severe neck pain with cold sore outbreak

[kimhg]

i thought it was a coincidence and maybe it is but i have the worst neck pain and can barely move my head.  i thought i had just slept on it wrong but it is gradually getting worse.  after thinking about it i realised it started a couple of days before the cold sores showed up.  just wondering if this is common.  i have only been diagnosed with cold sores for a year now.  i never had them before last year but unfortunately my husband had them most of his life and gave them to me.  just really concerned about the neck pain.  any help would be appreciated.  thanks

[jordynoleymom]

I came across these posts/questions when I googled cold sore and neck pain.  I came down with two doozies of cold sores on a Friday and neck pain started that that.  It has progressively gotten worse, here we are almost a week later.  Today I went and had a massage and laser therapy on my neck and both ladies (one was a nurse) the other the massage therapist mentioned that the cold sore virus can attack other areas of the body and that it's (the virus's) objective is to get the body as close to the spinal area as possible?  My neck pain definitely is not normal as I am always in chronic pain (neuropathy) but this is different.  I can barely move my neck.  Pain meds do not help and tellng people to see a doctor and get an MRI ordered is a waste of time for many of us depending on where we live.  It took two years for me to find a doctor willing to order me an MRI and when I got the results back, nothing was noticed.  I may or may not have a genetic connective tissue disorder called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome so I can only assume that is what is causing my neck pain, just in a different way than it normally manifests itself.  but it was interesting to hear both ladies tell me that a cold sore virus can lead to other pain that you wouldn't think were related in any way.  

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.
The cold sores and the neck pain may be unrelated. Muscle strain can cause neck pain. Sometimes problems in the cervical (neck) spinal cord like a herniated disc or something going on in the right side of the brain could be possible causes. For symptoms such as these consult your family doctor and have them check you out. He may then refer you to a neurologist for an objective assessment of the weakness. An MRI of the spinal cord and brain may also help to arrive at a diagnosis.  
Hope this helped and do keep us posted.