I moved my daughter earlier in the week and my arms and shoulders are still hurting. But what scares me the most is 2 days after moving her, I was cutting up some strawberries and it hurt more and I had to concentrate very hard to hold the strawberries in my left hand, the side that the TOS is bothering me.

Anyone else every have this feeling or have it happen?

I have an appointment schedule with Dr. Atasoy on May 22.

There are times when cutting up veggies or fruit that I had to concentrate very hard to do that minor task. I usually get a weird feeling like I am intoxicated almost and very hard to hold the item that I am cutting. I know the other day while cooking, I have trouble at times stirring food on stove. If I stir to long while looking at pan, I get dizzy. I am sure this is from artery be pinched on my right side.

In 03 I got so sick of sandwiches, fast food & frozen meals.. I couldn't even brown ground beef due to the stirring and moving the skillet plus loading the dishwasher , the rotating of the wrists was a big problem for me then and that was just the beginning of my sx.


You are probably having some spasms, does heat and the corpse pose help you during those times?

Yes chopping is the worst besides typing or writing for my arm and shoulders. driving is not a problem. It just depends on what muscles are being compressed. Ice actually works the best for me.

I am anxious to hear about Dr. Atasoy. Did you get to read his article?

When I started having problems in my hands a couple of things helped:

IntelliSkin and keeping my elbows at my sides at all times (especially driving, typing, and sleeping).
Icing my pec minor area (clavical to underarm) to reduce neural inflammation.

I went to Dr. Atasoy back in May and he was a big help and resource.

He told me NOT to have surgery on my left side again. He also showed me how to minimize the sensations that I get sometimes, where I cannot stand to have anything touch my forearm. He actually numbed the surface nerves for the inside part of my left forearm and it did not drive me crazy to allow my arm to touch my shirt or anything else. He also showed me a way to use the self-stick medical tape to loosely wrap my forearm with it and it also lessens the sensations. I have since been cutting off knee socks at the ankle and wearing that. I have found a lot of compression sleeves, but I still have not found one that just covers the forearm. I have found on the internet a "tattoo protection sleeve that only covers the forearms, just need to go to a tattoo place and see how it feels.
I am disabled Vet due to my TOS and I got my latest disability rating from the VA and they said that my arthritis in my neck and both shoulders is not related to my TOS and they have scheduled a follow up Disability physical this December since they think that my TOS will get better by itself. I am requesting a Disability letter from Dr. Atasoy stating that they are related.

I received a letter back from Dr. Atasoy stating that my shoulder problems are not related to my TOS. I also asked him if I went to a health club what exercises not to do, I got back a letter from Dr. Atasoy. Below is what the letter states. I am posting this letter's content, since in the 17 years I have had TOS I have never before been told what activities could aggravate my TOS.


This is in response to your inquiry regarding exercises to avoid while working out. To avoid any worsening or aggravation of your thoracic outlet compression syndrome, caution should be taken in any activity that you might participate. The following are some general guidelines to use;

• Lifting 20 lbs maximum with frequent lifting or carrying restricted to 10 lbs or less. ( this could gradually be increased if your grip strength improves and if there is no aggravation of symptoms)
• Avoid constant repetitive/static use of hands - pushing/pulling, pinching/gripping, flexion/extension of wrist/elbow, pronation/supination (palm down/palm up)
• Avdoid use of vibratory tools
• Avoid overhead activities (keep hands below heart level)
• Slower pace activity, set your own pace.

I would strongly advice you to be very careful if you decide to join a health fitness center. Any activity that causes an increase of symptoms should be discontinued.

The burning in my left arm is getting worse (almost daily) and my left hand is starting to burn as well. I am thinking about going ahead and having the nerve responsible for the skin feeling cut.

Has anyone had this done, I am trying to understand all the long term effects.

My understanding is that nerve neurotomy or ablation is not permanent. Diagnostic anesthetic blocks are done before the neurotomy/ablation to predict the outcome. In my personal experience, only nerve pain originating in the spine was helped and pain due to the TOS/brachial plexus was not effected. Based on the diagnostic blocks, I only had RF ablation of the C2/C3/C4 nerve branches to relieve occipital/trigimenal neuralgia (which did work).

When the burning pain down my arms into the fingers recurred and I became debilitated again, nothing else helped so my surgeon went back in and performed neurolysis to clean scar tissue from the brachial plexus which had reformed. The procedure on the left side was 5 days ago and I already feel relief in my arm and hand. I will likely have the same procedure on the right side in the next few weeks.

Motra, would you mind sharing what meds you are currently taking.