Friday, March 14, 2014

My Neck Is A Pain In The Neck

Since I've been struggling with neck pain again over the past three weeks or so, I went to my pain management doctor last week and got some simple lidocaine shots in the trigger points in my neck and upper back.  This helped a little...I was hoping it would help more than it did, but it did take my pain down a notch on the ole' pain scale.

Since I'm still going to physical therapy for my ankle, I asked my therapist if she could “wand” my neck.  I forget the name of that thing all the time, so I call it the wand...sonic...ultrasound...I don't remember...THE WAND.  Anyway, it's a machine with a wand attached that they rub on a small part of your body and it acts as a deep heat sort of thing.  This helped bring my pain level down another notch...so now my pain is at a 3-4...which is still painful, but doesn't usually stop me from going about my day...I'm just a little more grumpy about stuff :)  My pain doc also gave me a prescription for physical therapy on my neck, so this week my therapist did some hands on massage of my neck, right at the base of my skull.  This helped even more. Down another notch!  Now I'm in “reasonable pain I can live with” land...at least in my neck.

Hopefully, I can keep it down like this for a while longer, otherwise I have to go back to my other doctor for some steroid shots into the neck/occipital nerve area.  At the end of November, before I had my ankle surgery, I went for facet joint injections, hoping they would help calm all this pain down for a while.  And by a while, I mean longer than 3 months.  I was hoping to get 6 months to a year out of these. Notsomuch.  So I think when I do have to go back for steroid shots, I'm going to ask for the original kind I had for two years...shots into my occipital and lesser occipital nerves.  Those also lasted for about 3 months...but they didn't hurt as bad and I didn't get anxiety going in for those.

I blame all this on Mother Nature.  Seems like when we had that big snowstorm a few weeks ago, it set everything off.  I love winter, and I love snow.  But as I get older, I'm loving all this pain that comes with it less and less.  I think I just need a Disney vacation :)  Hello sunny Florida!



3 comments:

  1. Neck pain can really be a bummer, but just hang on there. You are keeping up the medications, which is more than a good start. That's one. The other, I guess, is vigilance, in which I'm sure you'll never waver. A good chiropractor should help you move through that ordeal as well. Feel better soon!

    Jacqueline Hodges @ Dr. Koziol

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  2. I’m sorry to hear about your chronic pain condition. That’s very inconvenient, especially if it attacks in an inopportune time. Just stay strong, take a rest, and go on a vacation for a change of scenery. I think that can help to lessen the pain you are suffering. Take care!

    Helen Barnett @ Anesthesia Atlanta

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  3. Getting older does bring you these unpredictable pains, and most of the time they come the least you expect them to. Anyway, I hope you’re feeling a lot better now, and that you don’t have to visit the doctor often because of your neck pain. But on the slight chance that you’re still having these attacks, you might want to hold out on that Disney vacation. Haha! Thanks for sharing. All the best!


    Agnes Lawson @ Pain Relief Experts

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