[CLAREMARIE]

Hello, I was diagnosed with TOS 16 months ago after experiencing pain for 6 years. I am from England and after reading this site it seems that doctors over here are not as knowledgable about TOS. I have had botox injections today into my right scalene muscle and I am feeling a bit dispondant as I am typing this with cold/numb fingers. Perhaps its early days? I have been seeing a vascular surgeon who is very conservative in his treatment and he is no expert in TOS. Help! I have had to give up work - I used to work in a bank - and I am now going to nightschool learning floristry. I want to go back to work but sometimes you feel everythings against you. Most of my problems have been the time it takes to get to see a consultant and then arrange treatment ( that is after been misdiagnosed a few times!) Oh dear this all sounds very depressing but you all probably know what its like! This site has some very good advice and information from those peaple who know exactly what you're going through and I look forward to chatting some more.

[Jomar]

Hi Claire ,
Nice to meet you.
I hope we can help you with support & learning more about TOS along with tips and self care ideas that you can do at home.

Our Useful Links - Websites, Articles & Polls-
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=84

DOCTORS and PT List for TOS
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=135

[watsonsh]

Hi Clare Marie,

Its nice to meet you! We have a great group of people here, looking forward to seeing you round the board.

[dorrie]

Welcome to Neurotalk, Clare Marie!

[dabbo]

Welcome Claire! Just my 2 cents- It might be tough to find a "good" doc over there, but don't give up or let someone operate if you don't feel they know enough about you and your condition. One other Doc that I (and, I think) many others here use is a Pain Management Specialist. I lucked out, because my pain mgmt doc is by training a Neurosurgeon. So, in addition to his primary role of helping me live my day to day life better, we discuss different longer-term solutions to this WONDERFUL problem.

Anyways - I like how you've already started to re-train yourself for a different career- probably less typing than at the bank!
Again, Welcome, and best of luck. Most everyone around here is kind and will answer any questions you may have.
-dabbo

[tshadow]

Welcome!!!

Your post reminds me of one of my early ones...it is frustrating, and I am sorry.

I am going to post a list of tests that I got, and most people do, which helps them to understand what type of TOS they have, if they are good surgical candidates and what they don't have...

I had surgery 1 1/2 years ago - I've had TOS 5 years, and I didn't see a benefit for probably a year, except for less headaches. Although I am doing better gen'ly, I am still bedridden many days of the week, and cannot return to work. (Attorney.) But each person is different with TOS - as someone here posted earlier, "syndrome" means a collection of symptoms, so you don't have to have all or be the same to have TOS.

Hang in there. God bless.