IH, it may seem like people get it but many more do not. You have to get to a doc that can sort things out before surgery and a doc that knows TOS surgery very well. It makes all the difference in the world.

If you are heading for surgery, you may want to sit back and concentrate on yours then what happened with others. It'll drive people nuts with worry. Many of Doc B's patients don't post here anymore because we are doing great and back to work or at least enjoying life with out drugs.

Each person heals differently yes, but with good thoughts, great docs and prayer one can get better.

Others can help a lot when going through weird stuff like this, but others can also hurt if one reads too much into posts and worries about it. I know both top TOS docs in Denver say, stop reading the Internet about TOS. When I was treated for TOS both Annest and Brantigan were in practice together. One day while sitting in the waiting room at their office a TOS patient came in for an exam. She carried with her a bag full of articles and stuff from the old forum she printed out. The doc took it and threw it in the garbage. She was horrified! He said, you have yourself talked into having TOS so no matter what any doctor tells you, if you do or do not have it you won't believe them. It turned out she did not have TOS but had some brain thing that she had to have surgery on right away.

There are times one should be in their own world, not in others. This may be the time to be in yours. Focus on what you have now, not what it could be.

I wish you all the best.

[It turned out she did not have TOS but had some brain thing that she had to have surgery on right away. ]

That is one reason why you need to have thorough testing and not rush into anything with only one {MD, DC, DO, PT, etc} opinion.

Thorough testing is one thing, but when someone does get a DX of TOS before tons of tests are done that may not be needed, they should seek out a TOP doc for it (no matter which one it is) for a sure TOS DX. They will in turn help find out what it is if they feel it isn't TOS, at least Doc Brantigan will, I don't know about the others. They will also run the tests they feel they need to DX TOS. They do not do many of the tests that are mentioned by people here, they just aren't needed they say.

This woman looked up her symptoms found the old forum, & went by what a number of "oldtimers" told her and convinced her she had TOS. Now, in the long run at least she went to a doctor that was willing to help her figure it out so thats the good side of it.

That's what I am trying to clarify.

many people don't have the resources to go to the TOP docs- so they will probably need much more testing if their doc isn't a top TOS doc.

It's logical for a Top TOS doc to know fairly easily- but not so for many others- thus extra testing is needed.

I don't think it's that people "get it" after surgery. I think people HAVE IT before surgery, but the surgeons don't take precautions during the surgery to stop it or make it worse.

If you think about how RSD is caused, you'll understand it better:

It comes about because of an injury that goes untreated for too long, or because of an injury that doesn't heal PROPERLY. Now...TOS is sometimes "an injury that goes untreated for too long" because we aren't diagnosed properly right away. Usually THAT is where the RSD comes from, so if you are going to have RSD, it's going to already be evident PRIOR TO the surgery. And if you have a good surgeon, he/she is going to recognize that.

My surgeon DID recognize it...he just didn't take precautions and do blocks, so I got WORSE. And...he IS listed as a prefered doctor, and considered supposedly one of the top doctors in the US. I do beg to differ on that. I emailed him several times telling him of my problem with the RSD and he won't talk to me. If he KNEW prior ot my surgery that I HAD RSD, why didnt' he do blocks? he should have....yet he didn't. And he CONTINUES to do surgeries AND NOT do blocks on ppl with the dual dx. I wish I could get his name all over the internet and tell ppl about him and what he did to me

My point was that WHEN they get a TOS DX they shouldn't put themselves through anymore tests until they see a TOS doctor.

Also, when one gets a DX of TOS, or supsect it, it may be less costly to go to see a TOS doc then pay co-pays and deductables for more tests that are not needed. Only each person can figure that out and which is best for them.

LisaM you're always so knowledgeable. I read alot of your posts. Thanks.