.. thoracic outlet syndrome ..

alright. so i know what you are thinking. what the crap is thoracic outlet syndrome?! i asked myself the same question yesterday.

lately i have been having pain and issues with my left arm and in my neck. i have a headache like 24/7 for weeks at a time. asprin and tylenol pm kind of work but after a few hours it just comes back. stinking sucks. so since i already have a back injury and it felt similar to my lower back i decided to call my neurologist. he sent me for a mri before my appointment, which lets just say was tough. i had a cage on my head, pads all around so i couldn't shift and i couldn't swallow for about 45 minutes. yeah fun.

yesterday was my appointment. i met with him and after looking at my mri and doing a bunch of tests on my arms and shoulders, we discovered two things. i have one bulging disc in my neck, but it isn't pushing enough to cause that pain. so after a few more tests, getting hit with a little hammer in multiple spots.. he concluded that i have thoracic outlet syndrome. i looked at him like he was speaking alien. he is a wonderful doctor and took time to explain it to me and answer my series of ridiculous questions.

basically this is it. you have a nerve bundle {5 nerves grouped together} that run from your spinal cord through your neck, in your shoulder and down your arm. it controls all your motor skills, pain receptors and what not for your arms. i have an extra rib, called a cervical rib, above my top rib. it is being so friendly and squashing my nerves causing the extreme pain, headaches and loss of strength.

{ so the nerves are yellow in the picture, and i have an extra rib above the first one that is pinching it against my collar bone.}

sadly i have experienced all of this - but most recently my loss of strength and motor skills, two nights ago i popped popcorn to watch a movie with cody and i couldn't even open the bag, its paper for crying out loud. so next up is a set of tests for my nerves. i had another x-ray done to see the bone, lovely. and next friday i will be doing a nerve conductivity test. basically then put needle nodes in your muscles and then shock you to see how quick your body responds or if it does at all. i had one done on my legs and it was funny and painful at the same time.

after we get that all settled then is a plan of action. at the moment i have been taken off pain medication and put on a set of steroids and nerve blockers to help get it to calm down to see if i can settle it that way. if it doesn't it is surgery for me. they would cut into my shoulder and remove my rib and stretch the muscles around the nerve so i can function. it sounds miserable. so let us all hope that those pesky nerves decide that medication will work.