Carli

Over 10 years ago I began to have severe pain in my left shoulder blade. I saw every doctor imaginable, neuro., chiropractor, acupunture, md. As you can imagine, I got a different diagnoses with every one. Eventually the pain began to radiate into my neck and would cause horrible headaches. After that, came the pain in my left arm and hand. After many tests, I was told I had a pinched nerve (that they could do nothing about), migraine headaches, bulged disc in my neck and the all too comman fibromyalgia. My left arm began to ache so badly that I could not sleep at night, eventually my hand would turn ice cold where it became almost inbearable. Finally after many visits to my neuro. he could feel the noticeably different temps. of my hands, he ordered an ultrasound of my arteries and a nerve conduction test. What he diagnosed was Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. The tests showed that when my arms were raised above hip level, the artery in my arm and upper extremities was being cut off 100%. He told me that at this point, the only relief I could get was from a procedure that was only done as a last resort. He sent me to a cardiovascular surgeon who performed a left rib resection. My top left rib was removed. The surgeon had told me before the surgery that he thought my rib was laying on top of my artery, therefore cutting off circulation. During my surgery, he found that the rib was actually laying on top of the artery and nerve. It had been this way so long that he could only give me 50% back of my arm function. I now face the same surgery on my right side. I have had some relief, my arm is no longer cold and throbbing all of the time, however I still have the shoulder and neck pain. Of course I am worried about the pain meds. that I am forced to be on to control the pain. I have regularly taken Soma, Celebrex and Lorcet 7.5 for the past year and a half. At my request I have been reduced to Norco 10/325 four times a day along with Soma (not compound) and Celebrex. Whereas this does not control the pain completely, it helps somewhat. I am so afraid of the addiction that I know has already happened to my body.

Has anyone had this procedure? If so, did you get releif? Do you have suggestions for pain relief?