Hi Everyone,

I was formally diagnosed with TOS about 3 months ago but its been an ongoing run around for the past 5 years. 5 years ago I started to notice some tightness in my shoulder and feeling of a rubberband just wrapped around the upper part of my right arm. Then the swelling came along and all my clothes started to fit differently. I was working in the therapy department of a skilled nursing facility at the time and talked to one of the PT's about it. She checked it out and recommened I go see an ortho surgeon. After 2 months of rehab, MRI's and CT scans the doctor was just lost on what to do. Then he gave me the scare of a lifetime when he referred me to a breast specialist in thoughts of breast cancer. She blammed it all on the underwires of my bra and told me to get rid of them and move on with it because nothing was wrong with me. I was 19 then. Here I am at 24 and in a month I'm having surgery to have my first rib removed on my right side. The pain and swelling has progressively gotten worse over the past year. If it wouldn't of been for my new ortho surgeron and the PT he sent me to- we would of never got to this point- even thou the ortho told me from the beginning when I first went to him 6 months ago that this is what he thought it was- he wanted to do eliminate all other possibilities but we weren't giving up until we knew what it was. All x-rays and scans were normal, MRI showed no problems, Nuero said all muscles were functioning well, but the pain in my clavical area was unusal and swelling was something they couldn't explain. Then the thoracic surgeon dx me. I put the surgery off because I was in the midst of planning my wedding and couldn't move the date- but now its far worse than it was. I have knots all through my arm and can't remember the last night of sleep I had. Doing my hair in the morning is a pain and my passion for drawing and painting is just an after thought because I can't hold a brush like I used to due to the numbness.

Just looking for reliefe and anyone who can relate because its like the world just thinks I'm crazy....

Rest assured you are not crazy.

Everyone here knows what you're going through. And yeah, it's hard to get empathy from non-TOS sufferers, and it's a PITA to explain TOS to them.

I also relate regarding the artwork. I have a Cintiq 21UX collecting dust because between symptoms and the amount of time I spend working on my condition, as well as work, there is no time for art.

On the bright side, you now have your diagnosis and you're getting the surgery you need. This is great progress!

While waiting for your surgery, I recommend you dig through these forums for tips that may help you. I've improved substantially just from improving posture, certain stretches, propping my symptomatic arm up, etc.

Good luck.

Lexi, look into trigger point therapy, lots of info in the sticky threads near the top of the TOS threads list.

I hope at some point you can get back to your art, I have gotten back into painting, but still have to skip a day or 2 after a long session and recuperate...
I do mainly acrylics now and some pastels & watercolors.
Major RSI type TOS injury in 03 , since 06 doing fairly well & active with hobbies & daily life on the little farm (not working though).

I didn't have any severe swelling though....
did they do vascular/doppler tests ? or the special MRA?