Supporting Symptoms

[DoubleEm]

Anyone suffer from these symptoms at the same time -

1) painful, stiff neck

2) lightheadedness - slight feeling of being unbalanced

3) lack of energy - effort to go a small distance

No meds. taken other than Warfarin

Thanks

[PeterWh]

Is your AF paroxysmal or persistent?

[DoubleEm in reply to PeterWh]

Intermittent / Paroxysmal

[daveboy99]

Certainly have the first two symptoms that you describe and equally puzzled by fhem.

[DoubleEm in reply to daveboy99]

My husband has to lie down very gingerly and although he fully expects the room to start spinning, it hasn't yet! Thanks for your reply - it's reassuring that someone else has the neck problem.

[CDreamer]

Stiff neck can indicate a misalignment of spine which in turn could cause the other symptoms - and Can trigger AF. I see a chiropractor about once a month and one of the symptoms I get before the stiff neck, is lack of energy.

I am not sure that stiff neck would be a symptom connected to the AF on its' own though?

[PeterWh]

Yes I can relate to this. Consider seeing a good physio with experience of treating the sympathetic nervous system. I have been having treatment on this for four months now. Really been stubborn. Also physiotherapist had to find which areas were contributors and which referred. In the end one of the bigger causes was lower back. I can give more info if you wish.

[Marion62 in reply to PeterWh]

More info would be great. I suffer from back and neck pain. Am having physio but it seems as soon as one problem improves slightly, another pain increases. Thanks

[CDreamer in reply to Marion62]

Chiros work with the nervous system as a whole and I get instant relief after an adjustment whilst physios work with muscular skeletal and doesn't touch it for me. Incidentally i have visited him in AF and after adjustment AF free. But also adjustment has put me into AF - which was quickly reversed I might say,

I am seeing a neural psysio tomorrow, for the first time, suggested by the neurologist but not for the referred pain for which I know the cause - misaligned pelvis and spine for which I have to work incredibly hard to keep pain free and in alignment. I have some signs of hyper mobility in my pelvis, knees, shoulders and elbows.

Pilates really helps keep things in balance.

I can cope with most things but back and neck pain really brings me down and makes me grumpy, depressed and withdrawn so I will go the extra mile to keep pain free and mobile.

The other thing I found very good is the egoscue method - about 20 years ago I bought the original book which I found incredibly helpful and followed a lot of the exercises which really helped - egoscue.com/ I have recently come back to it although I do it all from internet as no practitioner near me.

[Marion62 in reply to CDreamer]

Thanks for all the info.

[MarkySmith]

Symptoms 2 and 3 are very familiar to me. As for stiff neck, might be warfarin related. How is your INR? Check with nurse specialist when you are next checked.

[DoubleEm in reply to MarkySmith]

INR results are great- staying mid range for 6 months now. The neck problem was a precursor to my original AF diagnosis so at least 6 months before the introduction of Warfarin. It now seems to accompany the lightheaded feeling and lack of energy on occasion.

[Hidden]

Yes I've had that when my neck was rigid and so painful that I was "guarding". Mine could have been caused by a urinary tract infection affecting the NOAC and blood pressure medication that I was taking. The GP or practice nurse can check that with a dip test. If you're clear it would be worth talking to your GP.

[Boombiddy]

Hiya DoubleEm , your post made me think, as I have been getting so much more neck pain in the last few months since being diagnosed with paroxysmal AF and being given lowest dose bisoprolol.

Light-headedness, lack of energy, and a stiff neck can be associated with low blood pressure.

I know bisoprolol can lower your BP and apparently so can warfarin, so I looked up hypotension and stiff neck. (I also looked up hypertension and stiff neck). I got some very interesting scholarly medical articles up about the relationship between neck muscles and blood pressure, you might find it an enlightening read.

Hope your symptoms begin to improve,

Boombibby.

[DoubleEm in reply to Boombiddy]

Thanks for the info. I will check it out

[JClabo]

Yes I do but I have other problems that may cause it

[Boombiddy]

Hiya, whatever the cause of your neck pain, a great way to keep pain at bay is to do very very gentle warm-up exercises.

This is one tiny bit of what I learned at an excellent pain management clinic many years ago, and it does help.

I think if you look up some general warm-up exercises you will find some very gentle neck ones. Don't push it, don't push into pain. The idea is to feel a gentle, pleasurable stretch. Do very few repetitions at first. Every day you can add one until you've got a dozen or so, then stick at that.

And because your neck is connected to everything else, maybe a few gentle arm swings (just let your shoulders go and swing hands by twisting body in a left to right gentle rhythm is good).

The cumulative effect over time of these very gentle warm-ups (it improves over days, weeks, months) is to free up the muscles, get more oxygen to them, and prevent the knock-on effects of stiffness, so you begin to feel much better and 'freer'.

And I have found doing a very gentle stretch or two when I feel a bit of stiffness or pain coming, prevents it and/or keeps pain at bay.

Hope you find some answers, hope this helps in the meantime.