posted
One morning in May, I woke-up with a stiff neck that I could not move. Since that time the pain has moved into my shoulder and the base of my skull. It is very intense!! When I turn my head I feel a grating, popping sensation. Often, I will feel it catch and then a electical shock. Last week the pain is centering under my skull and it feels like I have a collar around the back of my neck. Along with this junk, I have tons of neuro problems: numbness in my spine, tingling in my limbs, burning sensations on my ear, and tingling around my eye. I cannot sleep on my side anymore b/c of the pressure it puts on my head.
Has anyone had this? What can I do? The Dr. put me on Lyrica, its has helped a bit. However, I still feel pressure and cramping.
TheCrimeOfLyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4019
posted
You may or may not believe me when I say this, but I hope you at least try.
One of my worst and foremost, presenting symptom of lyme disease was intense neck/shoulder/jaw/head pain. My neck would grind. If I looked up, I got dizzy. If I bent over, I got dizzy. I was intense, excruciating pain 24/7. Once in a blue moon, I would get a break.
I went to 6 different chiropractors. I went to an orthopeadic doctor. I tried different herbs, supplements, pain killers,sauna, TENS Units, hot rice socks, massage, reiki, etc. It just kept coming back. It didn't matter
if I was herxing, not herxing, taking antibiotics or not- it just came crawling right back.
I finally scheduled TRIGGER POINT THERAPY. That was in February. I have been COMPLETELY pain free since February. It took one session. All the guy did was take his fingers and jam them into my trigger points until something released. I dont even fully know the
idea behind trigger point therapy, but I was desperate. I paid 35 dollars to have this done. I would pay it over and over again if I needed to.
But, as I said I have been pain free since February- that is five months. I did the trigger point therapy RIGHT after doing a liver flush found on www.curezone.com. I still did it- even though I dont have a gallbladder, I still have a liver!
So, maybe it was the combination of the two. I urge you to get trigger point therapy done. Really, I do.
On top of that, I cut out caffeine a week later but the pain was alreay gone.
This weekend, I played at the beach with my kids, went swimming and lemme tell ya- my disabled son took my arm and shoulder spinning around a zillion times, plus I had to lift him several times. No pain.
If you get it done, make sure its called trigger point therapy.
-------------------- You want your life back? Take it. Posts: 3169 | From Greensburg, Pennsylvania | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
trigger point therapy can be extremely helpful. I plan to get this done as well.
Posts: 594 | From NJ/NY | Registered: Jun 2006
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lymeinhell
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4622
posted
Ditto on the trigger point therapy. You've developed muscle spazms in that area that need to be broken up. It works - and brings relief at last.
-------------------- Julie _ _ ___ _ _ lymeinhell
Blessed are those who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed. Posts: 2258 | From a better place than I was 11 yrs ago | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Did muscle relaxers help at all? I am having the exact same symptoms.
Need all the help I can get. What kind of Doctor does trigger point??
Posts: 191 | From Eastern Shore. Maryland USA | Registered: Jun 2003
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Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5374
posted
Trigger point therapy is done by a physical therapist, but you want a good one. Some massage therapists also do it.
However, if the Lyme is causing inflammation in the muscles then trigger point therapy is only a temporary solution. For me, it actually made things worse until I started a muscle relaxer.
This is because the infection was causing an inflammation, and the aggravation from the therapy caused increase inflammation. My physical therapist had never seen anything like it.
I take Flexeril every night. It's a muscle relaxer. Without it, I couldn't move my shoulder.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Thank you! I want to try trigger point; I already take too much junk.
Please pray for me! I think I finally found a Dr. to treat me. I had a postive WB three years ago and no one here (Houston)would help w/ antibotic therapy. I did catsclaw, with great results and then since Dec. it quit working. Perhaps co-infections?
I feel that I am in the chronic stage and that w/o treatment I am going way down hill.
Andie333
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7370
posted
First, I'm really glad you're seeing someone who can help you.
As far as your neck, I read your post to my SO, a massage practitioner who suggested seeing a good chiropractor first. Trigger point might be an option, but it needs to be a really good therapist.
It could be pressure from Lyme or maybe you're out of alignment.
At any rate, I hope you're able to get some relief.
Andie
Posts: 2549 | From never never land | Registered: May 2005
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posted
I lived with almost the exact pain you are describing for 18 years -- it waxed and waned some, but never left. MISERABLE I tell you!
I second all the above suggestions --( must add the requisite disclaimer here that I am not a medical doctor.)
First, get a good series of neck x-rays and ideally also an MRI to rule out cervical disc problems, bone spurs, nerve compression, etc.
Concurrently with this, get started treating the lyme and any co-infections you may have. Don't rule out babesia, even if the test comes back negative -- mine did, and babesia turned out to be a huge factor in my neck and head pain.
Find a good chiropractor and have a good exam -- get started on chirpractic treatment. I am lucky in that my chirpractor also does trigger point work. The chiro/trigger point work helped me some even before my lyme dx, but it wasn't until I started getting treated for the infections that my body started responding well to the bodywork. Now, my chiropractor is able to do real, lasting work on me.
I never found muscle relaxants all that helpful, but of the ones I've taken, SOMA is the best for me. Sarsparilla root, actually, is a wonderful anti-spasmodic and also aids in detox.
Hope you feel better soon -- neck and head pain is so very disabling! I had a boatload of neuro stuff, too....
-------------------- "Looks like freedom but it feels like death.. It's something in between, I guess"
Leonard Cohen, from the song "Closing Time" Posts: 822 | From California | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Oh, I forgot to add that I tried Lyrica and it didn't help me much at all, though some folks love it.
What did help symptomatically was lidocaine patches on the knotty part of the spasm, and also a topical product called biofreeze.
I also take cymbalta (for pain) and amitryptiline at night -- it is prescribed to me for sleep, but has a relaxing effect on my muscles, too.
For the first couple months of lyme treatment, I needed heavy-duty pain relief just to baseline function -- Ultram or Vicodin, and migraine meds, and even those didn't help when the pain was at its worst. As I started getting better, however, the pain has decreased dramatically.
-------------------- "Looks like freedom but it feels like death.. It's something in between, I guess"
Leonard Cohen, from the song "Closing Time" Posts: 822 | From California | Registered: Jan 2006
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groovy2
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6304
posted
Hi LED
Look into Babs -- the symptoms you mention are a few of babs symptom--
Im in Austin and got both Lyme and babs here--Jay--
Posts: 2999 | From Austin tx USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
I didn't realize babs can cause this. Some days I'm almost normal, than other days (today) I wake up with a pounding headache, my shoulders and neck are so stiff its nothing but hard knotted muscles, and I feel HUNGOVER.
Obviously I haven't been drinking. I think maybe the air conditioner is drying out my sinuses, so I may use a humdifier along with it at night.
So much to deal with.
I'll be honest, chiropractors make me realllly nervous. Do most do back/neck xrays before giving you adjustments?
Posts: 594 | From NJ/NY | Registered: Jun 2006
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TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
I use a theracane and my trigger point book to deal with neck pain and headaches all the time. The book is helpful for seeing referred pain patterns because the pain does not always originate from the location of the pain. As the book explains, symptoms that you never thought could be related to muscles, often are.
http://www.webshopemporium.com/massage.htm Trigger Point Therapy A trigger point is a small contraction knot in muscle tissue. They can be felt with the fingers and often feel like a pea buried deep in the muscle. They emit distinctive electrical signals that can be measured by sensitive electronic equipment. They affect a muscle by keeping it tight and weak. They almost always cause referred pain (pain that manifests in other areas of the body).
Trigger points are common in everyone, including babies and children. They can develop in over 200 pairs of muscles in the human body giving them a wide range of effect. The concept of trigger points is important for everyone but especially for those who have an illness where muscle pain is a component such as Fibromyalgia, Myofascial pain, Lyme Disease or Chronic Fatigue syndrome. People with hypoglycemia are also more likely to develop trigger points.
A lack of oxygen and nutrients in the trigger point itself can perpetuate trigger points for months or years if not treated. A nasty property of trigger points is that they can exist indefinitely in a latent state in which they don't actively refer pain but accumulate over a lifetime and could be the cause of stiff joints and restricted range of motion in old age. You may not suspect that you have latent trigger points but they are very easy to find because they are extremely painful when pressed on. Latent trigger points can be activated by very little stress or strain.
Most of what is known about trigger points is very well documented in the two-volume medical text Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction by Dr. Janet G. Travell and Dr. David G. Simons. Dr. Travell was the White House physician during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Apparently President Kennedy honored her with that position in gratitude for her treatment of his myofascial pain and other ailments which threatened to end his political career. She used trigger point therapy for his Myofacial pain with a lot of success!
According to The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief, by Clair Davies N.C.T.M.B. and others, trigger points are responsible for a huge array of symptoms such as: joint and muscle pain, lack of circulation from compressed blood vessels, nasal secretions, nausea, toothaches, tooth hypersensitivity, tingling in extremities from nerve compression, sore throat, difficulty swallowing, visual disturbances, headaches, migraine headaches, bladder problems, heel pain, heart arrhythmia, diarrhea, loss of appetite and the list goes on and on.
Most conventional pain treatment focuses on the site of the pain rather than the origin or the trigger point which is why conventional therapy often fails. With the use of The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook and The Thera Cane (consider getting the Thera Cane Instructional DVD with it) , you can effectively do your own trigger point therapy, relieving yourself of disabling symptoms and pain. Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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