Good morning Neuro community,

I've found some threads here that are very similar to what I'm experiencing, but they are many years old so I thought I would have the most luck starting a new one. 37 year old female, visited the chiropractor for the first time June 2023 for neck and back pain. Went for 3 weeks in a row and had my neck adjusted each time. A week or two later I started feeling nerve pain above my right temple, which is very sensitive to the lightest touch. It also extends above my ear and towards the back of my head. Some discomfort is also felt behind my right eye and in my right ear. I do deal with inflamed sinuses so that contributes, but this seems in response to the chiro work I had done.

6 months later and I've had a clear head CT scan and unremarkable brain MRI with and without contrast. I'm still experiencing this pain on a daily basis, although it isn't severe and is not accompanied by dizziness, nausea, facial drooping, blurred vision, etc. I've read some scary stuff about neck adjustments and vertebral artery dissections, so I've put a note in with my doctor's office to get a referral for a neck MRI. What else should I be considering or doing? I don't believe that my level of pain warrants an ER visit, but I also don't want to be a ticking time bomb and the timeline seems to point to something happening from the chiro adjustment. Any information would be greatly appreciated, thank you!!

I think Vert art dissection is pretty rare, but can happen with many day to day activities according to the list here..- A lot of info on symptoms and treatments too.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/healt...ery-dissection

One medical site even stated the neck pain/symptoms that may cause a person to go to a chiro might have been the VAD before any adjustments..

Did you have a specific injury or event that gave you the original neck & back pain , or was it more of a ongoing and increasing pain?

Did it seem that the chiro was new , overly rough or jerking with adjustments?

It could be a pinched nerve more than VAD by the symptoms, but I don't know , but you might consider a more expert chiro?