Alright, I've been on these boards a LONG time, albeit I've been pretty quiet lately. I'm REALLY relying on some good feedback this time, though...

I'm considering pregnancy.

So, I need to hear from experienced moms with TOS. Preferrably, those of you TOS moms who were diagnosed or at least having symptoms BEFORE getting pregnant. And I want to know everything good and bad that happened to your TOS body when it became your pregnant TOS body. I want to know how you coped/managed/etc. I want to know EVERYTHING.

Then tell me yes, I should do it, or slap me silly and scream at me, "What, are you kidding!?"

If it really, truly made your body permanently worse, I really need to know! I'm all about not making my body permanently worse, because I'm totally functional right now the way I am, and I know I'm pretty lucky where that is concerned. The thought of making this permanently worse scares the heck out of me. My career is finally getting of the ground, I've got lots of bills and debts to pay... I can't really afford to be incapacitated.

In case you're curious - I'm 31 years old. Thinking of getting pregnant in September so that I can have a baby next June when I'm on summer break. I've got bilateral "potpouri" TOS - So, it's nerves, vessels, arteries... Whatever decides to be pinched for the day, and whatever side it decides to be pinched on. I work out daily to avoid complete and total TOS body failure. I'm highly functional. I have a good handful of days a year where I just can't stand it, and I barely get out of bed; but, other than that, I'm a pretty tough cookie. I've got a GREAT doctor who has a gift for "fixing" me when things get really bad. I'm a college professor, working a full-time load spread across 2-3 colleges. I've been in the job for a good year, so I'm comfortable. Been married a long time, been with my husband forever. He's supportive and will do anything I ask when I need help with things, but he's not good at helping me get rid of my pain -- I'm sort of on my own with the muscle balls. My daily pain level averages about a 4 lately. It flares up and down to around a 6 often. And I get the periodic 7-10 level stuff here and there. (I usually deserve it because I do stupid things I shouldn't do.)

Lately I've weaned myself off of Darvocet and Soma (my drugs of choice for the last 12 years or so - they're both pregnancy category "C," so not baby-friendly). I'm currently on Advil and Tylenol (they're both category "B" - the safest in the USA), and I'm actually doing okay. I probably take 1-4 pills a day - rarely can go a day without at least one tylenol. I'm going to switch to a pregnancy category "B" muscle relaxant like Flexeril or Skelaxin this week, just to take when I think I need it.

My doctor thinks I'll be just fine, but it doesn't surprise me that he would blow it off like it's nothing. He did offer to continue our osteopathic treatments through the pregnancy, but he's also hard to get in with, so it's not as glorious as it sounds. My chiropractor also thinks I'll be okay. But one of my favorite osteopath med students who has spent a lot of time working on me, fixing my stupid body, warned me after his OB rotation to never get pregnant.

I figured my best bet is to hear from those of you who have actually done this, to find out what I should expect.

I've done a search on here but it's really not turning up anything good. I'm not a fan of the search engine on this site.

So, please give me some info and advice! Should I, or shouldn't I?

~ Jenny