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mcone
114 Posts |
 Posted - 11/11/2007 : 23:01:55
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A distressing dilemma: Not because a sprained finger is very significant (If only this were my main symptom!), but because interpeting it and managing it interferes with TMS thinking and the general operating mode of disrespecting the pain.
This seemed to be a mild ligament sprain when I was wrestling with a stuck window about 6 weeks ago. No severe pain or noticeable swelling, but significant soreness with light to moderate horizontal pressure. Although I continued to have pain (fleeting, when in use) my attitude has been to generally ignore it (it's just a simple finger sprain, right?!?), and it seemed to be slowly improving.
Today, I had to shutoff a stubborn water valve and I somehow, inadvertently, placed a strain on it again - which caused it to quickly flair up, get a bit stiff, etc.
This is unsettling for several reasons:
Interpretation Issues
First, it seems to corroborate the notion of abnormal physical vulnerability (easy to injure and/or slow to heal) that I don't remember having before my "TMS breakdown."
Management Issues
Second, I'm not sure how to manage. The TMS mode that I've adopted - and the one I've been following - assures me that my body is strong, I'm not made of glass, and that I should continue to use my body normally. Yet, everything I've ever learned about ligament sprains tells me that it won't heal (or worse) if I'm not careful to avoid re-injury.
Silver Lining? / Other Interpetations?
I should note that while trying to navigate this, I "noticed" very little wrist discomfort (main symptom) - but maybe that's because I'm becoming effective at disrespecting the pain - and maybe all this finger stuff is just some elaborate manifestation of TMS to "protect" me from coming to terms with my life issues (there are still plenty of things to sort out).
One the other hand, assuming this really is a minor sprain, and assuming it is part of TMS (Is this a contradiction?) I'm forced to think of TMS as a "soft tissue vulnerability disease" for better or for worse. I then reason that disrespecting the pain is the path towards somehow "normalizing" tissue metabolism again (as there seems to be no entirely comprehensive medical explanation).
Tentative Approach
I've considered just putting a band-aid on it or something - as a reminder to be careful while at the same time distinguishing it from all my other symptoms (where I am disrespecting the pain). Another thing I thought of is to just say that common sense isn't the same thing as fear...
I'm definitely open for some thoughts and input here... |
Edited by - mcone on 11/11/2007 23:09:16 |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1397 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2007 : 23:56:18
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TMS is not a soft-tissue vulnerability disease. TMS pain doesn't indicate actual injury.
If you did something to your finger while messing with a heavy object and it immediately gave acute pain and started hurting, that's a totally separate issue from TMS.
It doesn't seem that you know that this is a "ligament sprain", you are assuming that. Could be. At any rate, it sounds like it was a normal sprain to start with and you should treat that the way you would any minor physical injury.
Don't overthink things too much. Rest your finger and it'll be better soon. If that doesn't happen, then you might need to rethink what's going on. Until then, relax and act like you don't have TMS, as far as your finger is concerned.
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It's not 100% belief that's required, but 100% commitment. |
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mamaboulet
181 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2007 : 08:14:43
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| Sometimes a sprain is just a sprain and should be treated accordingly. If your brain decides to borrow the symptom for TMS, then it will continue past the length of time it would take for a sprain to heal, and you'll know then to kick in with the TMS treatment. |
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HellNY
130 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2007 : 08:16:31
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I thnk actually your entire post betrays exactly what the problem is. Cataloging, organzing and analyzing pain from a finger sprain.
TMS really is a mental disease. Part of it related to being pain focused. Your obsessing on this minor injury is making it into something its not. |
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mcone
114 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2007 : 12:56:14
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I appreciate all the considerate replies.
quote:
Originally posted by armchairlinguist
If you did something to your finger while messing with a heavy object and it immediately gave acute pain and started hurting, that's a totally separate issue from TMS.
I do understand that logic.
Yet I keep thinking that a minor sprain should have healed sooner - within a few weeks. And the onset to begin with seems at odds with what I think used to be my body's level of integrity - I used to do all kinds of manual work without getting "injured". (compels me to think of some kind of increased soft tissue vulnerability as described by AnthonEE and perhaps others, like Fred Amir).
So if the perceived fragility/slow healing I'm now experiencing isn't TMS and if this apparent sprain isn't TMS (as TMS does not involve a current physical injury) then what is it? Are my perceptions about "the way I used to be" off? Is my mind juxtaposing the facts selectively in an attempt to prove there is something wrong? Isn't that type of mental pre-occupation itself a key feature of TMS?
quote:
Originally posted by HellNY
I thnk actually your entire post betrays exactly what the problem is. Cataloging, organzing and analyzing pain from a finger sprain.
TMS really is a mental disease. Part of it related to being pain focused. Your obsessing on this minor injury is making it into something its not.
In recent months, I've been employing the cataloging effectively to relabel most of my symptoms as TMS and mentally process them accordingly (i.e., basically re-interpreting the pain, being as non-reactive as possible, and de-focusing to something else). The finger pain definitely has features of both present physical injury as well as TMS - and it has unsettling similarities to other symptoms that I'm now treating as TMS.
A decision to treat it as non-TMS seems to "globalize" to my other symptoms - putting me back into fear of injury / fear of continuing pain, etc. [i.e., "My other symptoms must also be physical too, since they seemed to follow the same pattern.") Yet a decision to treat it as TMS seems unsound - as I think a ligament sprain needs rest (or at least lack of stress) to heal properly.
I think everyone has the right answer - Just stop obsessing - treat it as a very minor physical injury that is expected to get better. Be conscious of it not stressing it, but don't go through crazy lengths to protect it.
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Edited by - mcone on 11/12/2007 13:00:15 |
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JohnD
USA
371 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2007 : 14:44:10
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| I would do whatever it takes to protect any part of my body, finger, toe, etc... Your body deserves to be taken care of. |
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mcone
114 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2007 : 17:05:56
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quote:
Originally posted by JohnD
I would do whatever it takes to protect any part of my body, finger, toe, etc... Your body deserves to be taken care of.
Isn't there a point where excessive, disproportionate attention becomes destructive? Where hypervigillance generates unhealthy anxiety - and inhibits normal thinking and functioning? |
Edited by - mcone on 11/12/2007 17:06:30 |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1397 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2007 : 19:03:07
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There is no "soft tissue vulnerability" associated with TMS. What you (and others) have experienced is PAIN, not injury. TMS pain has nothing to do with injury. As far as other things besides your finger, you've been thinking you're injured, and therefore vulnerable, because you're in pain, but you haven't been injured. Get that whole idea out of your head completely.
I don't know how long it takes a sprain to heal. I believe for bad sprains it can be up to six weeks. If it stops getting better, or hangs around for obviously longer than it should, you'll notice and take appropriate action. Trust yourself.
You seem to have gotten to the point where the cataloging has itself taken over your brain. Give yourself something else to think about!
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It's not 100% belief that's required, but 100% commitment. |
Edited by - armchairlinguist on 11/12/2007 19:04:52 |
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mcone
114 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2007 : 21:33:10
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quote:
Originally posted by armchairlinguist
You seem to have gotten to the point where the cataloging has itself taken over your brain. Give yourself something else to think about!
In recent weeks I was containing my compulsion to ruminate/analyze endlessly. TMS has the potential to help me, and I reconciled to commit even if I didn't (or couldn't) accept every detail of TMS theory. I began to increase my activity, while working on "coming to terms" with my life by understanding the psychological dimensions to my past life experiences and my apprehensions about the future. I began to plan and execute on projects to resume my life.
(Last Wednesday, after an 8-month extended search for healing took me away from MN - my home for 15 years, I finally left NYC and came back here, to MN. My tentative plan is to close out my apartment and work on permanently relocating to NYC)
Then, this seemingly trivial item completely overwhelmed my TMS mode stability. (Is it the stress of being back here - where my TMS breakdown started? Is it anxiety over my future?). At the end of the day I think this is TMS after all. That is to say, if one can accept a broad (and perhaps unorthodox) definition that TMS is an "Unfounded and unrealistic assessment that a symptom (even one from a temporary, minor physical injury) will lead to chronic pain and disability." |
Edited by - mcone on 03/17/2010 18:06:59 |
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Sprained Finger: Respect or Disrespect the Pain?
