Hello everyone, I have thoracic outlet syndrome on the left side of my upper body. This occurs when the rib and collar bone meet and block the flow of blood from either the veins or arteries and the related nerves to various parts of the arm, hand,scapula and every thing else you can think of. Unfortunately it affected all three in my body. I had a corrective thoracic surgery but the nerves were apparently permanently damaged. I was told the surgery would completely alleviate the pain. It did not. I also had a c5-c6 fusion of my cervical spine. I have done everything under the sun to alleviate the pain. After all the surgeries were completed I was left with only mild relief of the pain and am now stuck taking a large amount of pain meds.
Pain has effected me in many ways. I lost my job, I can't work, I can't drive and I sleep a lot. Having been such and active person, I never planned on living such existence. I am working on decreasing the amount of medication I take and my pain doctors have told me when the nerves have been in pain a long time, it can take a while for the nerves to settle once the medication is taken away.

I promise I won't be this long winded in the future, but I did want to give a little back ground on my current situation. I look forward to being part of this group mostly to listen, but occasionally to contribute. It is difficult to type at times. And that time is now. Thanx for letting me ramble. Lorrie