I was directed by a vascular surgeon to do "everything under the sun" to avoid surgery. I took those words to heart.

By happenstance, I ended up on the doorstep of a pain management doctor who was familiar with TOS, Edgelow Protocol, etc. He had written his fair share of narcotic prescriptions for rib resections over the years and told me to never let anyone perform surgery on me. He felt science wasn't there yet to treat "TOS", especially with nerve involvement.

I see a combination of a lot of people, but mostly myofascial release, osteopath and doing parts of Edgelow at home. Cardio is very helpful to me as well.

I spent a few years on a TOS forum where I'd see people come and go have surgery. It didn't make sense to me as they'd usually come back . There seemed to be more of an involvement than just the thoracic outlet. Surgeons don't usually address dysfunction in the entire body.

I've reduced medication, and have increased function. I've learned to control it, but a lot of times I get excited about doing things and I go a little crazy. Luckily, I can recover from the fallout rather quickly, 24 hours.

I think whether you have surgery or not, you still have to do PT for the rest of your life. I like my parts and pieces, so this is the hand that was dealt to me and I'm it it for life--hopefully, as years go by, I can taper more meds, decrease therapy and increase function .