Chronic neck pain/headaches

Not that this could be the "magic" answer...but I'm curious with all the work you have been doing in your basement...as well as taking medicine....But how is your water intake for the day as well as electrolytes?

Ever since I've been taking medication...I've had to up my intake drastically....I have a cup to two cups of coffee in the morning (6am)...and then nothing but water the rest of the day and drink around 12-14 cups a day.

Obviously it needs to be ok with your Dr. if you have any underlying kidney issues where intake needs to be monitored..

But just thinking as another possible cause of the headaches as I used to get them a lot when I started the medication because they were so dehydrating and found this helped greatly...

I also agree with others and still think you may be having them more due to your spine issues as I get them from time to time based on all my surgeries...

But just looking for another easy way to at least rule out/in the possibility of some of the headaches..

I got a nice surprised today. The PT place called and I'll be going on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting this Thursday! I will report back on how it's going.

Thanks for the update...that's the crazy thing about chronic pain...We can have good days and then bad days that can be very random.

I need to caution you that it's actually illegal to take someone else's medication. It's a felony for narcotics. The same whether you take one of your wifes or she were to take one of yours.

And God forbid your Dr. calls you in for a urine test...you would then get kicked out of the practice and have a mark on your medical records to not get treated with opiates by any other Dr.

So just trying to really caution you here...not trying to lecture. The Drs. are under great scrutiny from the state and DEA so we have to do everything exactly by the book as well which means not doing this....and taking our medicine exactly as prescribed.

The best thing to do is keep a log/pain journal and write down what you eat during the day....when your pain level spikes....what activities cause it to be worse....and then present this to your Dr. and let them decide what to do from here.

Asking for a stronger narcotic can come across the wrong way to many Drs. It's more about expressing your pain levels and then asking them what else you all can do to help get it at a decent level.

I live with a 5-7 on the pain scale and that is with 4 medications, exercise, yoga/stretching, aqua therapy, massage, acpunture, TENS unit, injections, eating organic, no soday/alcohol, no smoking (never have thankfully), counseling, maintaining a healthy weight, using ice, heat....

Just to name some things....Each thing helps a tiny bit and it all adds up to make it livable at the pain levels I reach.

If you are drinking more than two sodas a day with caffeine then I would give it a try to see what your pain levels are without this for a few weeks. As it obviously takes a few days to get the caffeine craving to stop.

But if the sodas have artifical colorings...and artificial sweeteners...those have definitely been linked to headaches.

Keep us posted!

Thanks Snowbunny. I didn't realize it was that big of a deal. I am going to call the doctor today and just tell them that the Tramadol is not cutting it and ask if they can give me something else until the PT starts to help.

I had a "face-palm" moment last night. I have always had trouble with pillows and link many of my flare ups to pillows that are more than 3-4 months old and starting to lose their support. So last month I bought these Biosense pillows from Brookstone. After a week or so I was feeling decent so I thought I was good to go with that pillow (memory foam center with a soft outter casing.) Last night I was tossing and turning and couldn't get comfortable. I suddenly thought of the pillow, pushed it off the bed and went and got a pillow we were using as a bumper on my daughter's bed. I woke up feeling quite a bit better today.

PT went ok this morning. She did the massage and ultrasound, then had me do a few exercises before doing the traction. I'm still feeling decent today. Just some mild discomfort but no pain to speak of. I'm going to Target at lunch to buy some normal pillows (the one I used last night was pretty flat.) I was hoping to find a pillow I wouldn't need to keep replacing and filling landfills with those stupid things, but I guess I just need to do that.

Thanks for the thoughts and support.

Post Edited (countrydad) : 7/26/2012 6:55:49 AM (GMT-6)

If PT is helping it is the track that you should pursue. They can teach you exercises and most of all they can teach you how to stand, hold your head and how to lift. If you are pain free at PT and then the pain comes back working in the garage, you are doing something wrong. After surgery and injuries we need to learn how to do things all over and correctly. Most of the time, if not caused by an accident, we injure ourselves by bad behavior.

I found biofeedback (usually taught by PT or free and your local community college or hospital). It teaches you to relax to the pain. Even if it doesn't take all the pain away, it will take you down several notches. The worse thing you can do with pain is to tighten up to it. It will increase to an unbearable point. That is why you need biofeedback. It is much better than loading up on pain killers and it puts you in control. Good Luck!