Let me introduce myself. I was on the old Brain talk boards a long time ago. My shortened story started after an injury to my left shoulder from a car trunk. My dr. at the time decided I should go to PT right away, 2 days after the accident even though something didn't feel right. I also developed severe headaches.

The PT didn't go as planned, with increasing limited range of motion, hand turning cold and numb, and numbness. I was sent to ortho who dx frozen shoulder and said I need good pain meds and more PT. Continued limited range of motion and other symptoms, an MRI, no improvement, and the ortho thought I needed pain management to be able to increase PT.

The Pain management dr. was great, but I am very sensitive to pain medication, and of course it didn't help PT (I was very compliant). Somewhere along the line TOS was mentioned and a vascular surgeon was consulted and a doppler ultra sound was done showing restricted blood flow.

I also had an EMG done, showing some C-8 involvement. However, the ortho insisted I still had a frozen shoulder and did a shoulder manipulation under general anesthesia. I was supposed to have a nerve block but the anesthesiologist decided in the operating room that it was too risky and it wasn't done. It was downhill from there! My symptoms increased.

I saw a wonderful Chiropractor who noticed my scapula was totally not moving at this point, among other thing, and I found a new PT who spent a lot of time working one on one with me. Then I was involved in three car accident in 6 months. It was terrible.

I was sent to a thoracic surgeon and he wanted to perform surgery after the first visit. I bulked, and made an appointment with Dr. Togut (who was no where near me). By this time I had had trigger point injections, botox, several blocks, PT, emgs, different meds....I also had an MRI was found another condition that cause nerve damage in the spine.

Dr. Togut dx. with bi-lateral TOS, and gave me a lot of good information. I was lucky enough to see him several times, the last time he said that my condition was getting worse. I also have a bad case of Rynaulds. My last EMG showed carpel tunnel in the right hand, and a lot of the time my right thumb twitches. I am prone to thrombosis.

I got stressed out after losing my pain management dr. after insurance changes, for awhile and just gave up with this but things are getting worse and I feel like I need to do something, but I am not sure what. Now my shoulder blade is numb, in addition to my hands and arms. I use a computer at work now, more than ever. Thanks for any advice.

Is surgery an option for you or are you trying to live with the TOS? What surgical recommendations have you received?

Have you asked your pain management doc that you loved for a recommendation of someone who your insurance will cover?

Not at this time. I have wanted to avoid that. Not sure if it will help after all these years anyways. I can't afford the time off work at this point (single mom-ex doesn't help with anything. My child is in college but things add up). Plus, I have two handi-capped parents who are house bound that I am concerned with. My pain management doctor started her own practice and I got an appointment and they transferred my records (which took time and the office manager) and the day of the appointment they checked me in, and took my co-pay and everything, did all my vitals, and then suddenly someone came in and said she couldn't accept me. She wouldn't tell me why, but hinted to the insurance thing, stating she was now a small practice. I was devastated, not to mention embarrassed. They worked to get me in, and they never said anything up front. I never had any issues with her before. That is one of the reasons I hesitated to see anyone else.

Is your computer area set up as ergonomically as possible?
Do you practice posture awareness? (keep the head & shoulders aligned with core of body and not hunched or rolled forward).
Have you tried dragon or the built in voice recognition if you have a newer computer? (Vista/win7)
My new laptop is slow but has the built in mic and win7- it didn't take long to get it so I could use the VR for many tasks.
I just tried it out a bit to see how well it worked, it did pretty good overall.


[shoulder manipulation under general anesthesia]
I wonder if that inflamed some inner adhesions or scar tissue and made the problem worse??

Did it seem like the PT that you had in the past was by an advanced and knowledgeable person/persons?
Did they address relaxation/opening of the chest area and gentle passive stretches, or more of a strengthening /rehab type program.

Were you able to check with these folks who I believe are in your vicinity?

I have used some Sentra doctors before. They own a majority of the hospitals around here. The doctor who wanted to operate was one. Most of the doctors I have seen around here do not have a comprehensive approach. I left my primary frustrated because the appointment got started way late and she got sidetracked with blood work she wanted before the lab closed and I am a hard draw, and we didn't get anywhere with the TOS (although she is still great). I also have thrombophlebitis in my hand again