Wow! So for those of you who read my threads I am pretty sure I have arterial or venous thoracic outlet syndrome. My circulation to my right hand gets cut off and the reason I believe this is because in certain positions it feels like a blood pressure cuff is on my arm because my veins distend and pulsate. It is only one hand and it is positional. I am in the middle of changing health insurances because I want to see Dr. Brantigan in Colorado. I dont want to mess around and go to someone who will perform surgery and mess me up more than when I went in.

My mother emailed Dr. Sanders and he got back to her immediately and told me to call him. Well, I did! He got on the phone and was so incredibly nice. He explained to me about TOS and said he does still take patients even though he is over 80 years old! He said he doesnt do surgery; however, he is in the room with Dr. Amnest who he explained is very good and does the surgery. He said Dr. Brantigan and him differ because Dr. Brantigan usually removes boney structures and he removes muscles. Dr. Brantigan and him both perform physicals and that is how they are able to diagnose TOS.

That is hard to believe that they are able to tell me where the compression is by a physical. They do not use ultra sounds because he mentioned that everyone may have a little compression when raising their arms and that it isnt the most accurate test. He did mention venogram where they put the catheter inside to take a look see but the physical exam will determine if I have something wrong.

Has anyone seen Dr. Sanders or Amnest? Is it worth changing my insurance plan to see a doctor in Colorado (whether its Brantigan or Sanders) ? I explained to him that I am very concerned about having a stroke because I have right sided headaches in my temples and right neck pain that pulsates and is deep.

He explained that arterial or venous TOS usually dont cause headaches in the temple and it usually forms in the back of the head. He was leaning towards that I do not have arterial or venous TOS. But how can this be? I am sure that something is cutting my circulation off to my hand. It turns like a prickly red and he mentioned that if it turns white than that infers ATOS/VTOS.

He also mentions that he does muscle blocks which ive read and learned on here are painful and a waiste of time?? He thinks I have neurological TOS but I am not in pain and honestly if I did I can live with it because that is the least of my concerns. My concerns are blood clot and stroke.. He explained that its rare and only 1 out of 10,000 - 100,000 people get that.

I realize I have focused on Dr. Brantigan so much that I never really researched these two other doctors that from what I hear are the best of the best?? Can anyone tell me about these doctors and if theyve had surgery from them? Anything at all will help? What I thought was amazing is that he wants to see my chest xray to see if I have an extra cervical rib. After speaking with him for 30 minutes over the phone I got the impression he really cares and enjoys what he does since hes over 80. Very nice man!