I may have some helpful information that I could share related to living with TOS and the consequences of the high stress load from pain.

I hope this helps someone. It is just from 10 years of trial and error.

I did not know I had cervical ribs until I was 38, I did not have pain but I was really uncomfortable and I just didn't know why. After I woke up from surgery I felt like I could take a deep breath for the first time in my life. I had lived with what felt like bricks on top of my chest but I thought that was normal. Also I could move my head into positions that were way more comfortable.

Long story short I did not feel comfortable and that caused me to have way too much stress which caused my immune system to not work well.

I always had chronic infections and had to take antibiotics all the time from the time I was 2. I tried everything. supplements, perfect diet, colostrum ect...nothing worked.

Then one day I just thought hey what if I took higher doses of supplements, as I already took vitamins, extra vit c ect....

I was on a mission, I looked up the highest doses I could take and increased everything to the higher doses.

I took vitamin c 3,000mg 2xday, multivitamin, mannose-d (for bladder infections), krill oil with astaxanthin 2,000mg and SAM-e (for moods).

That was 4 years ago and I have not had one infection, not one cold (I hate to cough) not one bladder infection nothing in 4 YEARS !!

The higher doses of everything was like I became another person, my system just works so much better now. I feel so much better too. Now all I have to deal with is my rib problems and pain issues.

Getting sick all the time and dealing with my terrible back problems was just miserable and very painful.....as we all know how bad coughing hurts...I had colds every winter, but not any more!

I took supplements in the past but I just was not taking enough. I still am amazed that I am finally free from antibiotics.

Oh, and I also take a very good probiotic at triple the normal dose too. After years of antibiotics my GI system was really mad and I was having problems with candida overgrowth. I think that the probiotics and the high dose vitamin C finally balanced my intestines....but it took about a year to fix. I just kept taking everything I listed and my system finally healed and has worked fine ever since.

Sorry about the personal stuff, I just know how miserable all of this stuff can be and wanted to share how I got myself better. I really hope this helps.

There is alot of bad information out there but I just kept trying everything until I finally hit the jackpot!

There is a some really good information about high dose vitamin c written by Linus Pauling. He was a nobel prize winner and lived in a healthy body until until he was 92, so he knew something. High dose vitamin c can also reverse athlerosclerosis which causes heart disease. This information has been omitted from our current medical system. I trained as a nurse and I did not get this information until I searched for a cure for my problems.

One last thing, I also had terrible inflammation everywhere including where my surgeries were done...I could literally feel the heat around my shoulders. My immune system was great at creating inflammation, but had a hard time fighting infections....go figure. I found krill oil with added 12mg astaxanthin and again I took double the dose 2,000mg a day. I now do not have any inflammation anywhere. My back still hurts but not like it used to when I could fry eggs on the heat coming from my back!!

Again sorry for the long winded post, I wanted to share my incredible find with everyone here.