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Switters
42 Posts |
 Posted - 11/03/2011 : 12:24:30
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I'm an artist who has drawn thousands of people at events for 20 years - on average 3 times a week.
Last May my (drawing arm) shoulder started hurting with greater frequency after a particularly busy period, including lots of computer mouse clicking at a bad angle. I had to stop drawing at events all summer.
MRI of shoulder was "normal". Neck MRI shows pinched nerve. Docs wanted to try cortezone in the side of my neck since 8 weeks of PT didn't help. I did not do it.
I've done acupuncture, deep tissue, and some trigger point. I discovered Dr. Sarno's books and see myself there. During my period of pain, I have felt under some pressure in my relationship to get married and have kids. I love my girlfriend completely but financially and emotionally have not felt ready. The shoulder pain has made finances worse. My car is about to die, the economy has affected business, and I'm under stress!
Now - since discovering Sarno I want to believe - but it's hard to believe 100% because the pain flares up when I type or draw. And YET - I can shift my car or carry heavy things with no pain at all. However - my shoulder developed clicking and instability during this period.
So I am unsure whether the pain is structural, or TMS. My physiatrist recommended I see a shoulder specialist surgeon. But I don't want surgery.
Your thoughts? How do I trust this TMS when the pain flares up??
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2011 : 14:55:17
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You trust by trusting. Funny thing, but nobody gets here by accident. Oh, there might be one or two along the way who've stumbled in with real physical issues, but the great majority are in the right place.
You've given us excellent reasons to think your pain is TMS. Now all you have to do is believe them yourself. Clicking etc. is very likely benign.
Trust,,,,> leads to reduction of fear....> leads to reduction of pain...> leads to greater trust....>leads to further reduction of fear....> leads to greater reduction of pain.....>leads to....> |
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Switters
42 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2011 : 18:00:34
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Thanks for your feedback Art.
There has been improvement but it is sporatic - good days and bad days. Sometimes it just feels so structural - especially when I type too much or draw too much - my shoulder feels sore, clicks, loose in the joint, etc, like it never did before my pain started. But when i try to remember that my shoulder MRI came back "normal", I think, okay, Sarno. |
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chopper72
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 11/04/2011 : 07:39:00
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I had the same thing and had surgery. The doctor said after the surgery.... "wow, it was like blood had been shut off to the area but I didn't see anything wrong". Your problem sounds totally like TMS.
kirk |
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Switters
42 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2011 : 13:47:57
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That's interesting, Chopper72.
BUT - what about this?
Some days, like yesterday, I decided to trust and forget about my pain. At one point I used my iPhone to type a long email with my index finger. I wasn't worried or thinking about pain. And then I just noticed it was there. Deep soreness in my right shoulder flared up.
The pain creeps in. It is very hard for me to believe there isn't some structural problem beause it happens only when I type, click my mouse, or draw. Yet no doctor or anyone has pin-pointed a problem other than the pinched nerve in my neck. Very very frustrating. Yes, I'm under some stress. But...
Anyone else?
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Bugbear
United Kingdom
152 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2011 : 14:20:59
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| Switters,, it is all about conditioned response. Your body has a memory about you typing or drawing and experiencing pain. So every time you type or draw the memory comes back and voila you experience pain. Then you worry, fear, get anxious, whatever and the pain worsens. On a scale of 1 to 10, how sure are you that your symptoms are TMS? Wherever you are on the scale - it doesn't sound like you are at 10 yet - what would it take to move up a point on the scale? For some it's a trip to the doctor to be told there is nothing wrong. For others they need to read, talk to people, journal, meditate, etc. Try as many things as you can. I'm sure you will come across something or some things that will do it for you. |
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Switters
42 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2011 : 22:02:24
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| Thanks Bugbear. I appreciate your thoughts/suggestion. I guess I'm about a 6 or 7 on my belief scale. When the pain flares up with drawing and typing and causes clicking and instability in my shoulder it's hard to not feel something is structurally screwed up. But I will take your advice and keep trusting. Thanks! |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2011 : 14:46:40
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| Symptoms that only appear in certain situations are very reliably TMS. I love when that happens (well, love's a strong word but you know what I mean) because it makes the decision as to how to treat something much easier. |
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Effie
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2011 : 06:14:45
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I hope you don't mind my writing a long response, but I wanted to share my experience, which was so similar to yours. I also had severe shoulder pain which also began radiating down into my arm, elbow and hand, which became numb and cold – no doctors could find anything wrong, although I did find a surgeon who wanted to perform surgery for “cubital tunnel” syndrome, but since I had so many other things wrong and no other doctor could find any physical reason for ANY of them, I decided the surgeon was a quack (I also met many people in her waiting room who had had the surgery, were now terribly scarred, and they were STILL in pain) and so I declined the surgery. I did have one doctor tell me I had chronic myofascial pain, and tried triggerpoint therapy, but I honestly believe it was hurting more than helping. Once I stopped the triggerpoint and physical therapies I got better a lot more quickly. I also do believe that you have to visit enough doctors who can find nothing wrong with you so that you begin to believe that there really might not be anything wrong with you.
Once I began to believe there might not be anything physically wrong with me, what helped me the most was reading Dr. Sarno’s book – the pain immediately began dissipating, but I’d still have days when it would come blazing back. Since I knew that the main problem was mild oxygen deprivation, and that my brain’s wiring was messed up and I needed to get it “rewired” correctly, so to speak – I devised a little exercise that I used whenever I was experiencing pain – in my mind I would deliberately compare my painful arm/shoulder to my normal arm/shoulder, and I would keep telling myself that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my arm and that it should feel exactly like the normal arm. I'd have to do this over and over many times a day. I would also force myself to use and treat my pained arm exactly as I used and treated my normal arm. It took a lot of focus and concentration – but once I started comparing them I would become aware of the fact that I was holding my painful arm more stiffly than my good arm and I was not using it exactly as I would if it were normal – and I think by unconsciously doing that I was causing the oxygen deprivation. Does that make sense? Sometimes I would force myself to concentrate on my normal arm and just tell my brain to “ignore” the pained arm, in order to retrain my brain away from that arm. I would also frequently take breaks and just relax the arm and take deep breaths and visualize those breaths bringing oxygen directly into that arm. This may not work for everyone, but it did work for me, although it wasn’t overnight. I also taught myself to “mouse” with my other hand, just so my brain wouldn’t have that as an “excuse” anymore, which was really a lot easier than I thought it would be!
Anyway – I just wanted to share the exercise that worked for me. It took time and patience, but I believe it really helped me get the oxygen flowing back in that arm, which was the main goal.
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2011 : 08:23:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Effie
...I also do believe that you have to visit enough doctors who can find nothing wrong with you so that you begin to believe that there really might not be anything wrong with you.
...Once I began to believe there might not be anything physically wrong with me, what helped me the most was reading Dr. Sarno’s book – the pain immediately began dissipating, but I’d still have days when it would come blazing back.
...Since I knew that the main problem was mild oxygen deprivation, and that my brain’s wiring was messed up and I needed to get it “rewired” correctly, so to speak –
...it wasn’t overnight. I also taught myself to “mouse” with my other hand, just so my brain wouldn’t have that as an “excuse” anymore, which was really a lot easier than I thought it would be!
...Anyway – I just wanted to share the exercise that worked for me. It took time and patience, but I believe it really helped me get the oxygen flowing back in that arm, which was the main goal.
Great post Effie and no it wasn't overlong! If it helps someone heal their hurt, it's a lot shorter route then having hours of treatments, doctor's visits and invasive surgeries that can make things permanently worse.
I "healed" my "frozen" shoulder using TMS "knowledge penicillin" recently about the same way.
==================================================
DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0dKBFwGR0g
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
==================================================
"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
"Happy People Are Happy Putters." Frank Nobilo, Golf Analyst
======================================================
TMS PRACTITIONERS:
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/page/Find+a+TMS+Doctor+or+Therapist
Here's a map of TMS practitioners from the old Tarpit Yoga site, (click on the map by state for listings).:
http://www.tarpityoga.com/2007_08_01_archive.html |
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Switters
42 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2011 : 12:42:35
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Thank you so much Effie - your story helps!
I had some trigger point massage the other day - and did plenty of drawing afterward with very little pain. What's working for me right now is believing that I have TMS and trigger point issues...and trusting that my pain is going to disappear.
Effie what you said about how you 'held' your pained shoulder differently applies to me, I think. I catch myself raising my shoulder higher sometimes.
Incidentally, during this painful time, I also developed TMJ - one day I was eating a sandwich and POP - major audible jaw click. No pain, but persistent, troubling jaw clicking for days and weeks. It was only after I learned about trigger points, muscles, stress, (and Sarno) that it began to dissipate. I relaxed about it whenever it happened, and it got better.
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Sarah Jacoba
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 11/14/2011 : 23:40:56
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I'm a pro guitarist. I had shoulder and arm pain for years, and it got to the point where just picking up a pencil to jot a few notes down made my lower back and shouders burn. But now I play more than ever without pain. It's TMS. TMS creates a condition where usage does cause pain. But remove the TMS and the same usage does not. So it is true that usage causes pain, but it is not true that the usage alone causes the pain, or that usage always will.
--Sarah Hyacinth Jacoba
"When dream and day unite" |
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Chronic Shoulder Pain -RSI?- Your thoughts?
