Occipital pain (lower back of head) from whiplash

Anyone else with chronic pain that is deep inside the occipital area (back of your skull, lower half)?  I had two severe whiplash accidents, a side impact & a rear impact.  Believe severe chronic pain to be from damaged nerves in my brain stem area.  Even with a ton of pain medication the Doctors rate my pain a #12 on a scale of 10 (off the charts).  The pain is soooooo severe I don't "feel sleepy", only pain exhaustion lets me sleep a couple of hours every 4th or 5th day for 6+ years.  Doctors tell me there's no technology that can show what's going on.  They say it's like having an injury before x-rays were invented - we know there's something wrong but no way to know if it's a sprain or fracture, etc.  I now have an implant (Medtronic Drug Infusion) that dispenses concentrated pain medication into my spinal fluid.  It's wonderful, I now have a somewhat normal life with a lower pain level, but I still want to know what's causing all this pain!

[johnthejeans]

hi, have had extreme whiplash and know your pain. medics in uk are lost!  i also have many other symptoms. Have had to do  my own research on web.
best relief is cannabis!
bed rest or just sitting head back works for me
no walking (impact through spine)
sleep in comfy armchair with head back in soft support

I had very high blood pressure which seemed to coincide.

Damage to vertebral arteries is supected with intermittent blocking depending on angle of neck.
Are your platelets hyperfunctional? ie platelets clump making counting difficult - which i suspect is am autonomic restricted blood flow response.
I have symptoms of vertebro basalar insufficiency -right leg gives way wildly fluctuating blood pressure.
Many bizarre symptoms eg Nails stopped growing! - i could go on and on and on.
There seems to be little awareness of these issues in the medical world.
We are alive but most with these problems are probably dead!

[sumdumgai]

I have cervicogenic headaches.  I have a whiplash injury..  I am in constant pain which frequently becomes migraines.


Ice therapy is helpful.  Put the ice pack on the sub-occipital area and keep it there until you are numb.  Takes about 30 mins usually.
Cannabis is helpful.

I have been seeking relief for 21 years now.  I have avoided surgeries, but have had good results from microwave neurotomy, but it is risky at C2 and it is only temporary.  Nerve blocks of the 3rd occipital nerve help also, but also temporary.

It is difficult to have a condition that nobody understands.  Few doctors get it and it takes a long time to diagnose.  Good luck to you all.

[tnt98]

I did some funky neck stretch a few years ago. It took 3 days for the symptoms to appear. when they did, it was hell. I couldn't sit up for hours, had to brace my head when sleeping. It felt like someone hit me on the back of my head with a baseball bat. Had gotten vertigo, low blood pressure. I felt out of it.  doctor's couldn't figure out what was wrong, and still can't. on and off medication for awhile. I hate that they cannot figure out what it is. scans showed nothing. some of the pain  has subsided, and now is back. lowered my blood pressure and also feels like muscles in my neck are being pulled downward. very hard to describe.
have an appt. with another neurologist next week. fingers crossed.