Like you said we both aren't dealing with much pain, however, from what I am told and read, depending how bad the compression is you may develop blood clots as I did. Furthermore, you could be damaging arteries, viens, and nerves. Therefore, even if you don't have much pain, I am told that if you have the cervical ribs as we do, surgery is typically required to prevent further damage. I am also told that the less severe your sypmtoms, and the smaller amount of time between diagnosis and surgery, the outcome is typically more positive. Mind you, this is only what I have been told by other people on support groups like this one. I just was just diagnosed with TOS recently, so my knowledge on it is still relatively minimal. Someone on here recommended I join the TOS FB support group which is a great support and resource group.

Anyways, here is my first post on here and my situation. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask.

Hello,

I am a 33 year old male who recently went to the ER due to my hand tingling, going numb, and turning white. After a ultrasound and CT scan I was informed that I had blood clots in my radial, ulner, and brachial arteries. Furthermore, the doctor explained to me that I have extra ribs coming off of my 7th vertebrae and that I have a condition called Thoracic Outlet syndrome which most likely caused my blood clots due to my cervical rib and clavical pinching my subclavian artery. Needless to say I was in shock! Besides the blood clots the only other TOS symptoms I have ever experienced were my hands going numb and tingling at night when I sleep. Within that same visit a couple of weeks ago, I ended up having surgery (mind you, after they tried TPA two nights in a row which failed to break the clots up) to remove the blood clots from me radial and and brachial arteries in my left arm, however, the doc said that the clots in my artery were grown to the artery wall. I am now on now on warfarin to prevent the formation of any more blood clots until I have surgery to remove the extra ribs. This is very dishearting due to the fact that I am an extremely active person who snowboards, plays basketball, lifts weights, rock climbs, etc. The thought of being on warfarin the rest of my life scares the crap out of me. I have become extremely anxious, freaked out, and somewhat depressed about this whole situation. I obviously would like to have this surgery done asap if there is no other way for me to live my life how I like. Therefore, I was wondering if anyone on here knows of a good TOS doctor in Northern California. I live in Sacramento, but would be willing to travel a little bit if that meant having a more experienced and competent surgeon. I have been reading posts on this site for a couple of days, and I feel that many of the people on here are very supportive and understanding of each others' circumstances which has helped me a little bit with my anxiety about my own situation hence the reason I am now posting. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.