I only found prescription pain meds helpful when my pain was moderate,
when it was severe none of them helped.

When my pain was severe, moist heat really helped and my doctor's pain
treatments also really helped. He used low level level laser therapy
and low dose heparin injections into the thoracic outlet (There are a
couple companpies that make lasers just for this type of medical use.
Search pubmed.org for the article "Heparin alleviates pain in nerve
entrapments" if you are interested in the later pain treatment.)

Long term, physical therapy with Peter Edgelow REALLY helped. He has
trained alot of PT's in his TOS treatment method.
lisa


--- In thoracicoutletsyndrome@yahoogroups.com, "Beckey"
<navywxwfe@y...> wrote:
> Catherine,
> I just read this (just joined the group too) Anyhow, have you tried
> to use moist heat??? Im on pain medication but I cant take them
> during the day as I teach school. I can't take things like celebrex
> or vioxx as they irritate my stomach.
> have you tried alternative therapy? of course there is always
> physical therapy (which can sometimes make it worse), you might be
> able to do acupuncture.
> alot of the doctors (at least that i've seen) have no idea as to how
> to treat patients with TOS so they usually load you up on pain meds &
> dont offer any other solution.
> I also have TMJ-- I use a padded guard in my mouth at night. (mouth
> piece with soft foam rubber)it some what helps the pain!
>
> --- In thoracicoutletsyndrome@yahoogroups.com, "Catherine"
> <crashboxgiglpants@y...> wrote:
> > I was wondering if any of you suffer from TOS to the point of
> having
> > to take pain medication such as percocet, etc. for it. I was
> > recently promoted to percocet 5-325 one every six hours as needed
> > and two as needed at bedtime. I have a hard time with the idea of
> > taking pain meds but I actually finaly took the two last night dose
> > and for the first time in a long time, got a good night's sleep and
> > woke up in a reasonably good place pain wise. I also have TMJ
> > problems that are pretty severe by now and was recently diagnosed
> > with a "snapping scapula" problem - basically subscapular bursitis -
>
> > whihc this dr. said the only way to fix it would be to cut off the
> > upper tip of my scapula. That is ridiculous. I do not like the idea
> > of me being dependent on pain meds but the pain is so awful from
> all
> > this, I just finally gave in. I'd rather feel better here and there
> > even though the pain breaks through anyway.
> >
> > Catherine