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Old 05-26-2010, 04:35 PM
tshadow tshadow is offline
In Remembrance
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,002
15 yr Member
tshadow tshadow is offline
In Remembrance
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,002
15 yr Member
Default TOS - diagnosis, care & treatment

In dealing with TOS for the past eight years, I am figuring out that there is no one path to a better life.


You have to do ALL of the testing on my long testing post to rule out what you don't have to deal with. This is my opinion, based upon logic, that you don't want to run around screaming TOS when you could have a neck disc surgery and recover, as my own home aide did. (Our symptoms were identical, but her cause was totally different than mine.)

After that,

Consider surgery and by whom

Leftover symptomology - might you still have symptoms from your TOS and may you have additional illnesses or injuries which need to be addressed? (In my case, RSD and an unknown immunological type illness appears, as well as pain from my TOS after surgery.)

Look at Physical Therapy and all of the types of therapy, (I just read Jo's thread on trigger point therapy for instance, just to remind myself of where to direct my home aide when she does my daily PT.) In my case, a very good, soft, but direct massage (including those trigger points or goose eggs that develop) each AM and maybe even PM takes down my pain very much. I still need medication to have a quality of life, though.

Pain Management Team - you should have a team mentality for pain mgt. Meds, sleeping habits, massage, topical creams, patches such as lidoderm, hypnosis / guided imagery and identifying types of headaches and what works.

Keep regular blood testing on the organs and for rheumatological, immunological or diabetes type diseases which may account for or be part of your disability.

All of the legal stuff - social security, disability law, insurance, work comp, all of that comes into play depending upon the person.

So when I look at the full picture of TOS I don't see "injury, exam, surgery, repair, back to work." I see what I describe above, a grouping of items and how you might even have to put them down on paper and write where your reference for help on that point might be.

We can help.

My "set of treatment" for TOS is very different than when this path started. I did the surgery, I do have more than just TOS, and I take meds, get massage type treatments that include searching out painful nerve points, I try to walk around the block each day but mostly I am bedridden, and luckily my partner has taken on all of the legal work, bills, etc. for me, as I am too sick to help myself. Without him, I'd need a social worker, lawyer, maybe help from local agencies and churches...

So what I am trying to paint here for you is this large picture with you in the middle and you identify what you've done, need to do, etc.

God bless you
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