i disagree about pt personally, i have been hooked up to a tens unit, massaged, etc and no spasms to speak of but my neck is collapsing because it's holding up my shoulders so i definitely need pt. anyone with a really bad rsi needs to strengthen imho. its just finding the right time to do it

http://img.medscape.com/pi/emed/ckb/...15811-34tn.jpg
this is actually what my shoulder looks like kind of from the side, and dont get me started on the back. it's a mess.

yeah i was rethinking that as i posted. my trigger points...i'm not even sure if they ARE trigger points? they feel like festering needles all over my levator and upper traps, so i guess so..they only appear when i stretch the wrong way which to me means im irritating a nerve. when i strengthen incorrectly i just get tight and dizzy but no needles.

I think I am inflamed. I took a muscle relaxer expecting it to do a little somethingn. Can't sleep and feel awful. Wouldn't inflammation be straight up brachial neuritis? I thought that was different than tos

I don't think so.

For me, anti-inflammatory drugs are much more effective than muscle relaxers (Toradol being the best). Have you tried even Advil or Alleve? Are you on a pain management drug regimen?

No. But I used to take a TON of ibuprofen every day. It didn't do much and was actually bad for me..if anything. But for a flare up maybe it does help. I have some etodolac I might try again.

I'm going to take liquid magnesium now. Maybe it'll absorb better while I'm on pills. That was a big problem for me. Malabsorption

I don't get it. So my nerves are irritated from

when I overstretched a good 1.5 years ago...seems unlikely

or they're inflammed bc compressed but. I do not have enough muscles to compress this area so wtf.

Scar tissue on both tos sides seems unlikely to me too.

I would say vascular compression but I passed the duplex ultrasound.

If my xray / MRI comes back normal I'm just going to assume its the eds. I've talked to a handful of girls with eds and they all seem to have some dx of tow.

What physician specialists are you seeing to manage your TOS/EDS? It sounds as if you are trying to self diagnose which is a bad idea.

Also, if you are not seeing a pain management specialist you may want to consider adding one. Their insight can be invaluable in dealing with flares without putting yourself in danger.

i have been to 12 or so doctors and none of them have helped me. i was under the impression pain management specialists just gave you bandaids and didnt actually treat the source of your pain. i would however be interested in getting a nerve block or something like that to find out exactly where the pain is..but i'm scared because my pt acts like i have rsd and rsd and needles are a bad combo

Pain management doctors will try to help alleviate the pain via medications, shots, etc. I've seen postings where it was the pain management person who figured out the source of the problem and referred the person to the appropriate doctor. If you think you're not a surgical candidate due to your EDS, then you should see a pain management doctor. If the PT is correct and you're developing RSD, then you need to get treatment sooner than later to try to prevent the spread.

For me, my physiatrist has done the shots that show exactly where my pain is coming from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_management

Thanks! I am curious about the shots. All The pain I've experienced is too close together to tell the source but my pt thinks my rsd or whatever has set off my nervous system is remissing. When I first went in my whole back/neck was on fire...about a year ago. I've never gotten half the symptoms of rsd like fat hands etc and my magnesium levels were dangerously low .5 (1.5-2.2 range) for who knows how long on ibuprofen. But yeah if I stretch it triggers an attack. Ill ask about the shots when I go in on Thursday.

I have some lidocaine patches and ice and I actually feel okay now.