What Has TOS Made You Give Up?
 

List all the things that you have had to stop doing because of TOS.

Let it all out!

ME:

Architect Career
Driving
Computer Use is very limited
Swimming
Weight Lifting Upper Body
Laying in any position other than on my back with arms out (so, no cuddling, laying on couch, floor, side, stomach, etc.)
Writing
Traveling (Airplane and Car Rides)
Cleaning House
Fighting For Fun (MMA, Wrestling)
Using the Phone Without A Headset
Pull Ups (I LOVE PULLUPS TOO) boo hoo
Video Editing

everything except lying down :(

Dancing
Camping
fishing
swimming
drawing/painting
aerobics/exercise
working
being self-sufficient
gardening
snow skiing
washing my car by hand
cooking anything heavy
buying a weeks worth of groceries
owning a dog
ride a horse/motorcycle

:icon_cry:
great. now I'm depressed.

Yup, most of those! Plus all my hobbies: Quilting, gardening, cross stitch. And now my career. Boo.

Lucky for me my husband is willing to do the dishes, cook his own meals and drive me around.

career as police officer
SWAT Team- which I loved
Golfing which was my stress relief (played or practiced daily when weather permitted)
working out
driving very limited
coaching baseball- have a hard time showing drills but still do a little
cooking- still do some but not like I use to
woodworking

what is it about police work? ahhhhh driving?

I had to give up work which was admin with multitasking in other area's like cleaning, tea lady, funeral director (no jokes lol)
Art/craft. computer work and photography but have found a lot of these things are triggers
Driving
Shopping by myself
Washing
Cooking and food prep is bad especially knives :(
Talking on the phone unless it's hands free
Anything really where my arms are involved

I am reclaiming my life from TOS so here are the things TOS took from me but I can once again do after rib resection surgeries and physical therapy:

Driving
Sitting on a couch for more than 15 minute
Sleep comfortably in a bed, on my side
Work on the computer for an extensive length of time
Air travel
Swim
Watch TV/Movies at home comfortably
Go to the movie theater and be comfortable!!!
(I've seen 5-6 movies at a theater in the last few weeks, more than in the last 3 years)
Functioning without Narcotics!

Things I am still working towards reclaiming soon:

Return to work as a Systems Engineer
Working on my car
Healthier sex life//impregnating my wife
Exercising & losing 15 lbs....P90x? Basketball?
Being 99% pain free and drug free

Marc, I miss P90X. I use to do it twice through every winter.

heybro, Yes a lot of driving( avg 150 miles a day and thats not highway miles)and a lot of computer work in the vehicle. The computer was not in a good location either. I had to sit sideways in the driver seat to write reports, and the keyboard was elevated. Wearing a bulletproof vest was not helpful either. I wore it at least 8hrs a day and probably 16hrs three times a week.

Marc, it was great that you shared the things that you reclaimed. That definitely brightened up this thread.

But you are FREAKING ME OUT when you say you will try to reclaim P90X!!! Please consider more TOS-friendly forms of fitness. I would hate to see you regress. :D

Marc,
i just cannot believe you can do that stuff. i wrote all that off. i never thought a person could do that ever ever again.

wow.

I guess I could post what I couldn't do during my worst times, because now I can do pretty much what I want, but the limitations now are based more on my lack of fitness & age (57)..

Worst time -
couldn't rotate my arms/wrist & lost much fine finger use & coordination & strength
extremely tight neck, shoulders & upperback with deep burning pain in the C & T spine area
a weird buzzing sensation and pain & tightness in forearms, sporadic sharp cramps in wrist and back of hands.

barely could do personal care & bathroom things:o
could not even make simple spaghetti or brown ground beef - and I like to cook
kids had to start doing their own laundry - that was a good thing LOL
small trips for groceries a as big trip to stock up was too much - still had kids at home so lots of food was needed..
always tried to park facing out to avoid turning to look behind me and unnecessary steering wheel turns
and would drive a longer route if it meant less turns & straight highway was best , I could use my hand at the bottom of the steering wheel or even my knee..:o

When they were still having me do light duty at work but 10 hr days, I barely made it in to work and then home , luckily mostly highway & straight shot.. I would get home and get my ice for my forearms and heat for my upper back and just collapse in the recliner..and I was taking way to much Ibuprofen
to keep going at work.. messed up my gut a bit I think..sensitive tummy now.

Now that I'm recalling it all I could keep going :o, but that was in 03/04, a long time ago- by mid 04, I had found the good chiro who did so much to resolve the spasms & trigger points & the adv PT guy that did the rib mob that dropped my stuck & raised top ribs back into place..and he was the one that suggested the foam roll work to open the chest & drop the shoulders.

Plus all the home care things I learned and did consistently since by then I was off work, and had found some TOS forums reading how bad it can get , I wanted to do all I could to not get into that level of pain.

By 05 I was 85% percent back to normal. So about 2.5 yrs of bad times, but some time was wasted dealing with wc and MD not realizing it was more than misc repetitive strain injuries. I didn't know anything about TOS back then.. just had slow dial up and was on a message board for RSIs.


Now I have mostly minor myofascial aches/pains/stiffness but I can get it loosened with a hot shower or just by moving around.
But still holding my arms up for more than a minute or 2 and I need to switch them back and forth to let the blood flow move again..
Luckily I didn't need to do that very often at all.

Marc, You are Leading the torch out of this siht hole black tunnel and we love ya man!

It will be the female/lean P90x track at first but I hope to eventually get there. This is only after my TOS is GONE!!! Dr. Angle expects a complete recovery for me (he's had a Navy Seal return to active duty).

what about the notorious 3 year post surgery mark? isn't that a scary thing?

I'm not sure what you are talking about. I've read recurrence can occur months to years after initial surgery. I don't know of any specific 3 year landmark.

Here is an old thread in which we discussed recurrence - Scar Tissue and Adhesions Post-Surgery

you had mentioned in a post that many get it back in 3 years. i was under the impression that surgery can be bad for you cause scar tissue can make it all come back. i have changed my entire career because of tos. if i had surgery, or even if conservative helps, i would be very scared of going back in to computer work and having it just come right back on me! you are jumping right in to old activites and that is shocking to me.

Perhaps I was citing a source that most recurrence occurs within 3 years. But I don't believe recurrence rates are high.

The source of my issues (cervical and TOS) is believed to be anatomical and now corrected. I am not going to live my life in fear of recurrence, but I am very careful to stay well within my body's current limitations.

anatomical? you mean u had the extra rib?

No extra rib, but I have a congenitally narrow spinal canal and my costoclavicular space was very narrow. All the kings horses and all the kings men (scalene block, multiple therapists, etc.) could not get my 1st rib to budge.

This was derailed, lol, but:

1. Waterskiing
2. Waitressing, I have dimples, they brought in some decent tips
3. Embroidery
4. Complicated clothing items, changing earrings, jewelry
5. My husband, 5 years ago, lol. But good riddance.
6. Any career advancement
7. My whole extended family pretty much thinks I'm just lazy
8. Pretty soon my job
9. Possibly my boyfriend, but if he sees me through my two upcoming surgeries I will be endebted to him the rest of my life
10. Home restoration projects, including painting, I have the know how to do a hell of a lot, but can hardly lift anything for long.
11. Sleep, lots and lots if sleep
12. My sanity, okay, well not exactly, but if you tell everyone you hurt for ten years, and they don't believe you, it kind of makes you view the world in a jaded way.
13. Reading, too doped up to focus long, books too heavy to hold.
14. Sleeping with on my belly.
15. Laying on the grass with my arms behind my head watching the clouds.

Wow!!! The majority things you've listed is me. Lol, lol I still have my dimples, and my wife is still here. Lol, lol Sometimes I wonder why. :0) I'm an athlete and handyman, so it's hard not playing my favorite sports, building and fixing things. The joy of TOS!!! :0) I'm praying for you as you go through your surgeries.

Gave up being sign language interpreter
 

...and working as a caregiver for elderly clients-couldnt push wheel chair or assist with walking.
Heres a list of more stuff thats difficult because of TOS-
http://rtosjourney.blogspot.com/2014...-with-tos.html