Sudden, severe, continuous neck/upper spinal pain - help please!

[lovethesun76]

About a day and a half ago I was sitting down and turned my head to the right to grab something and all of a sudden I experienced sudden and severe neck pain.  It took me a few minutes before I was able to catch my breath and try and move to a different position.  At the time, I was sitting on my couch and my seat reclines so I was trying to get back into a position where I could lay back and recline in my seat and not move for a bit to see if that helped.  It did not help.  And honestly nothing I've done has helped, but truthfully this has never happened to me so I'm not even sure what I should be doing to help this.

I had a meeting that I could not miss yesterday, and although I was in extreme pain I went to the meeting and barely made it through.  I found that once I was not laying back in my recliner with my neck, head and back supported by the chair, I was in a lot more pain than I had been when laying in a reclined position.  Since this happened, I have not been able to sit or stand and hold my head up at eye level at all b/c the pain is too strong.  At first I thought the pain was just on the right side of my neck, but as I tried holding my head up while sitting in regular chairs or while standing, I discovered that there was combo of pain and a feeling of weakness in my upper spine area (like it can't support my head or something), in addition to the right sided neck pain.  At times I can feel the pain travel about halfway down my right arm as well, depending on what I'm doing, which hasn't been much since this happened.

The neck pain seems to feel like muscle pain, although I can't imagine what I did to cause it b/c all I did was turn my head to the right in a normal, everyday fashion.  I can't tilt my head to the right or left b/c that causes even more pain on my right neck.  I really only feel the spinal pain when I'm sitting or standing and try to keep my head up - so basically all of the time aside from when I'm in my recliner.

Quick medical history - 4 years ago I was diagnosed with dissections in both carotid arteries and my right vertebral artery.  I had a stroke at age 34 as a result of this, and have stents in my left carotid artery but my right vertebral and carotid arteries are not entirely healed at this point.  While I didn't have any neck pain when my arteries dissected, I do know that others have had neck pain with their dissections, and although I don't *think* this is related to the artery problems, it has crossed my mind.

Thanks for reading, and for any help or advice anyone can offer!!

[philnoir]

Since you report no prior symptoms or cervical spine disease, it does not seem likely that your neck pain is related to your other medical problems.

Like Kalvin, I too imagine that you moved your head in exactly the wrong way and pulled one of the small muscles that work your neck. It is amazing how much pain a little muscle sprain in the neck can cause, and people do it every day.

Also, our nervous system is designed to react to a painful "zap" by invoking a quick movement away from the pain, similar to what happens when you touch a hot stove. The human head is surprisingly heavy, about 12 pounds or more -- as much as a bowling ball -- and this reaction accelerates and decelerates the head, straining many of the larger muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the neck in a whiplash-like syndrome.

Treatment is rest, ice, heat, and NSAIDs to reduce both pain and swelling (protect your stomach -- always take NSAIDs with food.) Support your neck with a rolled up towel when laying down.

It helps to get the weight of your head off your neck. If lying completely flat causes additional pain, try a reclined position of 45 degrees or more.

The neck may hurt for a few days, and as much as a couple of weeks. It may seem to get worse for a day or two -- this is inflammation and should be treated with an ice pack. After a couple of days, the pain should then ease up and slowly get better.

If pain continues to get worse or if the pain becomes unmanageable, contact your doctor.

[Kalvin]

I'm sure the Doctor will want to weigh in on your post.

Don't have any experience with artery problems and or symptoms. Neck pain I do, imo it could be something as simple as a pulled muscle or since u did mention pain traveling down the arm, a pinched nerve. Might be a disc bulge or a bone spur pressing on one of the nerves, and yes I know it can be very painful, I've experienced it first hand.

Regardless, u need to get in an see someone, have some imaging studies done and find out what exactly whats causing the problem.

[lovethesun76]

One more thing I forgot to add - I also have scoliosis.  My spine has an "S" curve so it curves at the bottom and the top, not sure if this is relevant to what is going on right now.  I've had this since childhood (I'm now 38) and have never experienced anything like this!