Neuroplastic pain first started affecting me when I was a teenager. I was a bit of computer hacker, typing away on my Mac plus, when my forearms began to hurt. I visited a doctor about it, and was told that I had tendonitis from too much typing. I was sent to occupational therapy and told that I needed to be careful about typing too much.
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, the "tendonitis" only got worse. As time progressed, the amount that I could type or mouse before my symptoms started to flare up got smaller and smaller until, five years in, I couldn't type more than a couple sentences without some sort of flare up. Worse, the "RSI," as I now called it, began spreading into my neck and back. I became very limited in the amount of time that I could spend sitting in certain chairs, looking down at papers on a desk, or even writing.
Eventually, I graduated college. Holding any sort of job was a challenge, but I still had to support myself, so it felt like a struggle to survive. The pain levels always got worse when I did certain activities, and I had been trained to believe that if I didn't stop doing those activities the pain level would keep getting worse until it was excruciating. Experience had taught me that the worse I let it get, the more rest it would take to "heal."
My hands were so sensitive that I would develop writers cramp after writing even a very small amount of text. I tried using voice recognition software many times (I own 5 versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking), but whenever I did, my throat started to hurt. That terrified me because I didn't want to have to drastically limit my speaking the way I felt I had to drastically limit my computer use and handwriting. If that happened, how could I hold a job?
That was the way that my life was for over 10 years. I chose my jobs based on what I felt would give me the best chance of healing. I avoided dating because I felt like I needed to focus on getting some financial security. When I did date, I refused to get married because I felt like it was all that I could do to keep myself employed without worsening my RSI, so I knew that I couldn't be a good father or husband.
I had come across PRT-like ideas years ago, mostly from Paul Marxhausen's postings on the Sorehand mailing list. However, they felt to far-fetched to me at the time, so they didn't help me. What finally convinced me was stumbling across and reading a bunch of success stories last December that were written by people whose experiences were extremely similar to my own. That convinced me to push my boundaries a little. Doing so went terrifically, which helped me believe the ideas more. Crucially, it helped me overcome my fear of my pain. I could react to it calmly, and when I did, the pain started to melt away.
Eventually, the whole process snowballed, and now I don't limit my day to day activities at all and am enjoying athletic activities that I had avoided for a long time. I still have occasional flareups, but they don't bother me, even though I am doing far more than before. I just ignore the symptoms, and feel like I have my life back.
You can see me discuss my recovery in the video below:
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, the "tendonitis" only got worse. As time progressed, the amount that I could type or mouse before my symptoms started to flare up got smaller and smaller until, five years in, I couldn't type more than a couple sentences without some sort of flare up. Worse, the "RSI," as I now called it, began spreading into my neck and back. I became very limited in the amount of time that I could spend sitting in certain chairs, looking down at papers on a desk, or even writing.
Eventually, I graduated college. Holding any sort of job was a challenge, but I still had to support myself, so it felt like a struggle to survive. The pain levels always got worse when I did certain activities, and I had been trained to believe that if I didn't stop doing those activities the pain level would keep getting worse until it was excruciating. Experience had taught me that the worse I let it get, the more rest it would take to "heal."
My hands were so sensitive that I would develop writers cramp after writing even a very small amount of text. I tried using voice recognition software many times (I own 5 versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking), but whenever I did, my throat started to hurt. That terrified me because I didn't want to have to drastically limit my speaking the way I felt I had to drastically limit my computer use and handwriting. If that happened, how could I hold a job?
That was the way that my life was for over 10 years. I chose my jobs based on what I felt would give me the best chance of healing. I avoided dating because I felt like I needed to focus on getting some financial security. When I did date, I refused to get married because I felt like it was all that I could do to keep myself employed without worsening my RSI, so I knew that I couldn't be a good father or husband.
I had come across PRT-like ideas years ago, mostly from Paul Marxhausen's postings on the Sorehand mailing list. However, they felt to far-fetched to me at the time, so they didn't help me. What finally convinced me was stumbling across and reading a bunch of success stories last December that were written by people whose experiences were extremely similar to my own. That convinced me to push my boundaries a little. Doing so went terrifically, which helped me believe the ideas more. Crucially, it helped me overcome my fear of my pain. I could react to it calmly, and when I did, the pain started to melt away.
Eventually, the whole process snowballed, and now I don't limit my day to day activities at all and am enjoying athletic activities that I had avoided for a long time. I still have occasional flareups, but they don't bother me, even though I am doing far more than before. I just ignore the symptoms, and feel like I have my life back.
You can see me discuss my recovery in the video below:
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