Originally Posted by jzp119

Yes please send articles!

Purgatory is the perfect word for it. Just done. I know exactly what you mean. I feel like Ive just lost the last 3 years without doing the stuff I really like doing. Doctors dont really seem to care though? Like as long as we can painlessly lay in bed and eat cheetohs were healthy enough for them. Its brutal, I just want to climb stuff and lift things for once.

The idea of getting another EMG makes my skin crawl. Just thinking about it in terms of wait times til I even get scheduled for an EMG, then the doctors follow up, would take 10-14 months alone. I likely wont be feeling better, like back to normal better, for a very long time. Sigh.

What bothers me the most is that its always "youre young it'll heal" but when I imevitably have the exact same symptoms in 30 years they'll say "youre 50! Thats what happens when your 50!"

Im sorry about your healthcare experience. The whole thing is BS. Like wtf? There are people that smoke, eat bad food, never exercise, do drugs, drink excessively and they get amazing health care to improve their quality of life. But active people under the age of thirty have their nerves being compressed and we can get help???? I swear to god in a hundred years they will look back on the treatment that TOSers got and shake their heads. Seriously, rest it? My entire life is "resting it".


A real medical doctor suggested that, because you're female, you should not do anything active? Holy ****, Its like if the 1950s could manifest as one single person, it would be that doctor. I hope he crashes his porsche.

And the surgery can be successful. But there are literally thousands of posts on here about it making people worse, and not a single success story of return to competetive sport or real athletics/fitness. I would think if they were out there, at least one success story would be on one of these forums just to say, hey im better, I know I would. Most docs tell me that regardless of whats wrong, having a problem for 3 years will have irreversible side effects. But wait.. You had a friend who.. Actually got better.. Like real weight lifting bodybuilding? Completely back to normal??? I need to know more about her situation. Did she have the one where just the vein is pinched? Those people seem to have better outcomes. This is one of the best things ive heard in a long time. I was under the impression that this was a death sentence.


And im so sorry about losing so much because of this, i completely understand how you feel. It's extremely hard to handle. developing nerve atuff as an athlete/heavy worker is almost worse than if you were a non athlete. In your case you had so much more to lose compared to the average hunchback computer desk folks. This is one of my biggest pet peeves as well with explaining this disorder to people. Like im interested in RETURN TO PREVIOUS ACTIVITY, not being pain free so long as I NEVER use my arms. I feel so much empathy for you because I totally understand losing so much of your identity to this.


As far as sleeping goes, the only way I can sleep is if I do some combination of upper trap work, lower trap work, serratus work, roll my chest with a lacrosse ball, foam roll my upper back, and stretch everything as good as possible. I also HAVE TO sleep on hard floor on my back with almost no pillow. It sounds crappy but im used to it now and the floor helps my symptoms alot. I find that I feel amazing in the morning for about an hour then eventually my shoulders go to hell. I dont know what you've tried to improve sleep quality, but Doing some exercises and stretches and sleeping on hardwood on my back got me back to sleeping normally, its progress. Honestly my symptoms get brutal when I even lay on a bed or a couch for more than 20 minutes. Anything with cushion is a no go.


There has to be a way to reclaim previous quality of life. This cant just be it. Please PM me! I would love to talk back and forth. Its hard to read a long post and not forget to include something while replying. So forgive me if I did!