Had My Neck Cracked - Reassurance Needed Pls!

[BKF1515]

Hi, as some of you know, I have been plagued with a headache for months. After physical therapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, an MRI and an x-ray, my GP finally sent me last week to a manual physical therapist (a full doctor) specialized in back and neck problems. On the second visit, he convinced me that my neck needed cracking (a facet joint problem between the C2 and C3), and I finally gave in and let him do it.

It seemed to work. After months of pain radiating up from the left side of the top of my neck into my head, the pressure seemed to subside and I was blessed with a feeling of nothingness. The last two days were the same: no pain, no soreness, just a little tired and not full of energy.

Then today, after 48 hours, I woke up and have a little soreness in my upper back side of my neck and a feeling of pressure and heaviness in my head and body. No pain, just a feeling of extreme heaviness. Has anyone ever experienced this? My husband keeps telling me to give it time, but this extreme heaviness, combined with a feeling of anxiety, is making me feel awful and I am worrying myself into a spiral. Any advice really welcome!

[BKF1515]

Anyone, please.... I am hanging my a thread here. Feels like I have a flu-like heavy feeling which I know is coming from my neck/head. Do you think it could just be delayed soreness coming from the crack of 48 hours before?

[PanchoGoz]

Perhaps ask your doctor? it could be a common side effect.

[oldtime]

Could be the released nerve being a bit sensitive.

[snowgoose]

hello :)

yes I have had this awful feeling too. I cant diagnose of course over net nor should I .....best to see doctor honest for peace of mind

but mine was related to neck muscle tension and tightening .and it went eventually after about two weeks .............went to gp though who reassured me . this happened after a hair appointment which I was extremely anxious about and panicking ..........washing my hair backwords plus panic plus tense equalled the symptoms.
xxxxx

[BKF1515]

Thanks for your replies! Yes, on Friday my doctor said to expect anything - laughing, crying, tenderness, etc. But I didn't feel anything for 48 hours so that delayed aspect is scaring me.... Don\t know why, but everyone knows that H/A is a funny beast like that. Snowgoose, thanks for sharing your experience - that is what makes me feel better: hearing from those who are close to the subject or have good intuition about symptoms.... I know we shouldn't diagnose over the net, but I have been talked down from a H/A ledge many a time by someone who told me they knew what my symptoms indicated. Yes, I guess this thing could be the muscles, I just haven't felt exactly this way before and it's scaring me. This very heavy, hazy feeling at the base of my head.... I guess I should give it time but I am extremely impatient when my anxiety kicks in.

[daybyday]

I have used a chiropractor for many years. The after soreness can be common for some. My husband will ache a bit the next day.
Glad you have found some relief. Many of those nerves that come off the spine, get pinched and inpede a proper flow to areas, causes many symptoms.
Talk to your chiropractor and have him explain how all the nerves affect our body. I'm sure they will be more than glad to help you understand.

[iamspartacus]

you know that anxiety on its own can cause neck tension and headaches. I too have this problem plus a long standing back issue for which i see an osteopath. if i lift anything awkward, i get muscle spasms in my mid back which im then convinced is a slipped disc, even thought there is no pain, just tension. I would have thought though that if you had just had a spinal manipulation, that this soreness would be a natural consequence of the treatment, and will fade in time.

[BKF1515]

I had an awful evening and night last night and I feel like I can't differentiate between my physical symptoms and anxiety anymore. I have lingering pressure and a bit of pain in my head and I feel hopeless, like this is never going to go away. I spent two days after having my neck cracked thinking everything was solved and now I feel the tension creeping back in. My eyesight is whitish hazy so I feel like my head problems are affecting my vision. I feel sick to my stomach so I have no appetite. I feel like I have no desire to do anything and I have so much to do at the moment. I feel like I am losing my grip on my sanity. I have not been this bad in three years and I feel like I'm slowly falling back into the anxiety - daily panic attacks, sleepless nights, etc. and I have not been this bad in a few years.

[BKF1515]

Still not feeling well at all - have to stop myself from despairing over this pain that I feel will never go away. When will my days and nights be normal again?? These neck head problems can really plague you and become larger than life. I went to a massage therapist today who told me to be patient and that I have to give it time - also to try to work again or do other things to distract me from my pain/problem. This is just so hard.

[snowgoose]

Hi BKF:)
So sorry you are feeling so bad . it is awful I empathise truly .
reading back you have had lots of tests that have come back ok..an MRI has been clear ........so please believe that if there was anything bad it would have been picked up :hugs:

I still have awful neck problems and weird sensations in my head and ear . the acute stage took ages to go away .............and even now I am aware of headiness and dizzy turns ....aches and sharp pains .
it seems very feasible that having neck cracked has opened up nipped blood vessels and nerves .........hence your feelings ..........more blood flow and nerve re energising ? not a doc ........just my thoughts .makes sense though .

also basic as it may sound ..............my pillow at night I have found makes a difference ...in sleep i turn over and scrunch up .and then wake up with strange feelings . try to sleep on good pillows now ......fairly flat .

it does take time ............my last acute stage took a long time to me anyway
xxx

[BKF1515]

thanks so much for your reply, snowgoose. It helps to hear from someone who has been through some of the same problems and feelings. Living with this head pain feels like you are running from this phantom. My feelings swing all over the place from practical and realistic and hopeful to worried and despair. I know I have had scans but the pain feels so weird in my head that I just wonder how it will finally subside. I am also worried about further cracking of my neck and if I should let the doctor do it. He has a lot of experience and really believes in it, but I know there are many who say it's dangerous. I don't know what to do. After the last crack my pain has switched to the other side of my head. So I have a feeling the doctor will want to crack that side on Friday. Is this the answer?? It is so hard to tell. And if it's not, where do I go from here. Just sit and wait for the pain to subside? I know that swollen muscles/nerves around my stiff vertebrae must be causing the problem. I just wish the pain was in my neck and not my head. It feels like I have a tension headache all the time.

[snowgoose]

hi BfK:hugs:

I really sympathise with your dilemna ...........our necks are or seem such fragile structures .........it does take a leap of faith to allow a doctor to crack the vertebrae . but this is a doctor who presumably has seen your scans etc ?
sometimes we need to research and ask lots of questions and then trust .
ask lots of questions before next treatment .
my rational head says if things have been badly realigned .then yes a further treatment may well be needed to even the bones etc .
and yes you are going to have tense muscles and a bit shock to area .
but I am not a doctor so these are my thoughts only .
one thing I do know though is it seems to take ages for all these symptoms to go .all those nerves twanging !
ask lots of questions eh ? good luck and try not to fret xxx

[snowgoose]

forgot to say:blush:

all my trouble was neck based .............but most of the strange symptoms were in my head .....visual,pain, ears .xx

[BKF1515]

yes, thanks again, snowgoose. I know I need to be patient. I guess that's where my H/A kicks in and makes me feel like I'm losing my grip. You also had visual symptoms? I think I have had blurriness and haziness but I don't know if I'm just playing tricks on myself. This pain has also left me tired and anxious so I also think my vision problems could stem from that. What were your symptoms?

[Taffy]

I know its not exactly the same but I've been suffering with neck pains and headaches for about 2 months, leading me to think I've got a brain tumour. I'm coming out the back end of this scare at the moment and am feeling more positive. Yesterday I bought a memory foam pillow and its is fantastic!....my neck and head feels so much better today and so do I...leading me to believe that all this fuss and stress had been done to my pillows!

The things we put ourselves through eh! :wacko:

[iamspartacus]

a good book to read if you suffer from pain related symptoms is 'The Mind Body Prescription' by John E Sarno. This helped me enormously to deal with a lot of the physical stuff, although I find I have to work hard on it. Takes a bit of getting your head around (excuse the pun haha). Knowledge is most definitely power in dealing with anxiety symptoms. Book is available on amazon btw.