Neck pain

[Juliaelizgraham]

I have suffered neck pain for many years. I work for NHS & at a computer 24/7 - I do all the usual things like take a break every hour for 5 mins, neck exercises daily, make my bag less heavy, bought new mattress & pillows but still wake up in pain so am therefore forced to use a TENS machine which does ease the pain - had physio in the past which did nothing, have changed my posture stance, took ibuprofen but this did nothing. I get my partner to gently stretch my neck from under the chin & hand on forehead & this is great at the time but next day have as much pain - tried hot/cold mats but again ok at the time then as bad as ever - what do I try next?

[Mary-intussuception]

Heat pads.

We have to find a way to live with it I'm afraid. Can you make more time to sit and relax?

I wouldn't use cold just heat.

Put a towel in the tumble dryer for 5 to 10 minutes, wrap around neck and shoulders, get comfy on settee, place pillow across lap and rest arms on it.

At night use just one or two pillows & only lie on back or left side.

You can take 2 x Paracetamol then food/snack and up to 3 x 200mg Ibuprofen for occassional,, short term relief. (Could replace the paracetamol with 2 x cocodamol 8/500. But also take Lactulose medicine and drink extra water or it will cause constipation ).

[Mary-intussuception in reply to Mary-intussuception]

Reply 2

If you've suffered for years isn't it about time you had an MRI scan or at least xrays?

Can Staff Health help with this? Did they arrange the physio?

[Juliaelizgraham in reply to Mary-intussuception]

Hi mary - I had x-ray done & nothing showed up so I did kinda suggest MIR & was told by GP that I didn't merit one at that stage but to try health physio which I did have for a one day a week session for 6wks - it did help to start with but after a few weeks the pain came back - I had blood tests done also to rule out polymyalgia & it was negative results - NHS did change my every day chair so that I had more support but that didn't help either! Taking paracetamol every 4hrs does ease the pain but not completely so i am at a loss as to what to do next - some days I just dare not to move my neck as it tends to cause a headache too! 😓

[Mary-intussuception in reply to Juliaelizgraham]

Yes, if it goes into spasm it's awful. I don't care what is showing on the xray , if GP can't explain your pain then he should refer you to Orthopaedics. You'll probably wait a while to be seen, though.

Have you tried the combination of paracetamol and Ibuprofen though? Just take one x 200mg Ibuprofen then another after 20 minutes if pain still there. I would only do this for a day or so when pain is bad.

If this is ongoing I guess you will just have to keep speaking up about it and take a break when it's bad , see about more physio. Also keep going back to GP.

I wonder if it's pulled muscle?

Have you tried the Ibuprofen gels instead of tablets? So if you stick to paracetamol and use the gel when you get the bad attack?

[hypercat54]

Hi I don't know if you have tried this but how about seeing either an osteopath or a chiropractor? You do have to pay and it's not cheap but it certainly could help. You shouldn't have to put up with this level of pain.

I do think you should have an MRI scan as this would pick up anything which is wrong unlike other types of scan. x

[vizzio]

Maybe try deep tissue sports massage. I have constant all over body neuro pain ( including head) I have found this to be helpful.

[Juliaelizgraham]

Thanks will give anything a go to try & ease pain

[saj01]

Just wondering it it might help to see a Chiropractor?

[Amkoffee]

I've suffered from lower back pain for 13 years but the past year my neck has really started to act up. In fact right now I have a horrible neck pain which is causing me terrible headache too. So with my husband's help I put the TENS unit on my neck and it's running now. It works great for my lower back but quite frankly it's not doing much for my neck. I hope you find some solutions. I'm probably going to have to ask my pain management doctor to do some trigger point injections in my neck to see if that will help. You might see if your doctor will refer you to a pain management doctor who does injections.

[GarryAS]

Firstly and most simply raise yo7 computer screen up to eye level regardless of how ridiculous it may look secondly be careful how much paracetamol you take as you are not meant to take high doses for more than a week thirdly if your symptoms persist and your GP is not willing to send you to a specialist I would get a second opinion and highly recommend the uch ( london) department of rheumatology under professor Isenberg. I hope your symptoms improve be well

[reflexpillow]

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