I have been attending the osteopath for 6 months now, once a week. The neck massage helps me feel so much nicer; but this week, my osteopath decided to click my neck. She tried to do it, but couldn’t hear the noise, so we left it. She said it felt like it needed to click.
I got home, and felt very tired, and as the evening progressed i felt more and more exhausted. Around 10pm (treatment was at 4:30pm) i became VERY hot, and the room started spinning. It was all i could do to lie on my bed and not be sick.
Today, i feel much worse than i have in about a year, i am dizzy, the vertigo is more extreme, i am exhausted, hot and nauseus. Every moment i fear i’ve gone back to the start of all this; but i also think, have i found the problem? Is this all triggered my something in my neck? I know hormones affect me too, but perhaps my neck is a big problem , OR MAYBE I’VE JUST HAD A BAD REACTION TO THE OSTEOPATH.
Hey. V interesting and maybe a very good thing? To have such a dramatic reaction surely can’t be a coincidence?? Dr S said to me not to have any massages or neck physio as it can worsen dizziness as major blood vessels supplying the brain run close to the skins surface… But I doubt he was referring to such a dramatic reaction as yours…could u ask your gp to refer you for a neck MRI?? Might be worth trying to rule out anything mechanical that’s triggering the migraine? Xx
Hi Dizzie, i phoned my GP today and you’ll never guess what she said… “i think you might have something called labyrinthitis” I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT!! She completely refused to believe that anyone could react to neck manipulation in that way!
I’ve managed to persuade them to let me have a ‘check up’ where they will look at my neck and refer me if they think there is a reason, to have a scan! SO frustrating when people, let alone doctors, don’t understand VM!
You poor thing It’s easier said than done but try not to panic. As you know I’m having a blip at the moment and I completely understand your concerns about reverting back to the way you were. I have those worries too. However, lets try and think positively about it. You have had somebody messing around with your neck, I am sure that I read somewhere that you need to be careful with this type of thing. I may be wrong but I think that the way you’re feeling is related to that. If that is the case it is likely that this episode will not stick around.
Since suffering with MAV I have had some blips. When I say blips I mean going from 95% to about 60% ( hard to put a percentage on it!) The first I had a throat infection and this one, well, I’ve been in hospital and had major surgery. It can take something little to upset the balance, I don’t know how long you’ve had this but I’m only learning now how the road to recovery is pretty up and down. For me the worrying about whether or not it’s going to get worse makes me feel more unbalanced!! If we both try and remain calm and tell ourselves that it will pass it may well pass more quickly.
I’m not sure if any of that will have helped!! With my little experience I really do believe that this is just a dip. You will improve again. Now, I just need to keep reminding myself of that!!!
Have a look at Scott’s recent post. He mentioned the impact his neck has on his condition. You may want to ask him a little more about it? Just a thought x
Very sorry to hear that you had a bad reaction like this. Know it will pass. They always do.
I used to see a chiropractor years ago. One day I went in and he did some neck manoeuvre and I walked out completely stuffed as you describe. I was all screwed up for about 2 days. In the end, I stopped going for “adjustments” by a chiro. I personally think the whole clicking thing is bunk. A lot of those manoeuvres are high velocity and I think it’s unnecessary. I know some like it though.
If it were me I’d see a physiotherapist and not an osteo or chiro. There is very little science to show that chiro is effective beyond some back pain help.
Scott, Scott, sometimes chiropractic manipulation will have an effect where the most rarified homeopathic remedies just can’t seem to reach.
More seriously, a chiropractor may be a good observer. I don’t know enough to be sure about the following, but my impression is that any improvement in alignment that can be approached by chiropractic manipulation–sudden application of relatively high torque–can also be approached by chiropractic mobilization, gentler movement. And a chiropractic patient has the right to set limits, just as the practitioner has the right to reject a patient, but not to treat a patient but ignore the patient’s yadda yadda.
The lady I went to had her hands under my chin, she stretched my neck up and then to the left, fine, then to the right, full on vertigo attack :shock:
I have had other physios get me to do exercises, turning neck to left over shoulder and stretch etc. with no ill effects, didn’t get any better either. There was one exercise which used to help, laying down with a rolled towel under my neck and stretching with chin tucked in, it eased neck pain.
My migraines and neck pain went together, almost like having a migraine in my neck, once the migraine went, the neck pain went.
Oh no, sorry to hear about this! But try not to worry too much as I have heard other people report a similar thing with chiro/osteo treatment. I just wanted to ask a couple of things: Do you suffer chronic neck pain with the VM? and, if so, did it start with the VM or did you suffer neck pain before? Also, have you ever had spinning vertigo before or was this the first time? x
This was the first time since the start of all this that i’ve had vertigo that severe. Now it’s back to the first few months where even walking a step is problematic. I had neck pain really badly before all this started and i’ve had neck pain throughout, it’s always worse when the migraine is bad.
I’m starting to wonder whether this whole thing is down to neck problems… but i don’t know where to begin looking into that!
Also now, the osteopath i had has left the practice, so i can no longer work with her. Maybe fresh eyes will help. I’m not going to let them click it ever again! x
I felt the same thing about neck pain. I had neck pain prior to VM then it got a lot worse when VM started. I tried osteopathy and although it was pleasant at the time to get it massaged it did not do anything to help long-term. The biggest help I got for my neck pain was nortriptyline which has reduced the pain a lot. Like you, my neck goes worse when I feel more dizzy. I never had any idea this could be linked to migraine until I found this site. I started to think there was something wrong with my neck joints or spine but now I think it stems from migraine and the dizziness VM causes makes the neck go even tighter and more painful x
You poor thing It’s easier said than done but try not to panic. As you know I’m having a blip at the moment and I completely understand your concerns about reverting back to the way you were. I have those worries too. However, lets try and think positively about it. You have had somebody messing around with your neck, I am sure that I read somewhere that you need to be careful with this type of thing. I may be wrong but I think that the way you’re feeling is related to that. If that is the case it is likely that this episode will not stick around.
Since suffering with MAV I have had some blips. When I say blips I mean going from 95% to about 60% ( hard to put a percentage on it!) The first I had a throat infection and this one, well, I’ve been in hospital and had major surgery. It can take something little to upset the balance, I don’t know how long you’ve had this but I’m only learning now how the road to recovery is pretty up and down. For me the worrying about whether or not it’s going to get worse makes me feel more unbalanced!! If we both try and remain calm and tell ourselves that it will pass it may well pass more quickly.
I’m not sure if any of that will have helped!! With my little experience I really do believe that this is just a dip. You will improve again. Now, I just need to keep reminding myself of that!!!
Very sorry to hear that you had a bad reaction like this. Know it will pass. They always do.
I used to see a chiropractor years ago. One day I went in and he did some neck manoeuvre and I walked out completely stuffed as you describe. I was all screwed up for about 2 days. In the end, I stopped going for “adjustments” by a chiro. I personally think the whole clicking thing is bunk. A lot of those manoeuvres are high velocity and I think it’s unnecessary. I know some like it though.
If it were me I’d see a physiotherapist and not an osteo or chiro. There is very little science to show that chiro is effective beyond some back pain help.
S
— End quote
HI Scott so did you have a sudden onset of terrible spinning too? Thats great it went away after two days, i’m still very wobbly and worse than before - and absolutely exhausted to be honest!
It’s easier said than done but try not to panic. As you know I’m having a blip at the moment and I completely understand your concerns about reverting back to the way you were. I have those worries too. However, lets try and think positively about it. You have had somebody messing around with your neck, I am sure that I read somewhere that you need to be careful with this type of thing. I may be wrong but I think that the way you’re feeling is related to that. If that is the case it is likely that this episode will not stick around.