Dazee, I'm a gamer, too. A nearly 48 year old mom, World of Warcraft playing gamer. Weird, eh?

From the days that I could run raids and we'd be at it for hours, I know half the guild would have neck aches the next day. You actually may be pinching a nerve in your neck. The problem is, that until you give it a COMPLETE rest (like walk away from gaming for a week) and maybe get some physical therapy (at the very list a dr. trip is in order in case this is more serious, like a disc problem), it's not going to heal up. You just keep re-injuring the neck by not giving it enough rest.

Now. Another big thing. Is there a way you could go see a Neurologist? I'm not saying you have one of my diseases at all, but I went 38 freaking years getting misdiagnosed because a neuro didn't know to look for what I have because it's so rare. Let me give you some descriptions: Back of my head, in the Occipital bone region, feels like someone smashed a sledge hammer against my head. Vice grip feeling at other times. Like someone screwing one onto my head. Pain in neck, radiates down into arms, shoulders and back. Absolutely pain pain pain and any time I'd bend my neck the wrong way I could hear a crack and a pop and it hurt like a mofo.

I have Arnold-Chiari Malformation AND Syringomyelia. ACM is when the hole in the back of your skull that lets your brain stem become your spinal cord is too small. Instead of letting your cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) flow freely, your hind brain "tonsils" get pushed down into the canal and blocks the flow. It causes lots of crap. You're born with it but can go your entire life being non-symptomatic until you get some sort of injury (car wreck, lift something to heavy, bad fall) and then it all goes to pain!

Sometimes with ACM a "syrinx" can be formed. That's a pocket of brain fluid builds up inside the spinal CORD itself. The longer it's there, the more damage it does. We have no idea how long my syrinx has been there, but they can't drain where mine is and they can only throw pain meds at it. I call this pain the "ice pick in the back of the head" pain. Over time, my syrinx has grown. Everytime I've done something I shouldn't do (lift over 10lbs, do anything that causes CSF to surge, it fills up a little more and causes more pain/damage.

I'm not saying you have any of this, I just know I went forever having scans, seeing Neurologists and finally a NeuroSURGEON is the one who spotted it. With the more frequent use of MRI's, more and more Neurologists know to look for it. But 95% of ER visits for me means I"m explaining what both diseases are to the dr and nurses.

Until you can get back into a dr, remember that heat is for comfort, but ice is for healing. You need to rest your neck/head OFTEN and ice it. Don't give up on life and stay home because you're worried about your neck, but remember to take care of it and don't take "nothing's wrong" from anyone when you are still having issues.

Keep us posted, friend.