TOS plateau
 

Does the nerve pain from TOS ever hit a plateau? or does it keep getting worse? Does it ever get so bad that you loose the use of your hand? Arm?

I know that mine is starting to hit a 9 on the 0-10 scale.

I recall posts long ago where a few would get a clawing of the hand, and lose use due to that. Something to do with the nerves telling the hand muscles to claw up.
I don't recall if those members had any surgery or not..though.

And I can't remember if there was severe pain also with that, probably so.. But it may depend what or where the nerve is affected that determines any possible clawing..

Are you having any clawing tendencies with the pain?

If so, I can try to search back for posts on it.

Is your pain a 9 with meds or no meds?

No there is no clawing, but I do get a feeling that feels like my hand is swollen when I move it.

the payment is with 800 mg moltrin and 1000 tylenol.

You only are using off the shelf pain relievers? :confused:
When your pain level is that high?

Just because those meds are off the shelf, they aren't meant for long term use..
Stomach sensitivity issues, Liver toxicity are a few concerns..

If pain is interfering with your sleep , that can definitely add to pain levels as well a mess with your emotional & physical well being.

Pain will cause you to breathe shallow = less oxygen to the body and less toxins exhaled..
Pain will cause you to to tense your muscles and that does same as above as well as creates more tension in already problematic muscles .

I took Tylenol 3s for years, they no longer help with the nerve pain. I took Ultram's for years and they no longer help with the nerve pain. I have taken 2700 mg of Neurontin, and it no longer helps with the nerve pain.

The moltrin and tylenol does not help with the nerve pain they help with the muscle pain due to everything tightening up when the nerve pain is bad.

I have not found any medicines to help with the nerve pain for years. The only relief I have from the nerve pain is heat (hot tub) and deep tissue massages.

For muscle pain have you tried any TENS or IF stim??
TENS is more of a pain signal blocker while IF stim can go deeper into muscles without the stinging effect and help with pain.

I got my IF stim from Amazon about 100.00 or less
Chiros & some PT places usually have them to see if it helps you..before buying one or the other.
Possibly a low level laser might help, some chiropractors have those. Mine did, and I will buy one in a minute if the prices come down, but I had more of the muscle /joint spot pains, not any severe nerve pain. It worked so well for those spot pains..

Or for post surgical /failed surgery/reoccurring TOS pain- perhaps an SCS might be worth looking into. It's an implanted stim device that is set to target you nerve pain signals. They do a trial first w/ a temporary device.
our SCS forum-
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum118.html

yes I have used a TENs unit extensively. I used it so much that I became allergic to it. After I use it I inch bad for 3 days.

Never heard of the other two methods, will look at them.

There is one thing i don't understand in this and on lots of other post. If you do get a feeling that any parts of your body is swollen why using heat to fight heat? ((BTW i was doing the same which mean fighting fire by fire till 3 months ago. I was feeling better but for what, may be 1 hour??? So just for fun i tried something differant to see if it can help an it does,help lots)) I had nothing to loose so why not giving a try???

I strongly suggest you to try something and it's defenitly not gonna make your condition worse. It's not easy for the first time but at least tried it. Take a bath with just cold water and added the maximum ice as possible. I put 10 rack of 12 ice cubes. For the first time try to stay in the water the maximum as you can(for me it was 45 seconds hihi!!) but after the first time it's getting easier then do it for a maximum of 5 minutes(5 is the best). Make sure the water is going to your ear level all around your neck. If you don't have two bath wrap your self arround a nice warm towel and wait till you unfreeze!!

In a perfect world if you have 2 baths or even better a hot tub, dive 5 minutes in the ice bath and 5 minutes in the hot tub and in and out for 3 times but you have to finish with cold water. I start with 5min hot bath then 5 cold for 3 times and finish with cold water. Honestly on my opinion you have to give a try. Since i start that 3 months ago i am able to sleep 5 or 6 hours in row and sometime even more. For my self and 2 other person who has TOS i can say it work more than great.

If you give a try which i hope you gonna do i suggest you to use winter gloves or anything like that and leave your hands out of the cold water. I suggest to keep your wrists at water level. I also don't put my feets on the cold water exept to jump in and out the bath.

My nerve pain has been getting so bad where I am getting scared I will lose use of my arm but that is also because I was scared by 1 surgeon prior to my redo surgery. I am feeling burning sensations down my arm and into my hand similar to what I feel where I have permanently damaged nerves in/around my BP. I am a pretty severe case, and my pain is getting worse likely to my seroma which I will be finally be rid of hopefully in my next surgery specifically targeted to drain it. I am on pretty strong prescribed meds, I agree with husky that heat on heat isn't usually helpful I only use ice on nerves, and heat on muscles. I also use a very helpful compound cream with Neurontin, morphine, bupivacaine, and one more thing. I can give you the exact amounts if you want to ask your Dr about using it when you go to bed, that is what I do.

I will have to try the cold. I know that the heat helps relax my muscles which in turns lessens the nerve pain.

When I had my Rib removed, the doctor said that my nerves are interlaced with my muscles. The way he described it was take one finger and weave it in and out of the fingers of the other hand being below and then above each finger so that if you try to flatten the fingers it pinches the other hand finger.

I do not know if it is unusual, but when I have to pee real bad, the nerve pain, burning, numbness of my left arm gets real bad. I think it is cause my body is tensing up do to having to pee. I think over 75 of my nerve pain is related to my muscles being tight and impinging on my nerves.

Stress or anything that causes me my shoulder/neck area muscles to tighten up makes the pain worse. I think that this is why that the heat and massages help me a lot.

I have thought about getting the muscles cut to allow the nerve to move and not be pinched in multiple places by the muscles.

Husky has a good point: ice. Maybe not full body immersion baths just yet (I'm thinking shock?), but at least try ice packs.