Just a thought but have you ever been diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease? I have it pretty severely in my Cervical spine,and what you describe is the symptoms that I have ,on a daily basis.Sorry to hear that you are hurting and hope that you feel better soon....Cheryl

It might not be your usual fibro flare. You might go to your doc and have he/her check it out.

Take care.

I am sorry your having a rough time right now and hope you feel better soon. I would diffinitely go in and talk to your doctor about this and make sure is not something else causing the problems.


take care
gentle hugs

The electrical shock sounds like a pinched nerve to me, probably need to have it checked out.

I agree with the others that you should get it checked out.

Like the others have said it could be DDD, a pinched nerve or bone spurs or something else.

Sending Hugs & Prayers that you feel better soon.
Mary

I get muscle spasms in my neck and shoulders. Yoga stretching helps if I catch it in time. My last resort is to take a Soma.

I don't know why this happens.

I don't know about the electric shocks, but if you neck, back and shoulders hurt and seem to freeze up, it could be due to active myofascial trigger points where the muscles get knots in them that refer pain elsewhere. The knots are called trigger points and have to be broken up in order for the pain to subside which you can learn to do on yourself with trigger point massage.

When I used to go into flares, my neck, shoulders and back would freeze up to the point I had to turn my body in order to turn my head, and it would last up to a week. It was just myofascial pain, and once I learned trigger point massage, when it would start up, I would just get out my percussion massager and work the offending trigger points and it's never been a problem since.

If you haven't checked out triggerpointbook.com and triggerpoints.net, I urge you to do so as they both are invaluable resources for anyone with myofascial pain. Triggerpoints.net has the most complete set of myofascial pain diagrams I've come across online and is worth bookmarking for future reference. You should be able to quickly determine if any of your pain is caused by trigger points--just click on the related body areas and cookbook along.

I use a percussion massager to do trigger point massage as I find it easier than using a manual one where I have to look up trigger points and then try to locate them. With the massager, I just start massaging an area, and when I hit a spot that hurts, I work it. I think using this massager has been the reason I've had so much success doing trigger point massage. I've gone from being in one degree of agony or another for years on end to being painfree a good 85% of the time.

I should mention that one other reason my pain levels are so low is because I take high doses of the amino acid 5-htp which puts serotonin in the brain. Serotonin keess the pain neurotransmitter Substance P in check. When I read about people who can't even wear a bra or carry a shoulder bag, I assume their brain is pretty much out of serotonin.

Here's a wonderful seminar on fibro put on by Dr. Murphree, a chiropractor who specializes in treating fibro and CFS. Starting in part 3, he gets into the role of serotonin in fibro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPGdqpMxU24

My fibro flares normally start with tightness in my neck and shoulders, sending shooting pains down my back and up thru my head. As you described, I have intense pain in my shoulderblade also. Normally that will trigger nerve pain or for me, neuralgia (occipital and trigeminal). It is an electrical shock like pain diagnosed by my neuroligist. I am on medication that does help ease and lessen the attacks.
Rest, heat and stretching does help also. At some point it gets confusing as to what helps what!
Sorry for the rambling post...

Thanks for your posts. My primary doctor doesn't know what to do for me any more. I just made an appointment with an osteopath. I'm positive about this doctor.

I've had the electric shocks in the back of my head. Its freaky. It used to happen to me just as I was drifting off to sleep.

I've been to the neurologist and have had plenty of MRI's and there is nothing to show what is causing it.

I've heard both people with CFS & FM complain about that symptom.

I get the exact same thing...it is always there but the flare ups make it impossible to move my neck or left arm with out crazy pain.
Lyrica helped with that as do muscle relaxers during a flare.
May want to talk to your doc about that and give them a whirl.
hope you feel better soon:)