Hello everyone!

After reading through some of the responses to my intro post, I'm wondering what the are symptoms that people have that differ between vascular and neurogenic TOS? I do understand that the nerves travel through the same area as the blood vessels, and as my surgeon explained, evidence of arterial or venous compression can be strong support of there being nerve compression going along with it (for those of us with negative EMG's). I've read all of the symptoms listed on various web sites explaining the syndrome, but since my arm doesn't turn blue or anything like that, it's harder for me to distinguish between arterial and neurogenic (or do I even need to at this point?).

A Doppler ultrasound was used to show arterial and venous slowing of flow with my arms at varying degrees and actual stoppage of flow at 180°. During the ultrasound, the little wand lightly pressed into my collarbone combined with my moving my arms up and down brought on a lot of my symptoms (not all at once, but flashes of these symptoms as my arms changed position):

Lots of tingling that goes down the ulnar side of my forearm into my hand, burning pain from my wrist or forearm into my palm, throbbing pain in various fingers (usually around a knuckle), throbbing pain into the back of my wrist by my thumb as well as my forearm, pain into my armpits, pain at elbows, and varying degrees of hand numbness with mild swelling, red discoloration and warmth, especially at 180°, which took some time to dissipate. After the ultrasound and then the physical exam following it, I felt a bit beat up and my arm symptoms were flared up for the next couple days. The symptoms that were not reproduced included the fact that I cannot wear anything binding, such as elastic sleeves like those found on hoodies, as they make my wrists and hands feel like they will explode or something. Also, I have grip weakness, and wrist and hand (finger) pain when typing.

I have had a couple times when my hand has suddenly turned a dark color and the veins have popped out around it painfully, but that is more of a rarity. My posture is excellent, however I have a long slender neck, those cervical ribs, and the added "benefit" of having a problem with cervical muscle spasm since that awful car accident and the whiplash. I also seem to have tight pectoral muscles, which are worked on (aka massaged) in physical therapy. Okay, any responses would be greatly valued!

Melissa