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Jan. 25th, 2009 11:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cyranoSo it started out with a sore muscle in my neck which didn't like me turning my head to the right. That was Friday. Saturday I was driven to tears by driving to the drug store and realizing that I couldn't turn my head either way without a great deal of pain. Tonight is a migraine, and the shooting pains run from my neck to my calf.
Further proof that this is obviously a tumor. Or something.
Further proof that this is obviously a tumor. Or something.
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Date: 2009-01-26 08:38 am (UTC)In all seriousness, I've been dealing with lots of Those Things myself, those unexplained annoying medical things you can't explain...haaate it.
We can be brain cancer buddies. :D
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Date: 2009-01-26 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 02:13 pm (UTC)*hug* (but not so hard as to cause discomfort)
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Date: 2009-01-26 03:30 pm (UTC)It sounds very much like a strained muscle. Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, the store brand-- doesn't matter. In addition to being a pain reliever, it's an anti-inflammatory. Acetaminophen is less so, so don't get Tylenol or the like and call it the same). You can exceed the recommended dosage, but do so sanely-- no more than twice the dosage, no more than twice as often, and only do one of those two choices. Don't double for more than a single day at a time, and drink extra water while you're taking it, because ibuprofen can damage your kidneys (SOME extra water, don't drown yourself in it-- the goal is to flush the drug out without overloading your kidneys).
Ice when it actively hurts, heat when it settles down. Neither for more than 20 minutes at a time, and then 20 minutes off. If it starts to hurt even a little bit more while you're using the heat, take it off and stick with just ice for several hours. Heat increases the blood flow which increases healing-- unless the muscle is still swelling, in which case it just increases the swelling, which increases the pain. (Ice stops the swelling; when ice stops feeling good on the muscle, stop using it and just use heat.) Lots of people will say to alternate between the two; I find that causes me more pain because I'm using heat before the swelling has stopped. (Yes, I do this a lot. You'd think I'd learn to stop doing the things that cause me to strain muscles, but I never seem to.)
Once the heat feels good and the ice feels pointless, start stretching the muscle gently by sitting up straight and looking forward, then tilting your head slowly to one side as far as you can go without pain (it should feel tight but not "ow". If that means you're only tilting 1/4 of an inch, then only tilt 1/4 of an inch. Going too far will do more damage than good.) Hold it there for 30 seconds. Then go back to normal, and tilt to the other side. Yes, do both sides even if only one hurts. Do the same thing over again, but twist instead of tilt. Repeat the whole process frequently but not obsessively (I'd say "once or twice an hour when you think about it.")
Watch your posture. Slouching changes the angle your head sits at, which changes the pressures on the muscles. You might find you can gain a bit of relief by changing how you sit.
The pain down to your calf is probably one of the nerves getting too much pressure applied to it by the swollen muscles-- they all go through the neck on the way up to the brain stem. If it were me, I wouldn't worry about it unless it stuck around after my neck felt better, though of course you should be careful about how you walk, etc, to avoid causing yourself more pain.
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Date: 2009-01-26 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 05:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 07:27 pm (UTC)