Neck Issues: looking for your experiences
 

Since I have come off of Topamax, and have no medicine at all, I have been having a lot of pain and stiffness in my neck. It also hurts behind my ears sometimes, but what is really odd is, my ears themselves are aching. Not the eardrum or anything inside, I mean the flappers on the outside of my head are aching.

I know the neck is often a cause of issues in a head injury, and given the way my head was injured it makes sense that my neck could have almost been lightly whip lashed. I was just wondering if anybody out there has had problems with their neck and what it felt like, and if anybody knows why my ears would be aching.

Thanks!

Hello.

Sorry to hear about your ear situation. I have had/ still do have issues with my neck, most noticeably my lack of range of motion & pain when turning. Also, I do have a vibrating noise when i twist side to side and some crunching when i roll my shoulders back and my neck in a circular motion.

Have you had your neck mri'ed? If you have experienced whiplash you may be having muscle spasms that contribute to headaches. Generally it is good to keep your neck loose, at least for me I kept my head still for almost a year because of the severity of my concussion and pain which led to more problems. I learned that docs generally don't focus on necks because they are not as concerned, but long term it makes a difference. They seem to check the neck at the 1 year mark.


Using the heating pad helps and daily stretching. Look to each side, make a double chin and also bend over and use a towel to stretch your neck down. Do reps of each of these, but start slowly. And as far as the ear thing you mentioned, sorry I have not experienced that but sure had some terrible side effects on topamax.
hope that helps a bit.good luck.

If it is pretty bad pain wise, what about asking for some expert PT sessions?

If for nothing else they can get you set up with a good & proper plan of stretches. But if you might need some pain reliving therapies (instead of medications) they can do that too.
Ultra sound, massage, IF stim, low level laser...
Some chiros do these modalities also, mine did.

I cannot speak to the outside ear pain, but I can describe the neck discomfort I feel. It is much better than the first couple of weeks after the whiplash injury. In the beginning, I could barely move my neck. It hurt to turn my head left and right.

Most of that pain is gone now, but my neck makes crunching noises whenever I rotate to the left, right, up, or down. Sometimes it gets stuck in a position and I have to gently pop it out to get it moving again, if that makes any sense. I also have discomfort if sleeping on my stomach because it hurts to keep my head turned to the side for a long period of time.

I've asked 2 of my doctors if I could get an mri, but both said I don't need one. My neurologist gave me a couple of neck stretches to do, similar to what post concussion mentions. I haven't noticed much of an improvement yet, but it may take a while to get results.

It couldn't hurt to discuss with your doctor and possibly getting some PT to hopefully help ease the pain. Good luck!

Thanks for the replies: today my wife took me to the ER to see what they could do. They did an MRI on my neck and it showed nothing, so their big solution was it has to be muscular. They gave me a morphine injection and a valium injection, but the pain did not go away. So I have a muscle relaxer and a pain medicine, but no better idea what is going on. And I don't think the muscle relaxer is going to help.

Sometimes a "hands on" approach is needed , not medications...

ER is what it is...emergency treatment only, right or wrong...

Soft tissue injuries/pain rarely show on MRI.

Scott,
I have just finished 8 weeks of Vestibular Therapy and starting 4 weeks of Myofascial (sp?) Release Therapy tomorrow to help with headaches/neck Issues. The PT that did my Vestibular Therapy said I had muscle spasms and trigger points due to whiplash type injury from the blunt trauma.

I also had MRI C-spine after my brain MRI. The spine showed protrusions and narrowing but they are saying that is degenerative. My neck is stiff at times but it pops all the time and it;s bothersome.

The heat therapy and gentle stretching the PT did seemed to help.

Hope you start feeling better.

Dumb question, but what does vestibular therapy do? I tried reading online some info, but I can't focus long enough to read the articles. :o

Well in my case, we nworked on balance, core strengthening exercises, sequencing, etc. The PT did also did balance tests (eyes open/closed, on foam, feet side by side, one in front of other etc).

I too have neck strain since the start. I have whiplash due to the way my head had flung around in the incident. I haven't been on any meds other than over the counter pain relievers. (Don't work btw)

I see a massage therapist 2 x a week and I'm able to move it a bit more than I could before but I still have a way to go. The pain is still there.

As far as ear pain I don't have outer ear pain more like a inner discomfort. Loud noises bother me and I wear a hood all the time like the wind outside aggravates it.

Kelly

How did you get your injury? I've been thinking part of my injury was whiplash -ish, whereas my head was forced forward and down rather quickly, and I have often wondered if my neck was affected as if it were whiplashed.

Heavy metal overhead storage cabinet door above my desk at work slammed down onto front top of head. My neck didn't hurt at first, or at least i didn't start feeling it until the headaches were somewhat under control.

The myofasial release therapy seems to be helping quite a bit with the tension headaches which the doc and Pt says are caused by the neck injury and muscle spasms.

They also changed my meds to Amitriptyline and Diazepam (Valium) which seems to be making a difference helping my muscles to actually relax a bit.

I am even typing better now lol. If I could just get rid of the Migraines and Fatigue and a few other things.:eek:

so its a work comp injury? How's that working out for you? I'm surprised you got actual treatment out of work comp, or did you not file it that way?

Yes it is work comp and I felt forced to get an ATTY 6 weeks into recovery to be able to see a Neurologist. After that I began getting more treatment....but it has been a very slow road.

I also was put on meds in the beginning that made me lightheaded and caused me to fall over my dog and hit my head again and injure my shoulder...so that def made my situation worse.

I think I remember yours being a wc situation too? How is yours going?

Not as well as yours, unfortunately. I got an atty about 3 months in, b/c I could see the writing on the wall and knew I was about to get dumped. Now, it's been almost 7 months, I got dumped anyway, barely any treatment, and my fate is in the hands of my atty. The neuro they sent me to tried two meds, Depakote and Topamax, then decided there was nothing else he could do for me. They got a neuropsychologist to actually say I was unreliable and could not be taken at face value when reporting symptoms. Fortunately I got a neuropsychiatrist to evaluate me and wrote an honest report. So, it's a battle of Neuros, you know "mine is bigger" sort of thing, and I'm without medication or anything.

BUT, I did find a concussion clinic run by Washington U. here in St. Louis and they are evaluating my case for referral, and my first appt. would be in about 2 weeks, so hopefully I get in to see them and they do something OBJECTIVE about my case.

Sorry to hear of your battles with WC. I have had a few myself. In fact you mention Wash U.......thaat is where I had my NeuroPsyche eval and it was def a slanted report. Let's just say that since he was paid by WC and also employed by the same system as me, I did not receive an objective assessment of my real cognitive issues.

I hope you have more luck at the concussion clinic...I have not received treatment there, but I have heard good things.

I am also going to be evaluated by another neuro....not paid by Wc in August.

Good luck with clinic and let me know how it goes. They should also be able to help you with the meds and neck issues.

Do you remember that guys' name?

Yes, but I don't want to post it here. I will PM you.