OP doesn't say what kind of speed he is getting on these alternate keyboards with alternate layouts but I have to believe it is nowhere near justifying the hobbling you'll get when using a regular keyboard.
That switching away from QWERTY will give you a massive speed boost is a myth. Although the world's fastest typists do not use QWERTY, the main benefit of alternate keyboard layouts is not speed, it's comfort (and, well, ergonomics).
The question is polarizing - you can find testimonials of people who tried Dvorak/Colemak/Workman/etc. and either liked or hated it (so be careful to not fall prey to confirmation bias). I don't mind the "hobbling" as I very rarely use others' computers.
It's not for everyone. But you can remap (and set a key to go back and forth) easily on most computers these days. I find myself mostly on my own devices too. Some people (myself included) can also switch back to QWERTY and be functional. It feels so wrong, though, that I avoid it whenever possible. Never felt hobbled after that first few weeks learning, which were terrible. That's where a natural curiosity for learning new things really helps.
Anyway, cured me. Cost $0, took little time and I didn't have to change anything I was doing.
Sounds a little hard to believe. We need a few hundred people on HN to try it to get some anecdotal evidence.
It is 100% fact that emotional states can impact blood flow. For example, your face getting red when you become embarrassed. Another example, having an upset stomach or even diarrhea or vomiting when you are nervous since your body is in a fight-or-flight mode and turns off blood flow to non-essentials such as your digestive system.
It isn't a big leap that it could be doing this as well in response to repressed rage and fear. I've seen it in my own personal life as well as the lives of many others... an ailment followed by extensive research and figuring out physical cures for the ailment followed by the symptom imperative causing the pain to move to another area, rinse, repeat.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heating_pad
It is important to note though that physically treating the physical symptoms like that 1) serves to validate them and 2) through the symptom imperative causes the pain to move elsewhere. The true treatment is to realize the psychogenic nature of the pain and identify and acknowledge the mental issues at the root of the problem.