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Left-sided head, neck and shoulder pain
I am a 31 year old white female from the northeastern US. I do not drink or smoke. I work in an office-type setting and I am in too much pain to exercise regularly.
Since I fell on the ice four times in February of 2005, I developed back pain. Though this went away through physical therapy, I developed left-sided headaches in or around April of 2005. In the November 2005, it spread to my neck and shoulder. This prompted me to seek physical therapy, which consisted of various exercises, and only made the problem worse.
On 26 Aug 2008, I had a total parotidectomy due to a 5 cm deep lobe tumor. After the surgery pain subsided, I was free from the head/neck/shoulder pain for about a month.
Since then, the pain has gotten worse, however two additional locations have started to hurt. It is now on the side of my head (between my eye and ear) and deep in my neck. It has accelerated to a boiling point, much like it did right before I was referred to the ENT who performed my surgery. I feel like my body is trying to tell me something. I have the pain all day; morning, noon and night. It makes me nauseous, and today I had virtually no appetite.
I have tried several OTC painkillers and none of them worked very well. I tried hot and cold compresses; they only aggravated the pain! I missed some work this week due to the pain, and last night, I only got one or two hours of sleep because of it.
I've had other scary symptoms, like a short bout of amnesia (this week), a near fainting spell (a month ago), tons of confusion, and other annoying symptoms, like difficulty with word-finding, concentration, and speaking. It wakes me up sometimes, too.
I saw my PCP on Monday and she referred me to a Neurologist. My appt. was supposed to be next week, but my problems were so severe that I called the office to see if I could get in sooner. I had an appt. today. This is what he had to say:
He wrongly assumed that I was diabetic because I was obese and take Metformin. (I take it for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). He advised me that the headaches were caused by a number of factors; mainly the blood sugar issues (which I do not have; all my blood sugar tests have come up normal), my psychiatric issues (I have Aspberger's Syndrome), my weight and all the meds I take (Abilify, Topamax, Lexapro, Metformin and Simvastatin). What really surprised me is that he had his mind made up before he even examined me!
The examination consisted of mostly reflex tests of the arms and legs, and two or three short neurological examinations that one of my previous PCPs had performed on me. He never palpated my head or neck.
He also didn't order any tests, saying that the tests would not add anything, because he found nothing in the examinations he performed.
He contradicted himself, too. He suggested that my psychiatrist prescribe a sleeping pill, and kept suggesting Seroquel. I've heard nothing but bad things about that med, especially in regard to weight gain. I have two very close friends that gained a lot of weight on that medicine, and have read accounts of people gaining 60-80 lbs on that med; yet he wanted me to take that medicine!
When I mentioned the weight gain issue to him, he said "we'll give you the lowest dose", yet when I mentioned another sleeping pill (one I had success with in the past), and how I wanted to go on the lowest dose, because it used to make me really sleepy, he said "it won't work on the lowest dose" and "doctors are afraid to put people on higher doses" and bla bla bla bla bla.....It was one contradiction bouncing off another... :(
He also prescribed a painkiller, which I looked up online, and found out has been known work at first, and then cause "rebound headaches"... :(
I feel disappointed. Should I get a second opinion? I feel like I was given the "run-around", but then again, I'm no doctor and I didn't know what to expect.
Thanks again!
Since I fell on the ice four times in February of 2005, I developed back pain. Though this went away through physical therapy, I developed left-sided headaches in or around April of 2005. In the November 2005, it spread to my neck and shoulder. This prompted me to seek physical therapy, which consisted of various exercises, and only made the problem worse.
On 26 Aug 2008, I had a total parotidectomy due to a 5 cm deep lobe tumor. After the surgery pain subsided, I was free from the head/neck/shoulder pain for about a month.
Since then, the pain has gotten worse, however two additional locations have started to hurt. It is now on the side of my head (between my eye and ear) and deep in my neck. It has accelerated to a boiling point, much like it did right before I was referred to the ENT who performed my surgery. I feel like my body is trying to tell me something. I have the pain all day; morning, noon and night. It makes me nauseous, and today I had virtually no appetite.
I have tried several OTC painkillers and none of them worked very well. I tried hot and cold compresses; they only aggravated the pain! I missed some work this week due to the pain, and last night, I only got one or two hours of sleep because of it.
I've had other scary symptoms, like a short bout of amnesia (this week), a near fainting spell (a month ago), tons of confusion, and other annoying symptoms, like difficulty with word-finding, concentration, and speaking. It wakes me up sometimes, too.
I saw my PCP on Monday and she referred me to a Neurologist. My appt. was supposed to be next week, but my problems were so severe that I called the office to see if I could get in sooner. I had an appt. today. This is what he had to say:
He wrongly assumed that I was diabetic because I was obese and take Metformin. (I take it for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). He advised me that the headaches were caused by a number of factors; mainly the blood sugar issues (which I do not have; all my blood sugar tests have come up normal), my psychiatric issues (I have Aspberger's Syndrome), my weight and all the meds I take (Abilify, Topamax, Lexapro, Metformin and Simvastatin). What really surprised me is that he had his mind made up before he even examined me!
The examination consisted of mostly reflex tests of the arms and legs, and two or three short neurological examinations that one of my previous PCPs had performed on me. He never palpated my head or neck.
He also didn't order any tests, saying that the tests would not add anything, because he found nothing in the examinations he performed.
He contradicted himself, too. He suggested that my psychiatrist prescribe a sleeping pill, and kept suggesting Seroquel. I've heard nothing but bad things about that med, especially in regard to weight gain. I have two very close friends that gained a lot of weight on that medicine, and have read accounts of people gaining 60-80 lbs on that med; yet he wanted me to take that medicine!
When I mentioned the weight gain issue to him, he said "we'll give you the lowest dose", yet when I mentioned another sleeping pill (one I had success with in the past), and how I wanted to go on the lowest dose, because it used to make me really sleepy, he said "it won't work on the lowest dose" and "doctors are afraid to put people on higher doses" and bla bla bla bla bla.....It was one contradiction bouncing off another... :(
He also prescribed a painkiller, which I looked up online, and found out has been known work at first, and then cause "rebound headaches"... :(
I feel disappointed. Should I get a second opinion? I feel like I was given the "run-around", but then again, I'm no doctor and I didn't know what to expect.
Thanks again!
Nevermind, I am surely losing my mind. I could have sworn I was in the doctor's forum, but my eyes must be playing tricks on me again. Darn this pain!!! :(
Mods, just delete this entire thread for me. Thank you.
Mods, just delete this entire thread for me. Thank you.
OK, I must be doing something wrong. I tried to post this in the "Ask a Doctor forum" and I ended up double-posting here. I am terribly sorry.
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