Greetings, Karateforums.

I was just diagnosed with Paget Schroders Syndrome a couple of months ago. For those who don't know what that is, it's an anatomical condition where the collar bones or ribs compress on veins connecting to the arm and causes it to clot off. The result is usually swelling, discoloration of the arm and fatigue.

It is a relatively uncommon condition that mostly occurs in young, physically active men in the dominant arm.

One of the treatments suggested to me was to remove a piece of my ribcage and relocate some of the muscles around the area of compression. The decompression would relieve the pressure from the vein and result in normal flow. However I would be out of martial arts for anywhere between six months to a year.

The other option is to do nothing. They've had me on blood thinners for almost two months now. The clot has either completely dissipated (unlikely) or shrunk to nearly nothing (more than likely). If the later is the case, then I am extremely likely to clot off again if I stop blood thinners now. When that happens, one of two things will happen. It will either solidify and stay there forever and I will develop collateral veins around it (over the course of a year or two) and have to deal with the swollen arm for a little while. Or the clot will travel all the way down my arm.

My questions are to those of you here (if any) who have experience with Paget Schroders Syndrome. I would just like to know what you did about it when you had it and to describe your experiences with either treatment. Can anyone tell me what alternative medicines like Acupressure might do for me?

Again, I'm not asking for advice I would just like to hear your experiences on it.

No exerience, but good luck in dealing with this.

Yeah, good luck; sounds kind of nasty. Hearing the term "clot" just doesn't sound good at all. Keep us posted on what you learn.

In addition, does anyone know about varicose veins? They sound very appealing because choosing the option to develop them could mean coming off blood thinners and going right back to it. But people keep telling me not to without offering a real reason. What's the problem with varicose veins?

From what I understand, varicose veins are just unsightly. I don't know that they cause any medical issues, though. They just tend to be really visible, and they may cause brusing easier, or rupter easier being closer to the skin. You'd have to look into that, though, to be sure.