Hi all,
Some answers to questions
1) I smoked 1/3 of 1 cigarette when I was 15 I have never smoked since, I do not use marijuana.
2) every one lives in an environment which might cause COPD, some environments increase the likelihood. Mine is not special
3) I did not have any breathing problems until I developed TOS.
4) I was told by 3 PTs that I was chest breathing after TOS
5) They did not explain why I might be chest breathing
6) They were unable to change the way I breathed
7) Did I see a pulmonary function specialist?
Yes, 2, I had (moving) x-rays of my diaphragm I performed 4or 5 pulmonary function tests in sealed chambers. The tests made my scapula more sore—and I had increased symptoms in my hand. The results indicated that I was mildly asthmatic. Most people if they were tested would be found to be mildly asthmatic. They did not answer why I had hyper- inflated lung fields, this did not add up with mild asthma
8) Some clinicians suggest that changed breathing patterns ( in TOS sufferers) are as a consequence of pressure on the sympathetic nervous system at T2 eg tight thoracic spine muscles. I can find these links if you like
9) Gastro Oesophageal reflux increases the likelihood of breathing difficulties, non steroidal Anti inflammatory drugs increase the likelihood of Of GORD, in the US its called GERD, I took significant amounts of NSAIDs I do suffer from reflux.
10) Respiration is made up of two cycles, inspiration and expiration, inspiration uses a significant number of muscles , the expiratory phase is largely passive, the recoil of the chest wall and therefore lungs raising the pressure and expelling the air. Therefore as I had and many others who have many muscles in spasm in their rib cage have noticed breathing is difficult.
11) When my lungs were hyper -inflated I could not take deep breaths because they were already partly inflated so I could not breathe in much more before they were full. My ribcage would not let me completely deflate them.
12) I am reluctant to agree with any medical experts because
a) I have had so many experts disagree with my diagnosis
b) Medical knowledge is changing constantly ( 15 years ago the experts would have said that my mother’s cirrhosis of the liver must have been caused by excessive alcohol consumption, now they know that it is because she has haema-chromatosis, for years they said that stomach ulcers were caused by stress now they know it is a bacteria ( someone one a nobel prize for medicine in 2006 for this discovery.) they, the experts, get it wrong right up to getting it right.

13) I have taken bucket loads of drugs. Celebrex , norflex , capadex, Feldene, ducene, ibruprofene, sleeping tablets (cant remember their name) and many others. They did not improve my condition. The symbicort has made a significant difference. If you are not able to breathe abdominally (eg the PTs can not help) do you just go bad luck, or do you use a drug which will give the rest of your body the chance to normalize.

Fern I know of no relationship between the longus colli and the long thoracic nerve. I can only speak of my own circumstances regarding muscles which were noticed to be weak or not functioning correctly in my neck and around my scapula.
I was told that I needed to do chin tucks to strengthen neck muscles as my head was in the forward head position. When I attempted to do these, the symptoms in my hand and arm increased immediately. When I taped my shoulder back the symptoms would decrease markedly. I could move my chin back without it having the same affect. I taped my shoulder back for over a year as I could not return to having those terrible hand symptoms. Unfortunately continuous taping caused dermatitis. Time without tape meant hand symptoms and chin forward. I am sure that my chin went forward to lessen normal brachial plexus (BP) compression which became significant when I was compromising my BP behind my pec minor when the tape was removed.
I was told my lower traps were weak, this is a long story but essentially I am sure they were not weak, they were releasing to remove pressure from a sensitised LTN which was under my scapula. So the PTs saw imbalances, reacted in the only way they knew ---- strengthen muscle--- but they did not consider nerve compromise…. They already stand out on a limb when they suggest that the BP can be compromised between the scalenes, many surgeons believe this is a myth. The suggestion that other nerves might be compromised by muscles would really be sticking their neck out , so to speak ( please excuse the pun).


14) tshadow writes--- P.S. Just as an aside, we may not have the same type of TOS. The fact that you can live without major pain meds is not the same as my experience - from day one of TOS I've had 9, 8 pain, consistently, almost to the point of insanity. This seems to be somewhat common from the neurogenic TOS where the docs / test do not reflect an obvious compression, and the TOS came from repetitive work. I don't know the cause of your TOS.
my profession was installer of blinds and awnings, ( a high risk TOS group) working above my head most of the day. I have had many MRIs, nerve conduction tests and x-rays none of which indicate any type of compression of my Brachial Plexus. It was only because ( after 3yrs) I showed an Occ. Physician how my scapula mis behaved when I held a weight out in front of my body, that he decided to do a nerve conduction test on my LTN which showed that there was partial compromise. Now many experts have seen the serratus anterior weakness and now believe it is significant. Prior to this the experts did a simple little test for winging scapula and therefore discounted serratus anterior weakness. Prior to that they had seen a collection of symptoms and understood that this condition (RSI, TOS, WRULD work related upper limb disorder , CTD cumulative trauma disorder, OOS occupational overuse syndrome) was not one which would be well received and their eyes would glaze over. Many practitioners will not have anything to do with TOS, it is too much of a hassle. They might go through the motions and prescribe a cocktail of drugs.

I rated my condition as 8/10 continuous no drugs helped. A chance suggestion of lying on a chi ball changed everything. The relief from this showed me where the source of the problem was. I know that my TOS is due to shoulder girdle instability as a consequence of partial long thoracic nerve palsy. The reason that my body did not recover was because my occupation required constant and repeated movements above my head. After a while movements in front of my body were sufficient to ensure that I did not recover.
The repetitive movements continually aggravated a sensitized nerve under my scapula to the point where even lying down caused aggravation to the nerve. It was trapped. I was trapped. I believe I have found a way to escape. I hope this may help someone Regards towelhorse