RSI

Hello All
I wanted to share my success story from RSI caused by TMS, and how this has changed my life. My story started when I was in my early 20’s and I was working as a secretary. I went to a seminar on RSI where they had a lady telling us about what happened to her when she got RSI and how it destroyed her life, and that put the fear into me from that point that I never wanted to get RSI.

During my teens I did have back pains and over ailments which I think back now were TMS.

I’m a competitive person, always trying to do my best, always trying hard to please people and be liked, all the classic TMS personality traits. I would occasionally get twinges from RSI from working too hard, or from gardening but it would settle after a while, but over the years it got worse and worse to the point I had to stop doing everything I loved. What was happening is just what the lady had told me would happen, adding more fear. I couldn’t do needle craft anymore, do jig saw puzzles or write for long as that would bring on RSI symptoms and when I stopped doing these things the pain would stop. So my life became limited. I tried riding a bike and doing duathlon’s but that didn’t last as riding a bike brought on RSI really bad. I’m in finance and use a computer a lot, and occasionally I would go through a bad period of pain but it would eventually go away. Until I got a promotion and moved my family from the Taranaki in NZ to Canterbury NZ and then the pain got 100% worse. I had to now drive a car 30 min to work everyday, was under pressure at work to perform and was the main bread winner while my husband set up his business in the new location. My hands and arms hurt 24/7. I would spend my weekends sitting on the couch resting my arms as I had to go to work on Monday, I was depressed and constantly worried I would have to give up my job, and then what would happen to the family. Just got a huge mortgage, and my husband wasn’t in a position to contribute. I went to many physio’s who tried to help and had the odd massage which helped for 5 mins. I tried a lot of trigger point therapy at home but that also helped for 5 mins. All I thought about all day was my RSI, it took over my life.

I cannot remember how I stumbled on TMS but even though it showed my personality traits and I believed this could be me, like some people I didn’t get better straight away. I read all the books and listened to many podcasts on the subject and always felt better after listening to them which helped to convince me I was onto something. So slowly I started doing more and stopped listening to the fear that I was going to end up like the lady I talked about where her life became absolute hell, and in fact my life had become hell. Slow steps, day by day I started to do things. I found too much stretching seemed to reinforce in my head that it wasn’t TMS so I stopped that but I can stretch now. Then I decided to do triathlons and I brought a bike, that put the fear into me as the last time I rode a bike it flared my RSI up bad. Went for first bike ride, that was ok and then slowly went for longer ones and yes it did hurt but I kept it up and started training for a Half Ironman. I went swimming one time and my shoulder started to get really sore but I swam it out and it just went away. I came to a conclusion that the podcasts were good but was keeping my mind focussed on the TMS so I stopped listening to them, and slowly over time the pain went away as I wasn’t constantly reminding my brain about it and I stopped thinking about it altogether. I occasionally get pain now but I don’t worry about it, and think what is bothering me.

My life now, well I completed my Half Ironman, over 4 hours on a bike with no pain. I can swim, never thought I’d be able to do that. I lift weights, never thought that would be possible. I still work all the time on the computer with no pain. I garden without having pain afterwards, basically I got my life back and can do things with my husband and kids I never thought I would be able too. I faced my fear face on and came out the other side. I hope this helps anyone who is trying to overcome RSI caused by TMS.

 

Hi stephmcdade

i to am in a similar position to how your rsi started ive had mine for 5 months now but only just stumbled upon dr sarno and this tms group, i suffer with the worst fears of not being able to work, provide for my daughter and even my own life, i read so much success stories and they all seem like fairytales what im wondering is I've been told i have rsi and basically quit what im doing or il be knackered for life which made me feel a thousand times worse as i simply cant stop, can a simple rsi (TMS) cause such weird non stop pain 24/7 in fingers, hands, elbows and now my shoulders and knees, its all come on so quick I've had blood tests, scans and also mri scans and been told by therapists that I'm structurally fine, i wake up my mind is straight onto how i feel and its like it until i go to bed, can it be as simple as telling myself theres nothing there? Im just struggling with the idea that theres something real going on just haven't been found yet, any advice or even help would be much appreciated thank you.

 

Hi Danie, I feel for you, and I had been told years ago that I would have to give up work if I got RSI also so that is what put the fear into me. Yes TMS can cause weird non stop 24/7 pain in fingers, hands, elbows etc. The lady from the seminar told me it would travel from your hands up your arms into your shoulders and down the other side into the less dominate hand, and that is exactly what happened to me. My shoulders used to hurt so bad, but I stopped the cycle by loosing the fear that she had caused me in my head and my life came back. It didn't happen over night for me, it happened slowly and sometimes 2 steps forwards and 1 step backwards. I hope that you too get over this and can move back to a normal life. I did do a lot of journaling for a time, but I don't journal anymore.