Thanks to all for the input, encouragement, and advice. I am certainly not going to roll over and die or accept my situation lying down. I guess I am just faced with some very difficult decisions about what to do next. I have been stretching religiously but cannot notice much in the way of improvement. I am not sure if I'm stretching too much, too little, or too vigorously. Or perhaps not vigorously enough? I've been trying to get a decent, gentle stretch for about 10 to 15 seconds.

The stories of people not being able to hold a fork or cut their meat or shake hands is horribly scary. That almost sounds like it would be easier to simply amputate my arms as crazy as that sounds. That just seems like poor quality of life and I find it difficult not to become depressed with such a prognosis. I in no way want to embark on surgery so the challenge for the next several years is to find a way to manage my symptoms. I am fortunate that I work out of the house so I am free to make my own schedule and my own hours. Heck, I would stretch and do exercises most of the day if I thought it would do any good. I think my challenge now is just that I look at my computer and worry that even simply using it or touching it will only add to my issues. I am not motivated to work and in fact am even fearful as weird as that might sound. I play tricks with my mind and ask myself… If I just quit tomorrow, would I get better? Or if I continue to do this will I put myself in life altering debilitating pain? It almost feels like a drug addict flirting with a substance knowing what the eventual outcome will be.

I went to a massage therapist yesterday who is very familiar with trigger points. I know that JoMar mentioned that stretching may do little good if there were still active trigger points present. It was a very interesting experience to say the least because it would seem that I have ascending muscle issues as far down as my mid back and definite muscle imbalance which is evidenced by worse symptoms on one side. I also have pretty bad TMJ on the side that is affected the most. I did have one or two trigger points, but they were in my mid to lower back, so I guess I am good on doing more stretching and hopefully it is a little more effective. The massage therapist also suggested that I try yoga to help with opening up my rounded shoulders and improving posture. I'm wondering if any of you out there have tried this or if it is something that is to be avoided with TOS.

It seems by the consensus of feedback that some of you are optimistic and some of you are pessimistic and I imagine that some of that is dictated by the severity of individual symptoms. If I ever get to the place where I cannot even write on a piece of paper, I fear that day and wonder what sort of mental state I would be in. I have been using the Dragon dictation and find it to be helpful for e-mails and correspondence. In fact, I'm even using it to write this. Or should I say speak this. However, my main form of work is very mouse intensive as I am a graphic designer. I do my best to hire people were possible to take some of the workload off my plate. Unfortunately, there still a large element of hands on labor that is required.

I think my challenge thus far is finding stretches and exercises that target my particular issues. Thus far I have had a real challenge in localizing that.

A few questions for those who have suffered with this for a long time:

Number one: what sort of physical activity do you do for general fitness? I would imagine that some would say lift no weight or avoid any sort of strengthening exercise. While others seem to suggest that it is the only way to help cure muscle imbalance and posture.

Number two: for those that have ongoing issues but are still able to work, can you talk a little bit about what a typical day is like or how you've had to adjust your situation? It seems a vast majority of you are either disabled or do not work which I imagine helps not to aggravate symptoms further.

• How many of you still work?
• How many of you still drive?
• How many of you have functional use of your arms or hands?

Are your symptoms a constant? Do they come and go? I don't want to get on hard-core pain medications either, that seems like a slippery slope.

I apologize if I sound like a complainer or somebody who is bitter but this is all still pretty new to me. I know life is not fair and I realize people have it far worse. Just difficult to come to terms with the challenge ahead and the unanswered questions of what that means for my career, being able to maintain quality of life, and not losing everything I've worked so hard to get. For what it's worth, it is important and helpful to have people to think out loud with and I appreciate everyone's input.