Welcome Humorme!

Interesting thoughts and ideas! I agree that pain is your bodies way of telling you something. My situation, being an athlete with venous TOS, is quite different from some of the others here. And we all have our own stories and we would love to hear yours. Some of the folks around are bedridden in constant pain, my biggest physical complaint (besides a swollen arm that I'm just going to have to live with, I guess) currently is an unbearable cold hand when I do my outdoor winter sports, like snowboarding... So I've got it good!

I agree that patience is a virtue! I wish I had more. Perserverance is a virtue as well, and thankfully I've got that. I have stuck with a PT program and program set up by a very experienced athletic trainer, even though there have been days in which its the last thing I want to do.

Excersice is not only healthy, but essential. However, too much excersice (perhaps being overly muscular in the upper chest and shoulders) is what may have given me TOS to begin with. My trainer has me working out a whole lot less (less time/less intensity) then I was before diagnosed with TOS. I miss the 'good old days' where I was in phenomenal shape and could do anything, but for my body shape and type it is risky and I need to be careful now not to aggravate anything. I have had some personal victories and some pitfalls. Celebrations of what I still can do, frustrations over my failures and mourning of what I no longer can do as well.

I was lucky and found a great PT. My PT was really only to regain strength after surgery. And my PT sessions were pretty aggressive compared to the average TOS patient and left me sore sometimes, but never in pain. As a matter of fact, my first few sessions of PT were just massage to relieve pain and to work on my scar. I was in so much pain the first time I walked into his office that I could hardly move, after the first session I felt the best I had felt in a month and a half since the surgery and I was so happy! Soon thereafter the hard, frustrating and tedious work began. I had to start slow and build up to where I should be.

I am so lucky to have not had to take many pain killers since the week and a half after my surgery, because for me it would mask to problem, but again my symptoms are not even as severe as the others around here.

You have found a great group of people around here who are very supportive. I have found them all to be so helpful and have learned so much!