So yesterday morning I woke up about 15 minutes before the alarm was to go off with a crick in my neck. Ow.
I went ahead and showered and headed off to work, thinking nothing of it. But as the morning progressed, that crick in my neck progressed to a greater pain, then became full-fledged, stop-where-you-are-and-whimper muscle spasms. By 9:30 AM my boss took a look at me and told me to go home. So I came home, took some ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer and tried to relax. Not a lot of help there – the slightest movement set off a muscle spasm and a world of pain. By the time takaza got home, I was a mess. I called my doctor and she (rather surprisingly) called in a prescription for Vicodin and Valium to the nearby pharmacy. That stuff knocked me out, and I was able to get a solid night’s sleep.
This morning the spasms were somewhat shorter in duration, but still there. Given the fact that I still can’t turn my head to the right, as well as the fact that we got ten inches of snow overnight and the roads weren’t plowed yet, I elected to call in (well, e-mail in) to work and stay home. I popped a Valium and a couple of Vicodin and got a very nice nap in. Dan has stayed home as well ( the roads truly do suck) and he’s watching out for me, bless him. Unfortunately, I’m supposed to be at work tomorrow (mandatory work day in exchange for getting Christmas Eve off), so I’ll probably go in no matter how I’m feeling. Hopefully the spasms will have abated by then, though.
Fun times!
Oy! I hope that your neck heals up really quickly, sending healing thoughts your way!
Wow. Sorry to hear – hope after some more rest today you are feeling better tomorrow! Take it easy 🙂
A Crick in your neck.
Oh.
Nevermind.
/emily litella
I have gotten a world of relief through my chiropractor. The trick is (of course) to find a good one. And or course, not all such pains are correctly treated thus.
I had chronic stiffness and pain in the neck. The chiropractor x-rayed me and showed me the x-ray compared to how the vertebrae was supposed to be. My curvature was crooked, as a couple of the vertebrae did ll of the bending and others were kind of stuck together. He got it loosened up after a dozen visits and I no longer have the problems I used to. I started twice a week and no go once a month, but that’s also for some minor lower back problems that I could live with (but am glad to no longer have to deal with).
A hint it was spinal for me was occasional numbness and tingling in my leg or other places, when nerves got pinched. Hope the meds help you for now, and hope you find something to give you lasting relief, too. Take care!
Another thing that helps me is those blue ice jelly packs that I keep in the freezer. I either wrap them in a towel or use the special elastic wrap thing. There’s also a “bed buddy” wrap that I microwave for applying heat. Good luck!
Does a heating pad help at all? I had something similar happen in jr high… I was brushing my hair, turned my head and heard a pop, then couldn’t move my head. I ended up having to go to a chiropractor who popped it and realigned my spine and it felt better after a couple of days.
*hug* Really hope it gets better for you sweetie, neck pain sucks. 🙁
I will second the chiropractor and the heat.
I have had a lot of shoulder and neck pain problems. Being a computer programmer is really hard on that part of the body, and I carry stress there too.
Heat helps relax my muscles. I have a Bed Buddy neck hot/cold pack. It’s basically an elastic sack full of buckwheat. Goes in the micro for 90 seconds, comes out smelling good, lay it on your neck and shoulders. No cords or anything, and you could use it at work too. They also make a back wrap.
Sometimes if I get some heat on there and relax the muscles enough, whatever’s out of whack in my neck will pop back where it’s supposed to go, and it feels so much better.
Hope you feel better soon.
I <3 vicodin.
*owie*
Hope that crick heals itself soon and you get to feeling better!
I’ve developed something in my neck and I know where you’re coming from. It’s gotten bad enough once or twice that I nearly went to the urgent care place/ER to beg for some relaxers or SOMETHING. The bad thing with me is neck spasms/cricks/whatever is wrong normally results in migraines for me if they don’t ease up within a few hours =/
I’ve had some luck with a contoured memory foam pillow from erm….. the memory foam people (blanking on the name).