| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| JFran |
Posted - 08/09/2016 : 17:46:35
I fell off my bike the first week of June. Cuts and bruises the first day and my ankle hurt. But I didn't notice my right wrist until the day after. It was never swollen or anything, just twinges of pain from side-to-side waving movements on a keyboard and lifting certain things, and a constant ache like the muscles are tired.
After an x-ray showed no fractures, I've just had it in a splint on-and-off for most of the time and have tried my best to rest it even though it's my dominant hand.
I remember reading in The Divided Mind that Sarno called an ankle sprain a "legitimate injury" so I assumed that this would also apply to wrist sprains and that I should take it seriously.
However, I didn't have the typical symptoms like swelling or bruising and it wasn't even immediately apparent to me when I fell off my bike -- not until the next day or so.
I imagined that a wrist sprain would have taken up to 6 weeks to heal (doctors gave me that timeline) so I'm puzzled by the fact it has been 9 weeks, more than two months.
I can use my wrist to do most things now but I haven't been to the gym to lift weights or anything in 9 weeks.
To add to this, my left wrist began acting up around the 5/6 week mark. People said I better watch out for overcompensating with my opposite hand and look what happened! But I also know that this can't be another sprain and is more likely to be TMS -- wouldn't you say?
My right wrist is still an issue and I'm so conflicted how to proceed. Do I continue to treat this as a legitimate injury? Or do I go full steam ahead with the TMS approach? I've had success with the TMS approach in the past with back and neck pain.
There's nothing doctors can do for my wrist -- nothing is broken -- they'll say just rest and splint it and that's what I've been doing.
My x-ray results said that "There is a prominence of the ulnar styloid process. The findings are likely within normal limits however if the pain is more chronic in nature the findings could be compatible with ulnar styloid impingement type sydrome." I found "impingement syndrome" on page 282 of The Divided Mind" where James R. Rochelle M.D. lists it as a "common diagnoses he used to make" before TMS -- does that mean at this stage, I should treat it as "impingement syndrome" and thus likely TMS?
Does my story resonate with anyone? Any advice? |
| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 08/13/2016 : 20:21:48
Today I hit a few practice serves and my wrist felt painful. This is unusual for me, considering I hit hundreds of balls with it in an hour, and maybe thousands a day, I've never counted how many, it may be interesting to do a tally someday--millions by now. Can't recall any wrist pain but I'm sure I've had it at some point. So, today I just kept hitting serves, giving it little attention except noting it and saying it's probably just a little soreness from God knows where and maybe TMS. Within a few minutes it faded, a guy came along and I recruited him for a hit-up. We chatted while hitting and I had NO thought about my wrist--it FADED away. I didn't think of my wrist until I saw your reply. It feels totally normal as I type this. So there's MY TMS wrist pain story from a few hours ago. From your account of your accident, my call as I stated before, I don't think your wrist is structurally injured. You didn't feel it at the time and there was no physical signs of injury. If it's TMS, where you are going wrong is listening to your allopathic doc's advice to rest and splint it--the beginning of the slippery TMS slope to atrophy, fear and distraction from the psychological. Dr. Sarno would have probably told you to get back in the saddle and use it or lose it. |
| JFran |
Posted - 08/13/2016 : 13:09:21
Thanks so much for your response, tennis tom.
What I'm struggling with 9.5 weeks after my wipeout is what I read about ankle sprains in The Divided Mind, which I imagine applies to wrist sprains: "Following a legitimate injury, such as a sprained ankle, the brain will sometimes continue generating the pain in the form of TMS long after healing has occurred" (pg. 127).
I find it challenging to focus on TMS if I'm unsure whether my wrist sprain was legitimate or not.
Since the pain didn't start immediately after my fall and there was no visible bruising or swelling, I am inclined to think it is not legitimate. And the second part of that Sarno quote above makes me think that if it were legitimate it may have turned into TMS by now, since 9.5 weeks is a long time for a sprain to heal. It's just difficult to know.
I've always found comfort in reading about other people's TMS stories that align with mine. I haven't been able to find many wrist sprain stories and that -- with the legitimacy of sprains in general -- has made it difficult to move forward with TMS. Have others had sprains turn into TMS? Have others dealt with sprain recover for 9-10 weeks?
I'm moving forward treating it as TMS in some respects: I don't wear my wrist brace anymore and I have begun to use my wrist for regular activities. But I haven't gone back to the gym since my fall and I miss weight lifting and working out using my hands. I tried doing a push-up the other night for the first time in over two months. I was very hesitant and while there wasn't a sharp twinge of pain, my wrist was still very stiff and it didn't feel right.
I feel stuck and unsure whether I've bungled my sprain recovery or if it's TMS and there was no sprain to begin with. |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 08/09/2016 : 19:42:22
quote:
Originally posted by JFran
*But I didn't notice my right wrist until the day after.
*It was never swollen or anything, just twinges of pain from side-to-side waving movements on a keyboard and lifting certain things, and a constant ache like the muscles are tired.
*After an x-ray showed no fractures, I've just had it in a splint on-and-off for most of the time and have tried my best to rest it even though it's my dominant hand.
*I remember reading in The Divided Mind that Sarno called an ankle sprain a "legitimate injury" so I assumed that this would also apply to wrist sprains and that I should take it seriously.
*However, I didn't have the typical symptoms like swelling or bruising and it wasn't even immediately apparent to me when I fell off my bike -- not until the next day or so.
*To add to this, my left wrist began acting up around the 5/6 week mark.
*People said I better watch out for overcompensating with my opposite hand and look what happened!
*...I'm so conflicted how to proceed.
*Or do I go full steam ahead with the TMS approach?
*...they'll say just rest and splint it..
My internet call from thousands of miles away it that it's TMS. When you have a real sprain, you know it then and there. big time swelling, ecomosis, and PAIN! You didn't notice it until the next day--a sure TMS give away. If you were in Lithuania versus Finland (see Sarno's ancedote) it would be old news by now.
Your docs tell you to rest it--Sarno would probably be telling you to USE it or lose it. Whenever I've had injuries as a tournament tennis player and went to docs, and they told me how long it would be to heal before using it I would cut it in half. Docs are overly cautious because they won't be seeing you for a long time again so they want to scare the bejebus out of you so you behave. So your arm is in a splint atrophying away and morphing into TMS--Use it or lose it!
Left wrist starts acting up--another sure TMS tip-off!--symptom shifting. The collective meme telling you it's due to "overcompensation"--poppy-cock. If that were true my left hip has been overcompensating for my right one for fifteen years and I should be in a wheelchair, but I played tennis for three hours this morning and I felt better the longer I played.
Your emotional state is telling--"conflicted"--" TMS has you worried, doing it's job as a distraction from emotions. See the Rahe-Holmes list for the stressful situations that cause TMS.
Rather then "full steam ahead", I would say quoting Walt Stack, "Start slow and taper off". The TMS approach is not to give the physical symptom attention, switching your thoughts to the psychological--maybe go half-steam ahead--forged about it, let it fade at it's own unconscious speed.
BTW, did you finish your article on Canadians with TMS? I'm headed to Vancouver, to play barefoot on the grass-courts at South Cowichan.
G'luck!
tt/lsmft
p.s. I am not a doctor, white-coat or any other form of medical professional so please don't sue me if your hand falls off--I'm only a tennis player, but you asked for advice over the internet, for what it's worth my 2 cents.
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TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Jiddu Krishnamurti
"Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional." Author Unknown
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation” – Plato
"Happy People Are Happy Putters." Frank Nobilo, Golf Analyst
"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint." Mark Twain and Balto
"The hot-dog is the noblest of dogs; it feeds the hand that bites it." Dr. Laurence Johnston Peter
"...the human emotional system was not designed to endure the mental rigors of a tennis match." Dr. Allen Fox
"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise" - Thomas Gray
"All my friends in Los Angeles are the sensitive type. They all have like all the diseases like Chronic Fatigue, Epstien Barr, Fibromyalgia. Like all the diseases where the only symptoms seem to be you had a really crappy childhood and at the prospect of full time work ya feel kinda achy and tired."
Posted by Skizzik @ TMSHelp from comedian Maria Bamford
"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthuisam."
Sir Winston Churchill
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"If it ends with "itis" or "algia" or "syndrome" and doctors can't figure out what causes it, then it might be TMS." Dave the Mod
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TMS PRACTITIONERS:
John Sarno, MD
400 E 34th St, New York, NY 10016
(212) 263-6035
Dr. Sarno is now retired, if you call this number you will be referred to his associate Dr. Rashbaum.
"...there are so many things little and big that are tms, I wouldn't have time to write about all of them": Told to icelikeaninja by Dr. Sarno
Here's the TMS practitioners list from the TMS Help Forum:
http://www.tmshelp.com/links.htm
Here's a list of TMS practitioners from the TMS Wiki:
http://tmswiki.org/ppd/Find_a_TMS_Doctor_or_Therapist
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