Oh the anxiety! (I think?)

[louselby]

For the past few weeks I've been having neck and upper back pain. I believe this is what's been giving me headaches over the past 3 or 4 days. The headaches are just above my eyebrows on both sides.

Anyway, yesterday while I was laying in bed, I had what I would call a headrush. And then I was anxious all day long. I felt really lightheaded too. I was so anxious I took an Ativan, which I usually avoid, and went to bed early.

This morning I woke up feeling fine. But then sometime after lunch I was sitting in a sort of odd position and I had another one. My anxiety didn't kick in right away like it did yesterday, but now I'm just starting to wonder what the heck it is. I sometimes feel kinda lightheaded when I look down. The lightheadedness did not start until after the headrush. Otherwise all was fine until then.

I had a scan of my head a few years back and was told everything was fine. I doubt it's anything to worry about, but I've been to the ER in the past 6 months having all sorts of tests done (heart, etc) and all was fine.

I plan to go to the dr. tomorrow and inquire about everything, but what do YOU think? Just anxiety??

[melody]

It could be posture. You might benefit from some mild strength work. Physiotherapists do the massage & realign everything & teach how to exercise the weak parts to alleviate the cause of the pain.

I have neck, shoulder, upper back & lower back pain. When I see photos of me if I wasn't posing caught by surprise, I am always slouching with my head & shoulders hunched over, because I feel poorly about myself inside. I catch myself clenching my muscles when I feel worried or ashamed. When my pain is playing up, it is hard not to clench up the muscles around where it hurts, but learning to do so can ease off the pain. Also I tend to let my neck flop over to one side of the other if I feel tired or sad, that triggers the pain too.

I benefit from Pilates posture advice, realigning the posture from the feet to the crown of the head & the rolldowns. When you correct your posture, you don't pull the shoulders back, you hold in tummy muscles, pull up from the middle & relax the shoulders down (I was doing that wrong for ages. Ouch!)

I believe it is a matter of learning to listen to our bodies & doing strength work & lots of stretching so our bodies complain less.

[louselby]

So I went to the dr. He said the headache pain was probably migraines and referred me to physical therapy for my back and neck pain.

He also gave me some prescription Imitrex for the headaches. But I am also taking Celexa and when I read that the two together can cause interactions including a life-threatening one, I got really nervous about it. I had taken it about 4 hours prior to reading that, but I don't think I'll take it anymore after reading about it...

The plus side is that it did take away the majority of my headache pain after a few hours. I think I'll just stick to Excedrin Migraine.

I am going to try a chiropractor consultation to see what they have to say about my issues with the back and neck since insurance covers it.