Skip ahead to my first visits with a vascular surgeon. I had another ultrasound and a chest x-ray. This ultrasound revealed less blood flow in the subclavian vein, but no acute DVT. That was great news. The chest x-ray revealed that I do not have an extra rib. I was then diagnosed with thoracic outlet obstruction or syndrome.
My doctor referred me to another doctor in her group who specializes in TOS. He wanted to do a venogram which I have been putting off because I am possibly allergic to iodine and will need a day off of work in order to get it done. This is planned for early August of 2013 and it should give me more detailed information about exactly what is going on in there.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
First few months undiagnosed
This injury slowly seemed to be getting better. The intense pain from the beginning went down after a couple of weeks or so. I had acupuncture several times which helped greatly. The bruising did not seem to be going away. My acupuncturist was a little concerned.
Over the winter I tried swimming several times, thinking that I was on the mend. I would mostly kick and got up to swimming 100 m freestyle at a time. My arm felt very sore when swimming and I could not do backstroke, it was too painful. I stopped playing violin.
I stopped trying to swim early in 2013 and got back into running which did not bother me too much at this time. I didn't run more than 3 miles.
In March I started preparing to move across the country with my family and that involved lifting some boxes. My arm got aggravated by this and I went back to acupuncture. At this point he told me to go to my doctor to get an ultrasound because the fact that the bruising was still present concerned him. He suspected a blood flow problem of some sort. I did get acupuncture and it helped, but not as much as it did right after the initial injury.
I went to my doctor and he wanted to put me in physical therapy. I told him that my acupuncturist had recommended an ultrasound and he agreed to it. The ultrasound indicated that I had a chronic blood clot or chronic thrombosis. This basically means that I had an acute blood clot in the past but my body resolved it. I have some scarring in my vein from that. This ultrasound indicated that it was in the cephalic vein which is a superficial vein and not too scary. The prognosis was to go to a vascular surgeon.
The timing was bad because I was getting ready to move so I had to find a vascular doctor in Houston.
Over the winter I tried swimming several times, thinking that I was on the mend. I would mostly kick and got up to swimming 100 m freestyle at a time. My arm felt very sore when swimming and I could not do backstroke, it was too painful. I stopped playing violin.
I stopped trying to swim early in 2013 and got back into running which did not bother me too much at this time. I didn't run more than 3 miles.
In March I started preparing to move across the country with my family and that involved lifting some boxes. My arm got aggravated by this and I went back to acupuncture. At this point he told me to go to my doctor to get an ultrasound because the fact that the bruising was still present concerned him. He suspected a blood flow problem of some sort. I did get acupuncture and it helped, but not as much as it did right after the initial injury.
I went to my doctor and he wanted to put me in physical therapy. I told him that my acupuncturist had recommended an ultrasound and he agreed to it. The ultrasound indicated that I had a chronic blood clot or chronic thrombosis. This basically means that I had an acute blood clot in the past but my body resolved it. I have some scarring in my vein from that. This ultrasound indicated that it was in the cephalic vein which is a superficial vein and not too scary. The prognosis was to go to a vascular surgeon.
The timing was bad because I was getting ready to move so I had to find a vascular doctor in Houston.
How this started
I started swimming laps again in the summer of 2012. I have had an on and off history of swimming especially when I have a running injury. I got invited to join the local masters team after a few weeks and decided to give it a try. I think I started going in July or August.
The workouts were very challenging and we used paddles often. At the same time I should mention that I was taking violin lessons and practicing for 30-45 minutes every day. That's not a lot but I did notice some fatigue and soreness in my upper back while playing.
In November we had a few workouts involving paddles and backstroke which I think were my catalysts. That is when I got injured and initially thought I had torn my left bicep. A visit to the doctor revealed that nothing major had happened - likely some soft tissue damage. I was given a high dose of ibuprofen and told to ice it and rest. I did that and used tiger balm which felt great, but the whole thing was very painful. My left arm was very swollen initially and for at least a couple of weeks. I had bruising on my left bicep.
The workouts were very challenging and we used paddles often. At the same time I should mention that I was taking violin lessons and practicing for 30-45 minutes every day. That's not a lot but I did notice some fatigue and soreness in my upper back while playing.
In November we had a few workouts involving paddles and backstroke which I think were my catalysts. That is when I got injured and initially thought I had torn my left bicep. A visit to the doctor revealed that nothing major had happened - likely some soft tissue damage. I was given a high dose of ibuprofen and told to ice it and rest. I did that and used tiger balm which felt great, but the whole thing was very painful. My left arm was very swollen initially and for at least a couple of weeks. I had bruising on my left bicep.
Intro
I have recently been diagnosed with venous thoracic outlet syndrome and have been doing a lot of research on it since. I have found a lot of information but most things point me towards having decompression surgery, which I want to avoid if possible. I wanted to start a blog about my experiences in case I am able to avoid the surgery - maybe this will help someone else who is going through something similar.
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