So, despite the power being out in the Walker building today, we did go through the whole appointment (she just couldn't do any computer work). And it actually went the opposite of what I thought. And I actually think she's right.
The gist is this: I have had previous neck pain with my migraines, just not to this degree. So when did the neck pain become unbearable: the last month or so. When did I go down on my Lyrica? September. Nothing else has changed. In fact, my headaches have actually been down the last couple of months.
So it all boils down to my fibromyalgia. Which is kind of depressing, because that means I have another "hot" area that is just as bad as my arms and legs.
They're going to increase the Lyrica again. Maybe not as much as before. She doesn't want to go back up to 600mg, but she wants to see if there is a happy medium. In the end, I've decided that I can handle the weight much better than I can handle this neck pain. Being chronically ill has always been about weighing out the positives and the negatives. And the neck pain is bad enough to change the game plan.
She's also going to talk with their headache psychologist (I didn't know that existed) to see if he might want to work with me or if he has someone else who might do a good job of working with me in the depression department (counseling only).
And finally, I have my neck exercises to do, and if they don't help, she'll look into full physical therapy on my neck.
Yay.
I've done a lot of talking to many people with chronic conditions and helping management, largely as a result of managing mine (I have a collection) and talking to doctors plus having somewhat of an instinct when it comes to prodding backs into working better. Something that has been an issue when I've worked with a fair few people with high shoulder and neck pain including with fibro is a pair of tendons in the shoulders which force the shoulders forwards and hunched and a lot of pain there and in the neck, meaning it's very painful or difficult to have shoulders in a standing straight position. If this sounds at all familiar I can explain a bit more, it's relatively unlikely but it is something that I know is very frequently ignored and really not that uncommon. If this is the case you'll feel a hard ridge running up from you back to your shoulder about halfway from your neck the end of the shoulder each end.
ReplyDeleteI tend to be alright with standing when it comes to the neck and shoulders. The real problem here I think is the muscle/bones that go from the shoulders all the way up the neck to the base of the skull.
ReplyDeleteAh, yeah, that's something I will leave to the experts in terms of what's physically wrong, though if you haven't tried Deep Heat or whatever is the US equivalent I really recommend it for that sort of pain in the neck and shoulders though don't overdo it!
ReplyDeleteP.s. Sorry for the slow reply.
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