Strange feeling on back side of the head
 

Hey guys,
I'm 20 year old guy. 2 weeks ago I started having a strange feeling whenever I played video games for an hour or long in my bed resting my head on the wall and neck on pillow, actually i am mostly staying in this position. After the strange feeling appears it stays for the rest of the day. And when this happens, if i even apply a small pressure on the back of my head the feeling gets worse, i sometimes get little nauseated if the pressure applied is too much. The first day i couldn't sleep well because of the strange feeling on the and i couldn't rest my head on the pillow. I went to the hospital to check my eyes (i have myopia on right eye), sinus (i had infection) and CT scan, the doctor told me that there is nothing wrong with me and they don't think that the problem is with the eyes sinus or brain(i wonder).

Now, few days later i have the same problem which started after i played a game but this time in a table like normal people use computer. I had flu fever for the days i didn't notice this, as soon as I got rid of flu i started feeling it. The feeling never ceases, however it gets minimized once i take a good rest. I am even wearing glasses for the myopia although i put it on only when i use computer. Also, when i move my neck sometimes i hear the bone cracking with a single small "tick" sound on the base of the neck, and also when i swallow i can hear crackling in the neck. I stopped staying in that position already. I usually sleep on my sides and read or use laptop in the bed sleeping side-wise and it still triggers that feeling but not as intense as playing video game.

I am really worried. Has anyone here experienced this? I searched the whole internet for days and i still couldn't find similar posts.

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. :)

It sounds like a very unergonomic position , so you are probably constantly straining your neck area.

Thanks for the reply. I'd given up on the internet already since my case is too rare and nowhere mentioned :confused:

It's been around a week that I took rest from the video games and I also got new glasses. The power of my glasses have increased by 0.25D on both eyes (0.5 on left and 1 on another). I started feeling much better after I got these glasses. I feel normal watching movies and so but 2 days after getting my glasses I gave the gaming a try... I played for 3 hours straight and the symptoms were back although it felt less severe than before, the applied pressure on the back of the head didn't make so intense change -- although I could feel little sensations, but the nausea was there. I watch tv shows and movies for hours and I can feel just a little change, but if I play games I go nuts. I still hear the tick sound on my neck and crackling sound when I swallow.

I checked the internet too about chiari malformation but I only matched few symptoms. There is no pain at all for me, just the strange feeling, nausea, confusion while swallowing when this happens (sometimes). I feel like the top bone of my spine is bulging out when I look down but I don't remember if it was like that before. The feeling of my neck sure has changed (in a bad way). So my guess for now is eye problem, neck problem or could be chiari malformation (who knows until I get an MRI). I think I would wait for the MRI and get eyes checkup again and x-ray of my neck.

Thanks for your help :) If you know more about this keep me posted. Thanks again.

Perhaps a very good chiropractor would be of help, the gaming and poor posture is a recipe for RSI & neck issues.

you tube posture & ergonomic videos might be a good thing to check into.

also some info here - http://www.upcspine.com/self.htm