Trauma Induced Headaches

   My daughter was involved in an auto accident almost 6 years ago.  She had severe whiplash.  MRI's showed she had disc herniation at C5, C6, C7 but nothing was being impinged.  Repeat MRI done 2 years later.  No real changes.

During the course of these past 6 years, she has had epidural blocks, facet blocks, nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablation, all forms of physical therapy, massotherapy etc., and has been on 98% of the drugs on the market for headaches, pain, muscle relaxers, sleeping pills and so far as anti-depressants.

She is getting severe headaches that start at the trapizious muscle, up her neck to the occipital nerve thus causing the "please kill me" headaches.  Nothing works.
She has trigger points all up and down her upper shoulders, back, neck.  Coritzone injections help with this only slightly for extremely brief periods of time (days).

We have seen neurosurgeons, family practice doctors, ER doctors, pain management physicians, orthopedic surgeons.  You name we have been there. This kid gets no relief.

She is afraid to fall asleep as she wakes up in so much pain, she can't function.  At first it was a few times a month if she lifted something the wrong way or moved the wrong way.  It has escalated to being daily.  Neck pain, can't turn head, up the neck to a headache that is uncontrollable.  Zomig, Relpax, Imitrex, Maxall, all these drugs are worthless.  Pain meds, anti-inflammatories, steroids.  Nothing gives her much relief.  The onset was when she was rear ended and slammed her head into the headrest of the vehicle she was in and has continued its course escalating to its current daily occurance.  She was a healthy athlete involved in cross country running, discus, shotput, softball, swimming etc.  She now does nothing.  She can barely get up in the morning (if she gets up) and cannot be involved in any type of sports at all.  
Daily necessities are a difficulty.  Any ideas on where we can seek help?

I have run out of tests, out of doctors and out of hope.  She can barely function on a daily basis.  

[jcverive]

I am very sorry to hear about your daughter's ordeal, and I hope I can help. From your post, it seems that your daughter's largest complaint is with occipital neuralgia (ON). I've been dealing with ON for nearly 30 years, starting when I was 18. Surgeries and pain meds have helped for a while, as have many different 'off-label' uses of antidepressants and anti-seizure meds. I recently got out of the hospital after the narcotics almost killed me, but I have had much success since then with a combination of three meds: Cymbalta (30mg, 3X a day), Lyrica (150mg, 2X a day), and Keppra (500mg, 2X a day). In addition, I am using Suboxone  (8mg, 1/2 tablet 4X a day), instead of the oxycodone I was taking.
Please talk to your daughter's primary physician about these meds.  If you'd like me to follow up, or if you want to know about how these meds work, please email me at ***@****. I am a moderator of an online support group for neuralgia  patients or anyone interested in neuralgia, and I'll tell you how to join.

Best of luck -
Jeff