Hi,
I thought I should post something on this thread since I was a patient that just view it and never posted anything like most people on here.
I'm 23 year old bodybuilder in college and got NTOS bilateral. My first symptoms were both of my elbows hurt and arms. I had double crush syndrome in my neck and elbows from TOS. First I saw PT and Chiro and they did soft tissue work to remove the impingement in my elbows, but my neck and arm pain remained. I saw many doctors and therapist almost 30 before I thought about surgery. The therapies I tired before was ART, Gradston, Neuro musclar therapy (steve murphy newport beach), rolfing, egoscue, Chiro, acupuncture, PT, and working on my posture at home. These help a little but the pain remained.
I then saw Dr Mikhael Medhat F MD to preform the bilateral brachial plexus injections in my neck. The results were it decreased the pain significantly in the front of of my neck not the arms for maybe 3-4 days. Then the pain came back. After a positive brachial plexus injection I decided in my heart to go see Dr Gelatbert in UCLA about the first rib removal. Basically he told me 70 percent of patents get better 29 no results and less than one percent get worse. Since I was young healthy motivated person I thought I would recover fast and improve. I did the surgery 8/25/16 at UCLA with all the medications they gave me I wasn't in much pain after the surgery. I have a high pain tolerence.
My surgery failed...... Caused me more pain in the front of my neck and and arm pain than before and more than the non surgical side. I'm posting this because I want everyone to know that the Doctors statistics they give you at the office aren't necessary correct. I feel like I don't fall in the less than one percent category and there are many postings on here saying there surgery failed.
Do I regret having the surgery..... No, because I couldn't live without trying everything possible to cure my NTOS. If you feel like you must try it I would say go for it.
I never got to try botox bc my insurance declined and my doctor when per to per and lost. This took about 8 months to do. I come from a family that has many MD's and they warned me before doing the surgery.
What helped me out the most you might ask???
1. Working on your posture with these videos
a. posture pump helped me out somewhat this stupid thing kinda worked
Posture Pump(R) Cervical Disc Hydrator(R) (Model 1) Instructional Video - YouTube
b. massage
c. str upper back
How do I manage my pain now????
1. Medication 1800 mg gaba, 25 mg nortriptyline and noninflammatory
What's the best advise I can give you???
1. Never give up
2.Try all alternative approaches before you get surgery
What's my plan for the future???
1. I'm so tired of doctors and procedures. I just going to stay on medication and hope for a cure in the future for NTOS.
I hope this was somewhat informative for you guys, and I wish you to have a pain free life.
I've posted my rib picture below from my surgery just in case you were curious. I wish I could find the pre surgical paper that Dr Gelatbert gave me so I can post that also. If I find it I will.
Good luck,
Michael