Originally Posted by Jenlcordes

I could really use all the help I can get. I can find no one who seems to match my symptoms. I used to lift weights often and loved it. One day while doing triceps kickbacks I noticed my left arm had a black bruise about the size of a lacrosse ball. No pain, no weakness. I had a small (1 on a 1-10) feeling of impingement (?) in the middle of my inner left elbow but that was it. As soon as I put the weight down, my arm returned to normal. Over time, I became weaker and statred having arm, neck, collar bone and shoulder pain and grew progressively weaker. I gave up lifting heay weights and turned to barre. Barre uses 1-2 pound weights and I was able to get through with residual pain afterwards, but I could still finish the class. About two months into barre, I noticed my right arm turning the grayish-black color in the exact same place on the back of my arm. I even noticed that I had obvious superficial veins on my back when planking. Over time, I grew weaker and weaker and always had pain when lifting my arms at all. Now I can't do any of it. I can't hold up my arms for the duration of a workout with NO weights! I spent 4 years showing pictures of my discolored arms to 16 different docs. TOS was suspected but the segmental Doppler waveform analysis and segmental blood pressure tests were normal. Several vascular surgeons told me they did not think I had TOS. At the end of my rope and frustrated not being able to work out, I saw the TOS specialist again. This time it showed up in testing. Specifically, abnormal waveforms were observed in the Doppler analysis on the right and the left upper extremities during military left and right head maneuvers when holding a 7 pound weight. The specialist said I have arterial TOS but without thrombosis or a clot. Essentially, a form of Paget Schroetter. He said I was a good candidate for surgery. Made sense to me until I sought a second opinion. Another TOS specialist said no way I have arterial. Maybe neurogenic. So, I had a upper extremity venous duplex scan. It showed a velocity increase in the right subclavian vein when my arm was abducted. It also showed left decreased phasicity in the left subclavian vein when my arm was abducted and a velocity decrease in the left axillary vein with abduction. When my arm was held back as in a triceps kickback, the velocities increased in the left axillary vein. I have done traditional TOS PT, acupressure, manual PT, etc and am no better. I have no numbness or tingling but have a constant heaviness in my left arm. I also have pec pain on the left. All MRI's of cervical spine and both shoulders show nothing out of the ordinary. All blood work has been fine and three ultrasounds of my arms have been clear. What in the world would cause my arms on both sides to discolor when lifting and then go back to normal? I've had pulse loss on some exams and not others. I seem to fit the TOS spectrum just minus the numbness or tingling and have no issues to speak of with my hands. My rib removal (left side first) is scheduled for June 9th. I'm going to attempt to post pictures. My arm almost always has to be extended behind me or wrapped behind my back for the discoloration to present. Thank you for your feedback!