[Success Story] - How I overcame my TMS wrist pain

Hi,

Here's the story of how I overcame my TMS wrist pain (both wrists).

[TLDR] After 1.5 years of acute wrist pain and sheer misery, not being able to hold my newborn daughter and thinking I might have to quit my job as I could no longer type on a computer, I followed the Structured Education Program (offered freely on this website) and am now 100% cured!

Without going into too much detail (see my previous posts for an in-depth discussion on the causes, symptoms, and efforts I undertook to alleviate my wrist pain), I can now say with certainty that TMS was what caused my wrist pain.

It took me a long time to accept this diagnosis, as I was accustomed to having injuries and dealing with them using traditional western medicine (i.e., sprained ankle -> ice and rest or broken bone -> rest and physiotherapy, etc.). But after a year of suffering and no success in curing my wrist pain using traditional medicine, I decided to look into TMS.

I started by reading a bunch of books including Dr. John Sarno's Healing Back Pain and The Mindbody Prescription, as well as Md. Scott Brady's Pain Free for Life. Which all helped me understand how my emotional state of mind could be causing the pain felt in my wrists. More importantly, they gave me the tools to start journaling/writing about my repressed emotions and provided ways to take back control of my subconscious mind. Of all the TMS resources I came across, by far the most helpful was Dr. Alan Gordon's TMS Recovery Program webpage and especially his recorded session with patient Christie on working towards outcome independence. I must have listened to that recording over 1,000 times. It is what single-handedly enabled me to overcome my fear of typing. I would listen to the recording in the morning and start typing and would wait for the pain to arrive (usually within 1 minute) and then sit with the pain while continuing to type and concentrate on not letting it change my state of mind; not letting it trigger anxiety, fear, frustration, and irritation. I would train myself to remember that the pain was just an emotion and that my reaction toward the pain is what was making it uncomfortable/unbearable. And after a couple of minutes the pain would entirely disappear! It felt like magic. And over time, I became better and better at recognizing how the pain would trigger other negative emotions and became better at controlling my state of mind and this, coupled with 30mins of journaling and 15 mins of mindful meditation, are what cured my wrist pain. It didn't happen overnight, it took about 4-5months of daily work, but it was well worth it. I now have no pain in my wrists.

I hope this success story will help others dealing with wrist pain, and I wish to thank all those on this forum who have answered my questions and concerns over the past year. Your support and generous responses are what help me overcome this wrist pain.

 

Congrats, @JohnSnow Great success story! I agree that Alan Gordon's TMS Recovery Program is extraordinarily helpful.

 

@JohnSnow , congratulations on your success!

Would you agree for your story to appear on the website Thank you, Dr. Sarno ? We will repost your story as you shared on this thread, or you can modify it and send to me via direct message. The link to the site is here: http://www.thankyoudrsarno.org/ (Thank You, Dr. Sarno)

 

Thank you for this - currently having similar symptoms and length of time dealing with them. I have seen progress on and off and am working hard each day to stay the course and monitor my emotions and mindset during flairs. I appreciate the encouragement that your post offers - hope you're doing well!

 

Thanks Jan! I’m trying not to rush or set any deadlines, I have confidence that my body/brain will get there when it gets there. Trying to maintain a good attitude and positively reassure myself is my biggest obstacle, but I’m getting better with it each day. Not allowing myself to be taken down by discouraging thoughts has helped a ton, even when symptoms persist. I also recently read The Four Agreements and learned a lot of great info on self-love and it was very pertinent to my inner-dialogue.