We all know the term migraine headache but how about “migraine neck”? Well, I think a headache per se is VERY rare for me. All of my pain, when it starts, originates in the neck. Just like some people’s migraine cam manifest in the gut, the sinuses, or behind an eye, mine are almost always in the neck in some area and have I ever got a doozie right now. Started Sunday night and has been getting worse ever since. The C2 area is like concrete and massive pain to the touch.
Of course it is causing massive referred pain to the head and bringing other migraine symptoms such as tiredness, lethargy, inability to concentrate, mumbling words and making computer work unbearable. I have no choice but to massage the area and rock the vertebrae back and forth like my physio does to keep it moving but this leaves me feeling a bit dizzy and even more out of it. This does help usually but it won’t go away this time. May have to book in for the pro to smash this one.
Any of you guys have predominant migraine neck instead of migraine headache?
I dont have migraine headaches even though I suffer with lots of normal headaches that a couple of painkillers will usually abort.
But, my tension area is all aroung my neck and across my shoulders and I rub my neck and back of my head constantly to the point where people comment on the fact I cant leave the area alone.
I’ve booked in to see a Ciro for a computer screening of my neck/back to see if there is anything I’m doing to aggravate it.
Hi Scott - that is exactly what I’ve been dealing with for the past two weeks. No headache initially. But, horrific neck pain that then eventually radiates up into a headache on the same side of the head, next comes the nausea, dizziness - the whole 4-day classic migraine experience. We had our July 4th Independence Day in the U.S. this weekend, and I spent most of it in and out of bed… whoopee. It was terrible. However, my migraine was proceeded by a cold and sinus infection. I used ice and a heating pad intermittently and Advil, but I am now thinking that I’m going to ask for a rescue drug at my next neuro appt. even though I take topamax as a preventative medication. It’s still possible to go over a cliff with this condition, and I ended up recycling back into chronic fatigue symptoms which through me into a panic. Seriously, these are truly wretched conditions that rob our lives. Hoping for a better week for us.
Gail
Yes, as I have always said, feels like an iron bar has hit me over the back of the neck, then up into the back of the head. These have always been the same. Other stuff I used to get and rarely get now temple pressure or pins and needles in the temples, sometimes feel like an elephant is sitting on top of my head, but nothing in the forehead ever. Pressing around the eyes hurts etc. but the major pain always in the back of the head and neck, I actually used to say it felt like a migraine in my neck.
I can agree with this wholeheartedly. Migraines for me use to be very painful, one-sided headaches where it felt like someone was taking a part of my brain and squeezing it into a tiny little spot. As of about 6 months ago I started getting these neck headaches where it starts in the back of my neck and works it’s way up to my jaw and the sides of my head. This is when the dizziness is the worst. I can’t say that the pain in the back of the neck is overly severe, but it is definitely not pleasant and is something that I never had to deal with before. I too am always rubbing my neck and upper back, and I have a whole routine of stretches to do given to me by a physical therapist that works at the balance center that first diagnosed me with MAV. The stretches do help, but they don’t make things completely better.
Oh yeah, I get horrible migraine neck, upper back and arm pain. I used to get the classic migraine headache but it transformed. Now I get pain in my neck, mainly left sided, into my upperback and down my left arm and hand. I used to think I was having heart attacks as they were classic symptoms of one but after all that checked out normal I have now realized it’s just another form of my migraine. Computer work makes it 100 times worse too! Problem is most jobs now require a lot of computer use. Don’t know how to get around that one.
This is me too! The old ‘coathanger’ neck is horrible and sometimes I think I must look like a loony trying to rub it (the neck!) in public! A couple of times the other half has rubbed it for me (the neck!) and its makes me dizzy - great!! I’ve been having reflexology a lot recently and it seems to help even though she’s rubbing my feet! I think it’s because its the only time I truly relax!
Let me tell you about the wonderful world of NUCCA…
— End quote
HAHA!! I only know of this NUCCA term because I got sucked into the drama of that whole post on the MM board that Scott eluded to in the “MAVers-are-medicine-whores” thread LOL
Some aches that start with stiff necks can be relieved by loosening up the pelvis, in my experience. The lower back curve and the neck curve sort of balance each other. No guarantee here, but you might just get some benefit from gentle pelvic rocking when you notice this coming on.
ive had a stiff neck/sore for a while before all this vertigo happened. So i wonder is it the neck thats causing the headache? or the other way around? I had a killer migraine the other night with the worst neck pain. Im considering jamming some botox into it, but it maybe just wasting more money???im sure the worse the neck the badder headache!
this is exactly the pain i have had for years and what kept me from believing i had migraines. feels like cmoc described. as if an iron bar were being jabbed up into my skull. this will last for days and then the pain will start to radiate out in all directions eventually settling in a “typical” migraine-like fashion above my eye. all-in-all, it takes about 10 days for the cycle to complete itself. before topamax, this happened once or twice a month. now with topamax and figuring out some better sleeping positions that don’t stress my neck as much, i now get them maybe once every 2-3 months. although, stress seems to be triggering some discomfort now. just have to hope it doesn’t continue on for the full cycle.
my neurotologist says i have mav so i guess that makes me a medicine-whore :lol:
my neurologist (who i’ve only met twice) says i don’t, so i wonder what kind of whore that makes me? :lol:
wait…why am i calling myself a whore again? :shock:
my neurotologist says i have mav so i guess that makes me a medicine-whore :lol:
my neurologist (who i’ve only met twice) says i don’t, so i wonder what kind of whore that makes me? :lol:
wait…why am i calling myself a whore again? :shock:
my neurotologist says i have mav so i guess that makes me a medicine-whore :lol:
my neurologist (who i’ve only met twice) says i don’t, so i wonder what kind of whore that makes me? :lol:
wait…why am i calling myself a whore again? :shock:
my neurotologist says i have mav so i guess that makes me a medicine-whore :lol:
my neurologist (who i’ve only met twice) says i don’t, so i wonder what kind of whore that makes me? :lol:
wait…why am i calling myself a whore again? :shock:
This thread has made me realise how the Topamax must be working for me!
Although I would put the dizziness as being perhaps only 50 - 60% better so far, I now realise that my migraine ‘activity’ was always felt predominantly in the back of my neck and base of my skull (especially the band between the ears at the back of the skull). I now realise that this ‘activity’ (what used to be felt as a tightening and intense aching, leading to complete stiffness in the neck) has pretty much gone over recent weeks/months. My neck is much looser nowadys. And yes, I too have wasted time with chiropracters in the past, being absolutely convinced that the neck required some kind of physical attention to release the ‘locked’ feeling and tension.
Tony.
