Hello everyone,

I am new here and would like to shortly tell you my TOS story.

Symptoms started in spring 2012 with my ulnaris nerve painful at night and pinky & ringfinger numb (right arm). One night last june I had terrible pain in my left upper arm as if I had a thrombosis. My husband drove me to ER but they couldn't figure out anything. My family practitioner was quite clueless too and sent me to a neurologue as well as a rheumatlogue - nerve velocity was all right and I have no rheumatic issues either. They gave me a splint and recommended not to use my right arm too much. This is quite impossible since I am working as an analyst 8 hours everyday in front of my computer...

The splint was useless and caused pain at night (arm swelling). I then got some PT for 2 months. Things got worse since March 2013 with pain now in right and left arm, shoulders, neck and upper thorax. I have a lot of bad trigger points and it is impossible to massage my upper body. I lost a lot of strength in both my arms and hands. Also, I do have occasional rining in my ears (mostly in the morning and in the evening).

TOS was discussed about a month ago and confirmed this week after a phlebography of my arm vein. Depending on the arms position the blood circulation stopps.

Causes: there are no visible underlying causes. I have been a violoinst (amateur) for almost all of my life and I also loved running. Computer work was heavy these past years and posture not always the best of course. We had a car accident in March 2012 and symptoms developed ever after.

For the past months I have been in pains most of the time and been eating NSAID's, painkillers and even had morphine prescribed which I couldn't take for it made me sick so much...

It sure is not an easy decision but I do not see any other option than going ahead and do the surgery. Will undergo surgery mid-June. Trying to stay positive.

Take care everyone

Isa

Isa,

Whiplash from a car accident is a very common cause of TOS. Did you have this injury when you had your car accident?

Kelly

Dear Kelly

Yes, I did have a whiplash injury after the car accident. However, the symptoms of TOS that slowly showed up afterwards were never associated to the accident. I just couldn't figure out what was going on with me until very recently.

Did you experience similar injuries?

Isa

I have a cervical rib which pre-disposes me to TOS. Before I knew about it I had an accident (my dog ran me over and my TOS side arm took the weight of my fall) but the majority of my TOS symptoms didn't appear until almost 6 months later.

Isa,

I did not have a whiplash injury, but I've read that car accidents are common causes of TOS. I think it's a combination of whiplash and the placement of the seatbelt, which can aggravate the brachial plexus.

I don't think it's uncommon for the symptoms to then come on gradually. It's worth raising with your doctors.

Take care,
Kelly

Isa,

My 1st bout with TOS arose due to a car accident. For me, my arm was unusable from day 1 after the car accident. My whiplash type symptoms subsided over the course of the next 1 1/2 yrs but the TOS symptoms went in the opposite direction. By the time the doctor listened to me about my lack of arm/hand function (9 months post-mva), the nerve damage was severe enough to show up on EMG/NCV. Yes, whiplash can cause TOS because the scalenes are involved.

At this point, I am > 8 years post op on this side and I am symptom free. I have some obvious muscle atrophy in the hand but I don't notice any limitations due to this.