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alexis
USA
423 Posts |
 Posted - 01/19/2007 : 19:26:27
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quote:
Originally posted by Redsandro
Still it's good to know you had a scary weekend. Do not get me wrong, I wish everyone better. But it makes my own worries average or however I should put it. 
I know exactly what you mean. No worries.
quote:
Originally posted by Redsandro
About your foot, what exactly do you mean by lumb on your achilles? My mother is troubled by this knuckle sized anomality on her achilles tendon. I think she doesn't really have a TMS history or there's stuff I don't know but if it's similar I understand it actually is another manifestation of TMS?
It was/is a lump on the back of my achilles, maybe up to 1.5 cm across, but not very noticable unless I touch it, in which case it is sore to the touch. This is described as symptomatic of achilles tendonitis (or tendinosis), at a moderate level where it is sort of scar tissue from some taring (I also had some stiffness in both achilles). But in my case I wondered if the bump could be from where my jeans were bunched up and tightly tucked into my boots, rubbing exactly there. The lump is actually still there, but a bit less sore. I don't know...it's really not bothering me much now and I've modified the way I wear the boots. I'm kind of not really obsessing about the achilles thing now, but I guess I should monitor the bump every now and then since it is a little odd. For me right now the not obsessing is the big achievement.
To be clear, I don't think the lump is TMS related, whatever other achilles or lower leg pains may be. |
Edited by - alexis on 01/19/2007 19:36:45 |
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alexis
USA
423 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 07:58:26
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I'm trying to keep this one updated with my progress, and things are going well despite a few bad days after extended hours of typing and mousing.
I want to update on the clay work subject I mentioned in another thread (http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2918&SearchTerms=clay). I actually should have included "clayworking" in the first post I made in this topic, because the day I first bought and played with clay really showed me how much my hands could do.
And now I've started a formal clay working class (not using the wheel) that meets for 3 hours! The first half hour my arms were sore, and I wondered if this was such a hot idea. But then the soreness just went away and I was able to work the whole 3 hours with no problem (well, except a shortness in my creative attention span...but that's another story). I also had no problems the next day. It was really fun, and I recommend this to anyone who believes they have TMS-related RSI for the following benefits:
1) It shows you how strong your hands and arms are
2) It builds hand strength (you can feel the muscles working, and if you've been babying your arms, you probably could do with the extra work-out
3) It's another thing to do if, like me, you aren't working yet and are filling your time with volunteer work and classes. It's one way not to worry about your health. And if you suffer from "global shoulds syndrome" you don't want to get into the cycle where only volunteer work is worthwhile.
So that's my top recommendation of the month. If you are recovering from RSI, at least think about enrolling in a claywork class. |
Edited by - alexis on 01/26/2007 09:26:45 |
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ndb
209 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 10:15:59
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I climbed on a climbing wall after I started my RSI recovery -- for the same kind of ideas. It gave me a lot of confidence.
ndb |
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alexis
USA
423 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 10:51:59
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quote:
Originally posted by ndb
I climbed on a climbing wall after I started my RSI recovery -- for the same kind of ideas. It gave me a lot of confidence.
Long before I developed RSI I tried a climbing wall at a company picnic and couldn't use my hands afterwards for about 3 hours. I know I did something wrong, but I was never sure what. |
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ndb
209 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 11:08:03
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| I've been told you're not really supposed to use your arms to pull yourself up...the key is supposed to be to use your legs+thighs to push up. But certainly its a workout for the arms as well especially if you're a beginner like I was. I would think its not so much that you did something wrong, just that we usually don't use our arms that way, so the muscles just run out of oxygen quickly perhaps. |
Edited by - ndb on 01/26/2007 11:09:48 |
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alexis
USA
423 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 11:12:46
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| Maybe a combination of both. I think I was heavily relying on my arms to pull myself up. I should probably get some formal instruction before my next go. |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1371 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 12:17:54
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Cycling and swimming are also good activities. They work your whole body but rely a lot on hand and arm strength.
NB For cycling to work for this you have to ride in the jockey crouch that experienced cyclists use, not the upright "coaster" position, and have some knowledge about proper grip (straight wrists, most of the weight on your upper arms), or you'll just end up in positions that genuinely do cause temporary wrist pain.
I still have crap upper body strength because of hardly using my arms for three years, but it's getting better! I'm thinking of doing pushups, too.
--
Wherever you go, there you are. |
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Littlebird
USA
391 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 14:12:51
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I don't usually say much about pain in my hands and arms because I've never considered it to be RSI, since I don't do enough typing or anything else with my hands and arms to suspect that as the reason behind the pain, but I did have a lot of pain for several years, especially in my dominant hand, and this was among the symptoms that cleared up very quickly for me upon reading TDM and finding this forum.
The reason I'm commenting is that the idea of working with clay seems to be similar to the one thing that always helped to temporarily relieve the pain for me--massaging my husband. He has chronic pain and during the last years that he worked, when he was really struggling physically, I felt like massage was one of the things that would help him to keep going. But I didn't think of it as physically treating his pain, I thought of it as a stress reduction technique for him. Though it did often hurt my hands and arms to do the frequent rub-downs, the next day I'd always have less pain.
When my husband stopped working we had to let go of a caregiver who worked in our home to help me with caring for my mother, so I ended up being too exhausted most of the time to continue doing regular rub-downs for him. And my hands began to hurt more, to the point where I had steroid shots a couple of times and was given a brace to wear.
But I finally figured out that when the pain was really bad, the best thing was for me to make myself give a rub-down, even though it would initially hurt me a lot. Now that I understand how TMS works, I'm realizing that maybe it wasn't just the physical workout that helped my hands and arms, it was the emotional connection and the feel-good chemicals that are released in the brains of both parties during massage. It's an emotional stress reducer.
So maybe doing any physical activity that you enjoy does more than just keep your muscles toned and show you that your hands and arms (or whatever body parts are involved) are not as fragile as you've feared. Maybe it's also a way to reduce the emotional reservoir that leads to pain.
Alexis, I like your point about not getting into a cycle where only volunteer work is "worthwhile." I have a hard time allowing myself to do "non-productive" activities, which surely contributes to TMS.
It's good to hear that you are having success with overcoming pain. |
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alexis
USA
423 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 14:42:13
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Hi Littlebird, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, basically it comes down to doing something fun and positive. And now that I think about it, that was kind of the subject when this came up last in the "repressed happiness" thread.
Armchairlinguist, I'm thinking seriously about push-ups. Haven't done one since ganglia surgery years ago, but now I'm wondering if I've been a bit wimpy on that... As a kind of funny aside, my ganglia re-appeared after the surgery, and was only really cured after I slipped when hiking and the thing just melted away. Just another way to avoid surgery. :) |
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ndb
209 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 17:22:36
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| Push-ups are a great idea! 'Cuz you can start right away! You can do easy ones to start with, leaning against a table/stairs to start with if you like. |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1371 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 18:21:33
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I definitely enjoy being able to massage people again! My boyfriend and I give each other backrubs. It is definitely great for stress reduction/relaxation and also for bonding time!
Doing pushups on the wall I highly recommend. This was given to me as an exercise by my physio even when I was still in pain, so it can safely be done even when you are feeling a setback. You can also get on hands and knees and slowly move back and forth and side to side, without going up and down. (You can also do it on your elbows to improve tricep strength. It's an isotonic version of a pushup, basically.) This was given to me by a Feldenkrais practitioner. Hang your head to relax your neck -- feels great!
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Wherever you go, there you are. |
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alexis
USA
423 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2007 : 14:33:01
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Just an update here that 2 days ago I shovelled snow for at least 30 minutes straight and no thought of RSI even crossed my mind.
The flare-up I mentioned a couple of weeks ago also died down and typing is easier again. Occasional twinges, but not much. |
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alexis
USA
423 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2007 : 07:10:21
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Apparently I haven't kept this adequately updated with my current activities. So the workload I am now able to take on is, while not in the traditional employment category, pretty much filling my time with work that is unaffected by any pain issues.
Volunteering:
* Volunteering in my local animal shelter. I don't even think about pain while doing a series of manual labor jobs. I recommend this strongly, by the way!
* Volunteering on with political organization. Rarely think about RSI issues while doing almost entirely typing activities.
Classes:
* Taking a 5 week professional class (outside any field I ever was in before) which requires typing.
* Taking a clay-work class that requires work with stiff clay for hours at a time.
Other:
I am working on two other projects that require several hours of typing a day. While I occasionally feel something in my hands, I can't really say that it as anything I wouldn't have felt pre-RSI. The think is, I never thought about how my hands felt back then before I couldn't work, so I likely shrugged off minor stiffness. I just don't have a real baseline since when healthy I didn't evaluate that norm. |
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alexis
USA
423 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2007 : 09:40:48
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I'm tagging this as SuccessStory since I've looked at others and think I'm about as cured as most of them were when they added that tag. And I'm a little worried I may forget to add it in at some possible future date.
This is the post I'm most likely to read in the future if anyone wants to address me with questions regarding my own progress and success. Thanks again to those who helped me along the way. |
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alexis
USA
423 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2007 : 19:19:04
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Well timed dancing, prayer and ritual sacrifices to the great snow gods gave me some extra time on my final project for the class I've been taking the last 5 weeks. I typed up and handed in my paper...and was [somewhat] relieved to find the typing the least of my worries. So, my first post-RSI course is complete and I'm feeling like a (more or less) normal person again.
But the seeming success so far with my hands raises other issues, particularly with regard to maintenance of what I have achieved so far. I don't want to loose the gains I have made, not just in curing the RSI but through the other activities of self-awareness and emotional focus that I have undertaken in the last few months in the TMS process.
At first I thought it best not to forget about TMS and the RSI and to keep ever vigilant that way. But now I'm starting to think that the counter-productive parts of that can take their toll. It's sort of like my early worries a few months ago when I was asking "but how much time should I spend here on this list?" The same goes for reading and thinking about the condition. I know there was a recommendation somewhere to take a week off during recovery. But what about after recovery?
And what is the right balance for maintenance? For me I think I want to focus primarily on ways to maintain the psychological benefits without obsessing on the idea of TMS itself. My current plan is to continue my crude efforts at mindfulness practice. But I'll see how it goes. Hopefully I will keep aware enough not to forget TMS when I get a twinge. So far, so good. I got some "cricks" in my neck while working on this last paper, and whatever they were, I just shook them off. |
Edited by - alexis on 02/21/2007 21:14:47 |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1371 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2007 : 11:16:10
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What I've found pretty helpful as far as maintenance:
Try to maintain an awareness of emotional state if perturbed, and vent emotions when they're strong. (Journaling is how I do this, or rarely pounding a soft object.)
If noticing a pain not correlated with excess activity or correlated with non-harmful activity, recall TMS theory, think about the psychological a bit, laugh at the brain, and move on. If anything major comes up in the thinking, journal about it.
Otherwise, be as normal and active as possible.
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Wherever you go, there you are. |
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alexis
USA
423 Posts |
Posted - 03/02/2007 : 09:11:01
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I built an igloo the other day. After a while I remembered RSI and laughed. I was tired and had sore arms at the end, but not a twinge of "RSI".
However, I finally did get my hands to hurt a couple of days later. As I mentioned before, I have taken up pottery as an exercise for my hands, recreation and artistic outlet. My discovery...the gold glaze is evil. That stuff is so ridiculously thick that I can stir and stir and it's still a heap of sludge at the bottom. So my hands and lower arms hurt for a good hour afterwards. But you know what...anyone normal non-weightlifter's arms would. And the trick was that I was able to remember that.
So, I think I will lurk in the background next time I want to use gold glaze. When I see some other poor sucker has stirred the pot for the required 15 minutes, I will jump in and offer to close up the bin after I've dipped my stuff. See...I've conquered my inner goodist at the same time! This pottery business has all sort of hidden benefits. :) |
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HilaryN
United Kingdom
820 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2007 : 02:27:10
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I like it!
Thanks for updating us on your progress and tagging the post. It looks like you're cured. Congratulations!
Hilary N |
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alexis
USA
423 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2007 : 16:14:51
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I wanted to hold off on the really final success verification until I'd been back working full time for a bit. Anyway, complete success. RSI related issues are well down near the bottom of my list of thoughts working back at a computer job 8+ hours a day. I type away with no worries.
Thanks again to all here who shared their stories and offered advice. |
Edited by - alexis on 04/20/2007 16:15:35 |
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Woodchuck
USA
111 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2007 : 22:32:22
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quote:
Originally posted by alexis
I wanted to hold off on the really final success verification until I'd been back working full time for a bit. Anyway, complete success. RSI related issues are well down near the bottom of my list of thoughts working back at a computer job 8+ hours a day. I type away with no worries.
Thanks again to all here who shared their stories and offered advice.
That's great news alexis! I'm happy for you. Same here on the being back to doing everything normal and I go days without a thought of the 7 month pain I went through. I'm so glad I ran across Dr. Sarno's books when I did!
Woodchuck |
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RSI "success-so-far" to "full success"
