Nope my neck pain doesnt go to headaches! Mine is from laying on rt side while in bed! Get burning now and pain but no headaches sorry that happens to you enig

Ice 20 minutes followed by heat 20 minutes helps me. There are kinds of pain I do not know how to get away from.

I used to get neck spasms and they go into my head causing a tremendous headache. Muscle relaxants, ice and physical therapy really helped.
Hope you will feel better soon!

HI I am new to this site But I've had Spinal issues from the Skull joint to the Tailbone. I have 15 shattered vertebra and lost 30 % of my spine height to the bone chips being ground out of the Vertebra column.
I am a severe case I have 2 Artificial Disks and a Fusion in my neck. MY headaches are a permanent Feature of my life Neck pain is on an incidental issue basis IE I quick turn will cause a 3 month rise in Pain from that source. There is No Headache Specific Vertebra Level however, The use of Pain medication can be avoided with a few simple Exercises. IF your perpetually causing these INCEDENCES IE many times in one year I will not be hesitant in saying Your NECH MUSCLES are WEAK its time to strengthen your upper body in a serious manner . Get your doc to prescribe Some Physio Therapy and not only work on these Exercises But Ask if working up other muscle groups will help. You may go to Physio 2 times per week this is The wrong view to exercising Get AN ALL OUT attitude and GO to a GYM and really work on the issue. Until 2005 I was in Peek Physical condition But I was set back and this year I am about to Get back into 2005 Condition again I am 68 and My targets are not yours believe me . What does matter is YOU Put your Heart into Getting strong Suffer the pain to get started and DO NOT QIUIT or say HELL I Cant do that it will hurt . DO it I plan on a 1090 KM Cycle ride by September in 3 1/2 hours For you 5 hours would be fast on Flat ground. Ive been competitive until 2005. I know What I can suffer and how to Do it correctly. Many people look at me and wonder how I can do it. MY pain tolerance is very high as I have been in Chronic pain since NOV 10 1968. I have learned to live and Drive thru most of it. Soft tissue Injuries such as Whiplash must be remedied by Making the entire Neck muscle System VERY strong to make up for the NEVER AGAIN strong enough Ligaments that have been stretched. IF you slack off of the strengthening Program the Headaches will return along with the Pain. Not only Car accidents cause Whiplash A quick turn of the head can do it to you . Whiplash Can lead to A Spinal Fusion 20 years later YOU do not want that. But you can always opt for the More expensive Artificial Disk alternate to your own bone .( that is Useless). My Next surgery is a complete fusion of my neck From the Skull to my shoulder. ill have to be in a lot of pain before I will do that . My Headaches are controlled with Gabapentin Very high doses+ Tylenol 3. I do know I will reduce it by Getting back onto my Bike and Cycling once again. Working out in the Gym.
Good luck and I hope I;ve made it clear on how Vital it is to stop complaining and Workout \

With respect @Knight....
if you can do a 1090 km cycle ride age 68 you probably aren't living with the same situation as many of us here who have had to significantly change lifestyle to cope with chronic pain.

And despite your 'stop complaining and workout' and no need for pain meds if you exercise, you seem to take a lot of meds.

I have some great advice which *anyone* can benefit from: don't give fatuous advice.

@knightwingfire If you're in a condition to do what you mentioned then you're in far better of a condition then I am it would seem. Also you last line left a horribly bad mark on everything you were trying to say, no where in my post did I mention that being the only pain I have, so you clearly don't know what I go through or know much about my situation or body as a whole. Also you contradicted yourself with the mentioning of pain medication.

I get neck pain and it spreads to the head, then into the face. I was having a bad spell 2 weeks ago when I had an appointment with my Pain doctor. He said the tendon that attached to my head was extremely inflamed. He did multiple injections into the soft tissue just below the skull and also into the muscles / tendons on the base of the skull. It increased the pain for a couple of days because he injected directly into the tendon that was inflamed. But after a week the pain was under control. At 2 weeks it is still under control. The injections were anti-inflammatories, and a steriod.

My neck issue is from 2 different issues. First I have had 8 whiplashes, now have herniated disc and degenerative disc disease. The second is Parkinson related Dystonia causing neck spasm that is trying to pull my head toward my shoulder. One issue aggravates the other. I have rice packs that I can heat up and wrap around my neck. This helps keep the spasms away.

The suggestion of heat alternating with ice can be very helpful. Hope some of our suggestions help.

Best wishes. -RJ

I use ice, lidocaine gel. Also use TENS on neck muscles to try to break them from spasms. When this happens, which is freq for me, I try to just relax. Exercising would never cut it as the muscles are so tight and the headaches can be blinding. I will say mine are much the same as yours, they are debilitating and I feel for you. If I could just exercise it out, I would consider myself cured of my neck issues. The lidocaine gel helps buy time until the ice kicks in. I will use TENS then the gel and ice and lay down and pray it stops.

sounds like you've got a case of nasty muscle spasming going on in your neck. A TENS unit would help wonders, but if you don't have one; heat does wonders at relaxing those muscles. You can make rice buddy with a long tube sock some white ricea and w mo

Knightwin..
No two CP cases are exactly alike..
It's inappropriate for you to tell someone here to stop complaining.
( Especially given that your advice is contradictory..
And, you're actually talking about what you hope/plan/fantasize to be doing ..
Not what in fact you are.)
I'm usually very tolerant..
But.. given that your, apparently, o ly DS post was rude..
Que sera sera.
( and ,BTW.. yes, there are vertabral levels that cn be headache specific.

Your " advice " here is about the equivilant of someone telling you about your depression..
Oh, shake if off and quit feeling sorry for yourself.


Enigmatic..
I'm assuming you've had an MRI?

I don't see any case where alternating cold and heat would be harmful..
And could possibly help
Hugs
jc

@Jan, I've had an MRI of my head as well as some other areas but if you're referring to my neck then no I haven't.

@Enigmatic I seriously hope that you paid little to no attention to that blowhard "knigtwingfire". hopefully that's his first and last post around here as we certainly do not need that type of arrogant, "suck it up and do what your told" crap.

As I mentioned earlier you can make a rice buddy with a long tube sock, just fill it 3/4 of the way with white rice or jasmine rice (nice smell) and tie off the end of the sock in a knot. You heat it in the microwave for 2 or 3 minutes and either wrap it around the back of your neck whilst laying on your back, or lay it around the back of your neck whilst laying on your tummy. They work much better than a heating pad.

I hope you get some relief from the pain.

IDK what your relationship with Dr. Is like..
And.. of course, I'm no Dr
( nor do I play one on DS :-) ..
Just sayin'.. in your shoes..
I'd want an MRI of neck.
Hugs
jc

Have you check with a neurosurgeon. And hotten a MRI i did and my bones were on my spinal cord. He said until i operate dont get hit on your head if you do you may never walk again

Enigmatic....in your profile it says you have scoliosis....have you been to see your scoliosis doc of late? Your spine is already out of whack to the right or left and even though that is primarily your thoracic, you can develop small curves in the cervical...I've got one.

And in the cervical spine, from C6 and up, you have a major artery that goes up through the cervical vertebrae and into the back of the brain. You get a kink in those vertebrae and that can pinch that artery causing headaches and almost like stroke symptoms..

I have a friend who has a twist in those arteries inside the vertebral bone and moving her head forward will cause her to pass out. She fears a bad stroke.

So crap can happen and you need a cervical MRI and possibly a cervical angiogram to see if those arteries are okay.

I've had 3 major cervical spine surgeries myself but I know that headaches don't usually last that long after bad neck pain...unless the base of the brain has subsided into the base of the skull(your brain MRI would have shown that) but you need a cervical MRI to check other soft tissues and an angiogram to check that artery.

Also, as an after thought, you can have major problems with C1-2 with wear and tear on the piece of bone that sticks up from C2 into C1 and that can cause major headaches too. Big problem for those with RA(rheumatoid arthritis).

Keep looking. I see you are in NJ and if necessary, head to The Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC...good spine docs there. World's best at finding and treating these types of problems.

gentle hugs................Jen (former NJ girl)