Occipital pain (lower back of head) from whiplash

[becky1018]

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!

[lorraine50]

Occipital Pain lower back of head Whiplash 3 times,creating severe migraine to the extent of throwing up constantly. Nerve block did not work acupuncture did not work a mountain of pills did not work, chiropractic eases the problem Zomig medication lets me function. But I hear that botox is a good treatment, has anybody here tried it? I would really like to know.

[johnvieira718]

From whiplash injury, thought it was trigeminal neuralgia first...many doctors don't know how to diagnose this including neurologists.. Fortunately found an excellent doctor at UMMS that listened to what i was complaining about and is injecting me behind my ear at the scalp with numbing medication and steroids.  It worked wonders on the first treatment and it is still improving but I slowly know that its getting as good as it can get without something else. I am doing acupuncture and that is also helping the pain in my face while using a TENS unit.

The workers compensation folks are a joke..... Thinking about doing a Employers Comp.:) to help employees out since the Workers Comp. function should but does not to help workers...

As difficult is to find a good neurologist with expertise in whiplash injuries, so it is to find good attorneys.. I am still looking for a competent attorney that can deal with the workers comp insurance and my employer.  The key is competent, cant find one that can answers my questions...

I started to read about quantum physics and positive thinking to cope with the pain that I still feel.  It is very difficult to deal with chronic pain but if we complain too much it will not solve our problems.  It has helped and so has the meetings at our church.  I had to stop thinking and ignore the pain in order to keep living my life...Not an easy task...meanwhile, saw many quack doctors that have little clue of the outcome of their work.  The latest was a Psychiatrist paid by the workers comp that "evaluated" me...lol...I am now challenging his findings about me reaching all the improvement that i can get and will ask where did he got his expertise from.

If your issue falls out of the typical grid pattern of what they are used to, quack doctors have no clue of the consequences of their actions.  Meanwhile, the suckers here keep going on in pain with no one else to turn.

[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.

[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.

[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!