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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2003 >> HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
        
(Message started by: Smurf on Sep 4^th, 2003, 12:44pm)

Title: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by Smurf on Sep 4^th, 2003, 12:44pm

Hi gang,
I would like to get some feedback from you if you do or do not experience any neck pain during a CH attack.

If so, please describe it.

Also, does anyone get the chills when an attack is letting up?
-Smurf

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by floridian on Sep 4^th, 2003, 1:59pm

I get general tenderness and discomfort in the neck, especially at the base. Feels like there is pressure on the nerves, but stretching and twisting doesn't help.

No chills when a headache is letting up, but this year and the last, I had an intense heat up at the peak/end of a cycle. A few minutes of feeling like I would spontaneously combust. Went into cool shower, followed by chills and panic attack. The next day, there was a lump in my throat - maybe thyroid?? The lump receded within 1 1/2 days.

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by ckelly181 on Sep 4^th, 2003, 3:31pm

Hey,

I get a hot tension in my jaw. Feels like I'm crushing my teeth together, what I think of as how lockjaw might feel.

I also get a real restless feeling in my legs...don't know how else to describe it. I get a little nauseus, but have never thrown up.

Chris

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by vig on Sep 4^th, 2003, 4:30pm

I just get so uptight, that everything can ache.

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by 5-string on Sep 4^th, 2003, 8:23pm

No chills.

Neck, very tender on left side. As if it all starts there. I thought at one point it this all might have been just a simple case of a pinched nerve or something. No such luck.

No chills though.
See ya,
Mark.

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by JDH on Sep 4^th, 2003, 11:03pm

My neck tightens up on the left side before and during an attack but no chills to report here.
I get a euphoric like feeling when the attack is over. My head is usually sore but other than that I feel really relaxed/drained.
pfdan's

Jim

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by suzy617 on Sep 5^th, 2003, 5:03am

Yes I also get discomfort at the base of my neck before an attack.
No chills but as Jim says, just a very relaxed and draining feeling when its all over.

Suzy

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by RAJ on Sep 5^th, 2003, 6:40am

There are times that I feel like I'm hanging from a meat hook through the back of my neck. This pain can be very intense, measuring around a 7 / 8 by itself. Doc tells me it's brought on by the anxiety of the CH. The only thing that helps is a massager and time. Sometimes I take flexeril which is a mild muscle relaxant. This only happens one in 10 CH attacks, but when it does, it really adds a level of hell that I hate.

Best of luck to all. PFDAN's.
RAJ

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by taraann on Sep 5^th, 2003, 7:36am

My right side of my neck (the side my CH is on) gets very sore also and some sharp pains sometimes go down it but I think that's just muscles getting tight from the pain (I have had fibromyalgia since i was 16 so I tend to be more susceptible to sore muscles...but for the most part I dont have a prob with it anymore other than the neck thing)

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by Orion on Sep 5^th, 2003, 9:18am

I sometimes get a stabbing pain in my right shoulder blade area (same side as CH). It is intense like someone applying a pressure point. I use to think being hunched over at the computer was a possible trigger because of the neck ache but I've given up on that.

Chills, very mild relief chill feeling especially after migranal shot and CH hits the road.

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by Alora on Sep 5^th, 2003, 10:41am

Hey Smurf.... I have much pain in my upper right neck area (same side as CH). It's usually a precurser to the start of the CH and seems to make a direct line to my right eye. I use a heat pack on my neck and ice to my face, the combination helps. No chills.

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by kim on Sep 5^th, 2003, 2:07pm

Severe "knot" at neck/shoulder area on affected side. Get the chills when attack letting up. Every time.

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by toomuchpain on Sep 5^th, 2003, 2:59pm

Hello,

I do not recall experiencing any neck pain during an attack. However, it could be that my headache pain was so severe that I did not notice. Also, no chills but lots of sweating and hot flashes during and after my attacks.

toomuchpain

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by hdbngr on Sep 5^th, 2003, 3:30pm

I like the "meat hook" analogy from the post above!

I call it Terminator neck myself... feels the way the Terminator guy's neck looked when he had no skin, just metal vertibrae, metal skull, all ground together...yucky.

Or like when you were a kid and jammed your thumb playing sports, only its my neck that feels like that all the time now. Some Docs say it is my head that makes my neck feel like that, some say it is my neck that makes my head feel like that. Who knows?

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by Prense on Sep 6^th, 2003, 10:59am

I almost always have neck pain at the onset of an attack. For me, it is normally on the left side of the back of my neck (where the head meets) even though my attacks are almost always on the right side. If I lean my head forward and to the right, I can REALLY feel the neck pain, but stretching it in this manner offers some short-term relief of the neck pain. After about 5 minutes of that, the pain actually increases. The neck pain subsides when I hit a Kip 5 or so normally, but remains sore for a few hours after the attack is over. (like muscle soreness after a workout)

As for the chills...none that I can recall.

Chris

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by Mahle421 on Sep 6^th, 2003, 4:17pm

I do.... on onset I use one icepack at base of neck and shoulder covering the brain stem, then one ice pack at the temple of pian covering my eyes. This works wonders for me along with 15l/min of O2 for 15 min.

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by celtspirit on Sep 7^th, 2003, 9:23am

I never thought to ask anyone about the neck pain, glad you did.
I get some tenderness in the muscles of the side the CH is on, but that is minor compared to the other neck 'problem' I experience.
The only way to descibe this problem is "Neck Crunchies"
It happens just before, and all during a CH. Feels like the neck bones are grinding together with no cartilage between them whenever you move your head, also feels like a joint that needs to 'pop' like your knees or other joints do sometimes. Thing is, no matter how hard you try, it just won't pop.
Application of a cold gel pack to the base of the neck does wonders for both the muscle tenderness, as well as for the CH.

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by sadsue on Sep 8^th, 2003, 11:02am

I started attacking last Thurs morning. It was sooo hot I had the aircon on in the car while leaving work. When I got home my feet where sooo cold I had to put sox on- never had it B4.

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by Jewel on Sep 8^th, 2003, 11:04am

Stiff, chilling, tingling....

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by Smurf on Sep 8^th, 2003, 4:08pm

I'm definitely seeing a pattern. A lot of us suffer extreme pain at the base of our neck - where the head and neck meet. I liked the meathook analogy the best; it's right on. I put an ice pack on the base of neck and on my temple during an attack.

I started seeing an Upper Cervical Chiropractor. The x-rays showed very obviously that the upper-most vertibrae was twisted inward toward the brain and tilted toward the left. He is not a "whip and cracker", rather he pushes gently to get the upper vertibrae in line. He doesn't mess with the rest of neck by assuming that the top one will make the rest line up (like a stack of chairs, as he puts it). It seems that in addition to the clusters, I was also having the pinched nerve headache AND TMJ (probably aggravated by all the other headaches - jaw clenching). He got rid of the "banging my head on the floor to make it feel better headaches". I think the whip and crack chiro was the one who tilted the vertibrae in the first place.
-Smurf

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by kbbogo1 on Sep 11^th, 2003, 1:24pm

Stiff, achy neck at the base of the skull. I find myself constantly rubbing and stretching my neck before the headpain takes over. I was at the chiropractor alot before I was diagnosed with clusters - thought something in my neck was causing the pain. I also have a lump that swells up between my vertebraes - it is very tender and on the right side of the bone in my upper neck (Dr. said it is nerve tissue, it virtually disappears when I am not in a cluster cycle). Also, my jaw occasionally locks on the right side, and my upper right teeth are bad (2 root canals - and novacaine does not numb the area) - everything is only on the right - which is the same side my clusters are. Coincidence?!?

Kim B

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by Smurf on Sep 11^th, 2003, 2:43pm

Kim,
No, not a coincidence, I'll bet. Your whole description is exactly what happens to me - just put in on the left-side.
I'm convinced it's all the CH syndrome.
-Smurf

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by wayner57 on Sep 12^th, 2003, 10:08am

I always get a sore neck on my right side before an attack, it stays during the attack and for a short time afterwards. My demon is always on the right side!
I get very hot at the start of an attack, its stays during the attack, then i get the chills at the end + i get the euphoric feelings when the attck ends!

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by LSUnut on Sep 12^th, 2003, 2:54pm

I definitely get pain at the base of my neck on the right side (right-sided CH sufferer). The pain feels like its connected in a straight line from my right forehead above my eye down a plain to the base of my neck. My wife has also commented that my right ear turns extremely red during an attack, which I guess would account for the burning sensation.

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by cleon on Sep 13^th, 2003, 4:05am

:P Yep I cop it right in the neck too.
Always on the pain side.
Meat hook sounds about right too.
Bastard of a feeling.
Isnt it the Trigeminal nerve? I always thought it was.
I firmly believe that as my cycle gets under way, the Tri nerve is definently involved. I reckon the brain sends a message to 'it' and tells 'it' to "give me as much shit as possible"

Title: Re: HOW'S YOUR NECK DURING AN ATTACK?
Post by Gestrin on Sep 17^th, 2003, 1:52pm

I have great pain in my neck region the longer the CH lasts and even after. I have found, by a fluke that taking Pamprin will help. My nuerologists says that my neck tightens up due to the pain of the CH and that Pamprin has an ingredient in it for women which is a muscle relaxer. It works great at easing the neck pain, but does make me sleepy.
Todd