No, headaches are not required. (They also aren’t a required symptom of spinal fluid leaks.) I don’t think you should consider anything to be a required symptom just because it’s on a symptom list. My impression is that required symptoms are generally only a part of diagnostic criteria that are syndromes, i.e., where the pathology is unknown. With most conditions, no symptom is present in 100% of cases.
I never had shortness of breath. I stopped breathing full stop. I don’t know if you have CCI but that isn’t the most important thing. What is important is that you had an accident and now have chronic neck pain. There can be many structural reasons for this, and you should try to figure out why.
Ok, time for me to add another to the mix, I guess... The doctor
@Gingergrrl and both see for ME/CFS treatment sent my (supine) cervical MRI (done for C6 radiculopathy a couple of years ago) to Dr. Bolognese, and he read it as possible CCI. I've been wondering whether it could be true because: a. I rarely have headaches anymore, and, b. I rarely have neck pain any more.
I did have a pretty dramatic trauma to the neck many years ago (a few years before the sudden onset of my ME/CFS symptoms), in which I fell on my neck during an Aikido fall (instead of landing on the shoulder and rolling out of it, I landed on my neck, with sudden severe pain and a stunned feeling). For many years after that I had problems with neck pain and spasms. This gradually improved and now only occurs if I spend too much time sitting with a laptop.
So, I'm wondering how essential
constant neck pain is to a CCI diagnosis. I have EDS and plenty of other symptoms. Haven't really noticed any breathing issues, or changes in symptoms with neck position. I've had one session of PT with cervical manual traction, and I felt amazing after that, for several hours: like I was high on something good.
We'll see if this occurs with repeated exposure, or with home traction & cervical collar use.
On the one hand, it would be great to know there's a reversible cause of my symptoms of the past 25 years... but the prospect of spinal fusion surgery, especially in the high cervical region, is rather terrifying!