Hi everyone,
Wanted to share my little light bulb moment with you all, in case it helps anyone. If you get neck pain consistently after you eat, consider that it might be due to dysautonomia.
I recently realized this after having stopped bolouke and LDN due to cost. My neck pain, which had previously been improving, got so much worse than it ever was. It started creeping into my upper shoulders and shoulder blades (previously it was isolated to the neck), so for the first time I googled "coat hanger pain," and found out about
its connection to dysautonomia (and there are many kinds of dysautonomia - not just POTS, so again, don't rule it out just because you don't have the textbook racing heart). One of the main theories about
coat hanger pain is that it's driven by a lack of blood flow to the muscles in that area.
Furthermore, when you eat, blood is redirected to your gut so if you already have circulatory issues resulting from dysautonomia, then this could cause or exacerbate neck pain. And of course, infections (particularly bartonella) can be a driver of dysautonomia and just poor blood flow in general. For myself, my neck pain would very often happen not long after having eaten - which I had written off as an unusual MCAS reaction or food intolerance because of the time relation to food (often it would be the only symptom, but for it to be mcas it should be multiple symptoms in at least 2 body systems).
I dealt with horrific, persistent, disabling neck pain for 3 years and was always googling "neck pain." And none of the other therapies (manual, herbal, or pharmaceutical) were working for it sustainably (they would provide temporary relief). Only recently when it returned and started going into my shoulders did I consider the "coat hanger pain" angle. So if your pain is just in your neck, don't discount the possibility that it could be related to this "coat hanger" type pain and therefore dysautonomia.
I had thought maybe it was because I was off the LDN, so I started back up and it did help a little bit, but then I started getting worse again. I then tested my circulation hypothesis by taking a pill of bolouke, which is supposed to help with circulation. Lo and behold, the next day I felt a million times better, WAY less neck pain. I've not been completely pain free, but my pain levels are back to being so much more manageable and today I was basically pain free for the whole afternoon.
Post Edited (morningstars) : 9/7/2023 9:33:20 PM (GMT-8)