Hello All

I am very new here, and to TOS as well. I am not yet diagnosed. I would like to tell my story, because I am scared and feeling very alone right now. IF you'd like to read it, I welcome comments, opinions, suggestions and your experience.

Here goes...

Years ago I was a high school cheerleader and pom-pom girl...this was 1990 so picture big bangs, frosted lipstick and jelly bracelets.

I was performing a routine to the classic tune of "Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer when one of my bitchin' moves knocks my arm out of socket. That is the kind of injury that you can't help from just poppin it right back in. I kept cheering cuz we were winning, I was co-captain after all.

Fast forward to the turning of a new millenium. The whole family gets in a 45mph car accident....our Tahoe versus the 1997 Nissan Sentra. I had moderate neck and shoulder pain for 10 days after that.

Between 2000 and 2007, I had what I call "episodes" of shoulder and neck pain. Sometimes, I'd sleep wrong and my hand and/or arm would be numb upon waking. These episodes typically lasted a week to ten days, with moderate pain until I went to the Chiropractor. His adjustments helped tons. So much so, that I never went to him for his recommended follow-ups. I only took the time to go to him when the pain got bad. He consistantly suggested that I make weekly (or more) visits to correct the issue with my neck and posture.

Now comes the divorce. My husband of 12 years leaves, all kinds of bad things happen to my family; financially, emotionally and otherwise. Before the demise of my marriage I was self-employed, able to contribute to the finances of our upper middle class suburban home in various sales jobs and MLM success.

After he left, not only was I depressed, but my three children and I were completely destitute. In a matter of 6 months, we lost the house, the car, and our dignity.

After trying car sales and making no money (can anyone say recession?), just over two months ago I took a job as a waitress working third shift (9pm to 7am) at a diner style restaurant called Steak-n-Shake. That's when things went from bad to great to worse.

The "great" was that I loved the job. I loved interacting with people, helping them and being a good waitress. I took pride in my work, cleaning and stocking and waiting on people, repetitive motions on that shoulder and neck. I made pretty DAMN good money too. Not rich-type money, but a decent take home to survive. Then the numbness started.

The "worse" was that after about a week of serving glass after glass of tea, cokes, coffee, shakes, chili, burgers, etc...I started to frequently awake with the fingers in my left hand tingling painfully and "asleep". I figured I was sleeping on my bad left shoulder and tried to ignore it. Another month into it, I was taking as many hours as I could, working 10 days in a row frequently. The money was needed and earned doing something I loved, but the numbness was creeping up my left arm, and sometimes woke me in the night.

Now, for the past five days...I wake up, and my whole left arm is numb, except for the burning pain in my inside forearm. From time to time, the right hand has numb fingers as well, but never as bad as my left.

So I Google "numb fingers pain" and wind up on some forum (don't remember which) where a poster suggests TOS to an inquiring mind. I look it up, and read the smptoms, my jaw dropping. The poster was supposedly a doctor at one of those "ask a doctor" sites and he recommends that I list my symptoms to ensure a proper diagnosis. So I have. I've listed them below because I want to know if my symptoms are similar to what you all feel...and how on earth we are supposed to deal with the pain (exercise? I really hate exercising). Again, your comments are welcome.

• Extreme Pain and severe numbness in L arm when laying down
• Whole arm aches with activity (like typing, serving, etc)
• Left shoulder frequently cracks
• Left shoulder markedly lower than right one
• Consistant pain localizes more intensly at the wrist, elbow, shoulders and finger joints (in that order)
• Entire hand, wrist and arm ache and are numb up to the elbow. SEVERE pain in the inner forearm, makes me cry sometimes
• Mild to moderate upper back/lower neck pain
• Weakness and shaking when handling even very light items
• Continual swollen feeling to the left fingers
• Compensating by slouching and over using right arm/hand

What I have tried (five days into the extreme pain):

• Heating Pad (helps)
• Posture (don't know if it helps yet)
• Muscle Rub (feels good, very short term)
• sleeping sitting upright
• trying to stand and sit with a better posture

800mg Ibuprofen (barely touches it)

MRI Results:

• C Spine: No Nerve Impingment
• Shoulder: Tendonitis (Supraspinatus Tendon)

Thanks for reading. Glad to meet all of you,

Dena

btw, my first othopedic consult is tomorrow morning. wish me luck

Hello Dena,
I copied your intro to a new thread here- so we can all say " HELLO".
Sometimes we forget to look in the intro thread

I'll reply more later but wanted to get this posted for you.

Here's a post of saved info-a symptoms thread at the bottom
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post87845-21.html

Welcome, Dena.

Sure sounds TOSy. Sometimes orthopedics don't go in for TOS much. At least you'll have some info, though.

You're a great writer. I can see Holly Hunter playing you in the movie.

Kelly

Hi Dena,

I'm new to this board but it is a great place for advice and help.

I am thankful for it. You can get many good Dr. recommendations here also.

Bill

Hey Dena.........welcome to the club !

Even "knowing" my dx of TOS from a worker's comp doctor, I went through 2 NP's and 7 MD's before I found someone who understood TOS.

I hope your ortho guy is one of the ones with a clue. If not, check the MD list at the top of the forum. It is worth traveling to find a doc who understands TOS.

It definitely sounds like something is crimping that nerve.....the question is....where is the compression ? At the spine ? I know your MRI shows no impingement, but so does mine in a neutral position. It's when I turn to the left that my arthritic vertabrae rubs the nerve. Is yours in the brachial plexus ? You need a specific MRI of the BP to check this. Or is yours at your shoulder ?

I'm not suggesting that you should know those answers....thats what we need your docs to figure out.

Have they x-rayed to see if a cervical rib is aggravating the situation ? Poor posture, being overweight and/or large chested, and of course, those repetetive motions can all predispose us to TOS

Best of luck getting a correct dx and finding a treatment that works for you.

Hi Dena,
I'm sorry that you've been having problems and all but as others said, you found the right place.

I'm glad to know that you've made appointment with Dr. Thompson. I tried to get to St. Louis and see him in person a couple of years ago from "Japan"
But because of medical fee (my insurance doesn't cover for oversea medical attentions) and time (he told me to stay there for 1 month!), I couldn't make it. I mean I had to give it up.
However, as I was exchanging e-mails with his secretary (a nurse ?!) , I found that he was pretty decent and had enough knowledges to deal with TOS (my treating doc here thought the same way).

Good luck and stay warm
P.S. I used to go to school in Kansas City, Mo in the mid 90's and visited in St. Louis while living there. I went to see my extended family in KCMO about a month ago. It was already cold (for me) there at the time.

Dena.....

Run, don't walk to another doctor.

My hope for you is that it is not TOS. I'd love for you to report that it's a torn rotator cuff with a lot of swelling, you can have surgery to fix the problem, and get on with your life without our bright and smiling faces

BUT..........if that idiot doesn't even know what TOS is (which is evident from his claim that there is only pain in one position (doh !) than he is NOT QUALIFIED to say that you or do not have TOS.

I had the MD at my local pain clinic do the same thing to me......said it was not TOS because TOS patients only get pain in front of their collarbone, not in back where I feel it most.