of school has really been getting to me recently.

 

Hi chuckwalla,

Welcome to the SEP and the Forum. It seems you're well aware of your diagnosis and treatment and are making progress. Keep us updated!

Knowing where you are, understanding your suffering, and taking steps to address it is huge. Good luck in this. Daily meditation is obviously recommended, even for 10 minutes.

Andy B