Weird recent neck event seemed to push a reset button

[vision blue]

About a half hour after one of my typical "autonomic attacks", i flared up problems with neck and shoulders trying to drive into a small space (I couldn't walk the one block because the attack was too recent). my steering wheel is hard to turn.

During the night, the pain woke me up and was so excruciating, 9 out of 10 on pain scale that I was actually screaming out loud, not fully concious yet of what on earth was happening. pain was neck to shoulder shooting down arm and a sensation of a spreading out "explosion" in my shoulder. Tenderness where shoulderblade meets neck. the shoot me now pain only lasted about 60 seconds. was followed by burning /tingling down arm to thumb and index finger- AND up left side of face which felt sort of numb (nope, don't think was a stroke)

one more thing to mention before getting to punchline is i've had shoulder problems for years now. STarted with a injury from a bad tai chi instructor; not only never healed but has produced on 2 occasions(not counting the middle of the night episode) had very severe shoulder pain that sent me to ER one time and lasted a week with being unable to sleep e.g. and another time following an ultrasound of shoulder also the worst of it lasting a week and unable to leave the house or put on a shirt. besdies that, cervical issues, C3-C6, 10 years ago, mild stenosis, haven't a clue what would look like now.

ok, punch line, immediately following the 9 out of 10 pain, i was different. My sympathetic excess was just plain gone. I've been battling with constant fight or flight state as latest installment after years and years of profound fatigue. very unpleaseant state where you can never relax . But it was like a reset button had been hit. Even my blood pressure was at least 30 points lower (systolic). the autonomic issues frequsently has my bp in statosphere/hyptertensive crisis.

it's been 2 weeks now and its still in the "off" positiong. I know it didn't fix it, since still can only sleep, and only if i'm lucky , 6 hours and just don't get sleepy. so still sympathetic stuff must be turned on.

but somethign was turned off- at least for a bit.

i was wondering if i gave myself a stellate ganglion block somehow...

 

[pattismith]

@vision blue
I wonder if you are still in the Off position?

 

[gbells]

I'm a big fan of OCS certified physical therapists (orthopedic certified). See if you need trigger point work to release trapped nerves between spastic muscles, might have a shifted neck disk from bad posture, weak muscles etc. Cured arm radiculopathy I was suffering from. Could also be low B12 stressing the nerves.

 

[valentinelynx]

Wild speculation: a herniated disc in your cervical spine was causing significant spinal stenosis (pressure on the cord) and or nerve root compression (causing shoulder/arm pain). Perhaps the herniated portion of your disc broke off (they do fragment sometimes) and temporarily aggravated your symptoms (the interior materials from a disc can cause a lot of inflammation if they exude onto nerve roots). The disc may have self-sealed or, if a fragment fell onto a nerve root, it may have fallen off of it again. Just know this is probably utter fantasy!

 

[gbells]

McKenzie Technique physical therapy often worked wonders along with a guided exercise and stretching program. Disk injuries often dehydrate, relieving the pressure over time. There are also surgical options if warranted, ie. replacement with a prosthetic disk if its only one level. But start with the OCS PT.

 

[taniaaust1]

I second what gbells has said.. find yourself a physio who is also certified in the orthopedic side of things too. I've personally found normal physios useless and have only had help with things when my physio has had the extra ortho qualifications or other special qualifications too.

 

[gbells]

The OCS PTs have to complete 4000 hours of supervised rehabilitation treatment experience. That's equivalent to more than a year residency. Other providers (general PT, DC), none to minimal. There is a huge difference. DCs aren't even tested on rehabilitation in their national boards and programs can only offer 1 cred hour in it, which encourages patient dependency.

 

[vision blue]

@pattismith
Your timing is intersting. Had you asked that 2 days prior, i would have said YES! but on sept 11, a set of over the top stimulation (loud alarming noises over the past week, profound sleep loss due to noise for days, and a deep breathing device) seemed to suddently get things going again. Even though the stimulation has subsided for now, the switch seems to be stuck in the on position again, especially my heart/chest.

 

[vision blue]

@valentinelynx I think its possible. i do know something happened after i responded so badly to the ulatrasound test (mast cell response is my guess) and even from before had the shoulder and neck issues for a long time- again thinking incidental rather than the root (so to speak) of the problem

 

[vision blue]

@gbells How can one find one of those?

 

[gbells]

I would look on your insurance panel for PTs, type orthopedics as the specialty and then call/email and ask them if they are OCS certified. Sometimes they will be and not list it on their information pages. Be careful, many who do injury PT aren't certified.