[o2bponca]

Originally Posted by nurseinpain

Hi. I am new to the site,. I have had two surgeries for arterial tos. I am now in severe pain w/ loss of sensation and grip. I have to sleep w/ arm on pillow. Is anyone else having this problem?

Did you have surgery on both sides or on one side twice? Did you have any neurogenic problems before (like the loss of sensation and grip) surgery? How long ago was your surgery/surgeries?

I just had my rib resection/scalenectomy 10 days ago and now have numbness on the back of my upper arm (like it's been sitting on ice for an hour) that wasn't there before. Doc says its from stretching the nerve during incision and getting access to ribs at surgery. Should get better within a month or two.

It's a trade-off because the alternative without surgery was no blood flow and risk of clots, etc. Thankfully, that seems to be restored!

Would love to compare notes with you.

Carrie

[epidEmic]

Hello all,
My wife has been browsing your forums for quite some time now and i decided its time for intros.

32 yr old male
injured in Sept of 2008 on the job
on W/C
Dx'ed with TOS in left shoulder


We live in AK, so there are very few doctors whom will deal with my diagnosis. I was very lucky to have found my current doctor. I have been doing Phys. Ther. since Sept. 2008. I feel the treatment plan has floundered. There is only one Dr in AK whom will operate. I am at the end of my rope ( ) and it seems from the reading i have been doing that i can expect to wait quite abit longer. Once again i can't say enuff of how much it has helped knowing i am not crazy and that i am not the only one in the world with this problem.

[o2bponca]

I see that your post here is a few months old, but thought I'd comment anyway about your concerns of recovery from rib resection surgery - just in case you're still battling with the idea. I was REALLY nervous about this too while facing surgery with a small business, side job, five kids, and a household to run. I actually planned for a few months of recovery, flew my mother down from Washington to help out, and basically "signed out" of life for a few months.

My surgery was on May 1st. First week was hell and jam-packed with pain medication. Second week was 100% better but still recovering and having a lot of pain. Third week I started feeling human again and even wanted to drive, type, and work a little. Now I'm trying to hold myself down to not overdo it, but I can't believe how quickly I'm recovering. Hoping the nagging (but relatively minor) pains, etc. won't last forever, but overall I'm very pleased. The venous and arterial blood flow is restored, so my surgery was a success as far as I'm concerned.

I know that every person's situation, diagnosis, prognosis, and recovery process is completely different, but hopefully my input will help you out. Good luck with whatever you decide. Hang in there!

Originally Posted by rbn4jsus

Hello,
Reading several posts on this forum has been helpful and concerning. I am a 40 yo generally healthy woman with bilateral cervical ribs. Symptoms in my neck began 20 years ago, chronically 5 years ago after a car accident.

I've done everything in the book to manage the discomfort. Both my kids have c-ribs too. They've each had one rib recestion due to arm pain with excellent results. My main symptom is neck muscles locking up randomly-spasms, upper back, some slight arm discomfort. TOS study showed vascular impingement. I consulted surgeon who did my kids' resections last week-he thinks he can help me. i am unsure. I am not a teenager to heal as quick as they did, and my symptoms are not the same as theirs. Doc thinks he ccan help-after reading here today...yikes.
I'll be checking back for any new updates. glad to know I'm not the only one

*I'll copy this to the main TOS forum also*Jo

[mklexa]

I've had symptoms since I was 18. Misdiagnosed for the first 3-4 years, I had 2 needless surgeries before my 1st rib resection in '02. Still struggling daily though. . .

[cassi19661]

I am new here, but not new to tos. please excuse typing, i am in a wrist spllint.
I started with severe neck arm pain, was told I need neurosurgery. cervical stenosis, c-spine spomdylosis, ddd, diagnosed with tos by 5th neurosurgeon, 2 level fusion of c5-6 and c6- in july 07, it helped a lot becuz then i could not move at all for 7 months. it has slowly returned in this past year to the point that i am in trouble cuz there's no way i can work and i need to get divorce.....i also have bad low back probems constnt pain there, hips and legs, upper back.

[kfarneti]

Hi to everyone,
I'm F/47, dx tos late jan 09, had rib removed May 7th.
otobponca, I'm so glad to hear your postive results from your surgery!
Mine have not been so successful. I was in the hospital for 5 days went home, noticed my incicsion was not looking happy, went back to doc only to be put back in hospital for another 4 day to get rid of the infection! I still have much swelling, pain and numbness all the way down my arm and my fingers. I still have "pins and needles" and stingers. Now since the surgery, I've a deep cough (which we all know the painful results of those ) and the feeling of an ice pick(or a hot iron) shoved through my chest and out my shoulder blade! My pm says it's just the nerves settling down and it may take a while 6 mo to a year!The surgeon I had, stopped seeing me at the end of May. I told him of my issues and was told that I must be crazy, cuz non of his other patients had those problems
I have nothing left to say to him. I also now have no insurance, no medical or ssi allowed b/c I have a retirement fund, no sdi, no w/c and waiting for an answer from ssdi. I hear it could take years! they'll have to look for me living under a bridge or something by that time
Thanks for listening, I don't know what else to do. PT is too expensive, thinking about maybe finding a good chiro or pt or doc to date, know of any single
Kathy

ps: is there another thread for TOS or is this the one?
thanks

[Koala77]

Originally Posted by kfarneti

...ps: is there another thread for TOS or is this the one? thanks

You found the thread where our new members in the TOS thread introduce themselves.

Most people move down below here to post their questions.
Here's the link and you'll find "New Thread" towards the mid top, on the left... where you can open a new thread to discuss your concerns.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum24.html

[Jomar]

kfarneti
I'll copy your post and make it a new thread on the main TOS forum for you.

[Gunner1960]

Injured in a fall in 1986 - finally diagnosed with Right side TOS in 1988, went bilateral in early 1989.

Had rib resection in 1988(June I think) worked for about 3 months....went back to even more severe and bilateral at that time.

Retired for medical in July 1990.

Treated by VA ever since.

Been an interesting road.

"You have TOS."
"You don't have TOS."
"You might have TOS."
"You may have had TOS."

Anyway...to sum it up...a LOT of tests later and over 20 years....

I have:

TOS(Bilateral Neuro/Vascular)
Fibro
Arthritis(L5-S1)

Constant pain body wide and no options left. The VA was talking surgery on elbow/wrist such as is done for Carpal Tunnel and Tennis Elbow....not interested.

Now for a question.

Has anyone had Nerve Root injections(I think thats what it's called)?
I am going for eval in early Dec and am trying to get an idea of the effectiveness of it before committing to anything. I also go tomorrow for eval for TENS unit and will actually get trained this time. Used one before but quit working after I left the hospital, probably because I didn't have a trained medical person to apply the leads where they would actually work.

Wife is now a Licensed Massage Practitioner in Washington State and will be able to help...just don't have a unit to use.

If anyone on here has any info on the injections and effectiveness I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

[gbsb]

Well, I'm back.

Was dx'd with TOS in 2006. Had a rib resection.
Never fully got rid of TOS symptoms in my opinion.
Just kind of dealt with it and got on with life. Now my symptoms seem to have returned with a vengeance.

Logged back in to look for some posts regarding people who've had relapses. It's depressing to see so many people suffering with what I do.

I've spent the last couple years ignoring my pain and discomfort and not letting on to people I was in pain.

Now it appears I've got to do something again.

Don't know who to approach. The surgeon who did the resection retired and moved. And I don't think my primary doc wants to deal with this again.