SPoD - Pain In the Neck Part II (June 27)

My neck issues have returned, after believing that they had been dealt with back in February. But for whatever reason (stress, accident, just never really went away), it returned and the week of June 10th was *the worst*. June 14th was especially horrible for me (and I played sand volleyball with CJ after feeling royally horrific).

As I mentioned in previous posts, my symptoms include a feeling similar to a head rush except that I'm not coming from a sitting or lying position, and suddenly jumping to a standing position to allow the blood to rush to my head. At its worst (around the end of the week of June 10th), the mini-head rushes come like contractions: I was in a class, sitting, and they came, every five minutes. I usually clench my hands into fists, to dig my nails into my palms, in order to keep me from 'passing out' or actually, panicking from the feeling that I feel as though I'm going to pass out.

I 'know' I'm not going to since I have had these symptoms often enough that I have yet to pass out. But it affects my brain, my language, my thinking. And then the emotional side effect of "WTF is wrong with me?'

So I went back to the pain doctor and we agreed to try the cortisone shot again. Even knowing how painful this was for me the first time, I was ready to go through it again. And I am a girl with a very high tolerance of pain. Not just because I went through a year of getting a tattoo but because I go through years of chronic pain and play with it. I played sand volleyball, for satan's sake, in one of the worst state's I've ever been...and I had a blast despite it. Am I bragging? Hell yes. I can't believe I did that but I did it for CJ and I'm thankful for her that got me to do it. Otherwise, I would have been lying in bed IN PAIN vs. playing volleyball, laughing, having fun, momentarily forgetting that I was in pain.

Tim came with me this time because last time, no one told me how 'serious' getting a cortisone shot in the neck was and that I needed a driver after the procedure. When I got to the prep room, I got this shot of the men working, which was just perfect. I was so worried, while the nurse was getting my vitals, that they would leave before I could get this picture. I had to sneak out and get it, hoping no one would stop me, nor would alert the men that I was taking their picture. I love it.

The procedure was much better than the first time; probably because I knew what to expect. It was still painful and it still took the day to recover from the pain.

The first time I had it done, I also had a new prescription and I wasn't in as much pain as I am in now. It wasn't as straightforward to figure out if the shot worked and the doctor, based on my feedback, decided that my new diet and prescription was helping me, not the shot.

I could tell almost immediately that my neck pain was feeling so much better. But my doctor wants me to see a colleague of hers, a headache specialist who is a neurologist. I'm glad. It will get wearisome when I start hearing the same thing I've heard before, which is "everything looks normal; we don't know" because you feel like people don't believe you and that there is no 'cure' to fix what's ailing me. But then again, there's no deadly disease: I don't have a tumor, I don't have an aneurysm, I don't have lupus. Isn't it weird how we want to hear _something_ but we also don't?

So, we'll see. Another bout of a lot of tests? I don't know but it's another phase I'm ready to tackle.