I have thoracic outlet syndrome but couldn’t get a referral to investigate further. Was told to see a therapist. 😛
I never thought to link this into the overall picture as I was in a demoralizing job with high stress. I looked up vascular TOS specifically and the magical word popped up “thrombocytosis.”
You said yours was stenosis – but what is the cause of the stenosis? Doctors sometimes jump in and just *fix* or write a prescription and bypass the root. If it’s chronic low-grade illness-based muscle tension, then surgery doesn’t make sense. If all of your veins are narrowing (meaning it’s a vascular tension sort of issue), it would be worth getting a second opinion for sure.
Look up Thoracic outlet syndrome stretches. One makes me pass out in blissful agony – extend your arm and put your palm flat on a wall, either fingers up or fingers down. Again, I have almost no clue what I’m talking about as “connective tissue” and “collagen” never hit my radar ’till I hit this site. I figured it was ‘my fault’ for anxiety and tension.
I find I blame myself for a LOT of things (rough upbringing), and have been blaming myself for all aspects of this deteriorating health. It’s so crazy. I’ve noticed as I start to stand up for myself, I get an “aha!” as I realize some long-standing issue is also part of “it” – whatever is wrong with me. For instance, I knew, but somehow didn’t *get* this obvious one: since last summer, my sense of smell has been either gone, or I smell chemicals. A fresh load of laundry smells toxic to me, and I never thought it was related until I stopped blaming my diet for all the fungus issues I have (immune system is wasted). My prior doctors made me crazy lol.
Best of luck.