For the past year, I have been experiencing extreme muscle tension in my neck at the base of my skull. My actual pain level is minimal at the moment, but the muscle tension is about to do me in. It has pretty much consumed my life. My head feels like it weighs 50 pounds. I had an MRI last September which showed DDD, three bulging disks (C-5/6 and C 6/7 being the worst) and a straigtening of the cervical spine.

I've been through physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments and massage with no relief. Yesterday I had my first appointment with an orthopedic neck/back doctor. He suggested the pain management clinic for injections. I've got vacation plans for the next few weeks (how I am going to get through that is another story), so at this point, the doctor prescribed Ibuprofen (just regular 200 mg. Motrin, two tablets three times a day), Vicodin 5 500 mg. and Soma 350 mg. I will go back to see him in approximately a month to see how I am doing.

I will admit that I am fearful of taking new medications. The Motrin I have no problem with although it doesn't seem to provide much of any relief. I cut one of the Soma tablets in half last night and took that. Other than making me drowsy, I don't feel like it helped much either.

My questions are: Does it take the Soma awhile (i.e. several days of usage) to relax the muscles? Do I need to just keep taking this to see what happens? The RX is for one tablet three times a day, which would most likely have me sleeping all day long. I will probably only take this before bed.

The other question is: Since I am not in a great day of pain, and my complaint is more the muscle tension, should I even mess with the Vicodin? This is the one that scares me the most. The doctor said that pain is often masked as muscle tension and the muscles are tense to "protect." The RX for this is also one tablet three times a day.

Finally, the Vicodin has acetaminophen in it and is that okay to take on top of the Motrin?

I browse this board all the time and you guys seem to know a great deal about these things. Any replies would be appreciated.

soma is fast acting (like 30 mins) so it should kick in right away. they are potent so watch out driving till you know its effects.

basically they just put me to sleep, they didnt really help my back spasms.

I have had chronic neck tension and pain since a car accident in 2000. My PCP has had me try everything under the sun and nothing seems to work. Massage and therapy feel better for about an hour, but after that, I am in extreme pain for the rest of the night. I was told by a chiropractor and my massage therapist that my vertabrae in my neck are not curved at all, they are straight. I can't seem to figure out how to get my neck to curve again. They only relief is if I lay flat on my back with a round neck pillow under my neck, but it is hard being a single mom and working two jobs to find time to do that often. I think I would lose my job if my boss came up and found me on the floor resting my head. I have tried all of the meds from ibuprofen to Percocet. I have found the best for me is Flexeril. Soma did not do as much. But, I have to take 2 to get any relief and my prescription is for 1 every night... So I wait until the pain is really bad and then take two for a few nights in a row... As soon as I stop, it hurts again.
My massage therapist suggested I try laying on the floor with a tennis ball under my neck. I have not purchased a tennis ball yet, I will let you know if it works. Good luck and if you find anything that helps, I would love to get out of pain for even a day...

Hello everyone..

I too took soma... You really should give it a chance, and take it as directed, 3 times a day at least for the first few days to a week, and see what happens... It does act within 30 minutes, BUT, for the spasms to subside, it takes a bit of time, as muscles have memory..

It is ok to take ibuprofen with drugs that contain some acetaminophen. Just dont take other NSAIDS with ibuprofen (such as asprin, naproxen, etc)...

Now, I take soma here and there only when I feel something acting up... Soma can be habit forming, so you would not want to do this long term, but I took it for over 2 months (at least once a day) and was able to get off it fairly easily..

Maurice

Hi All,
I have taken soma after my first fusion, one of the side effects for me was I could not ever get to a deep sleep, it didn't let me get past the first level of sleep, I would sleep for like an hour or so and then be wide awake for hours. Not a side effect that is senn very often but it was terrible for me. Hope you dont' have this trouble.

Good Luck & God Bless

Carol

I have 600mg ibuprofen, but don't take it as much as I would like. I am just leery of the liver thing and long term useage. I have been on Vicodin forever it seems and think my body has gotten use to it and can take it and work. You can even break them in half if need be. I have percocet and it seems to work better than the vicodin if my pain level gets higher at times. Now mind you I don't take the pain meds every day and when I do take them, I am very careful to only take one maybe two a day. Yesterday I didn't take any, today so far none. But that is rare. And sometimes I take a couple plain ole Tylenol before bed. You will just have to see what works for you and how much you can tolerate and be mobile(like on vacation) I feel for you and the vacation factor. The stress level goes thru the roof right before our vacations over the past several years, in wondering if I can do it.

sounds just like what i am feeling every day but my pain is bad and my c5-c6
and c7-c8 are bulging and narrowing. I use ice on my neck and that does give me some relif but not all day long. good luck and ask for an MRI
sontv

Thank you all for your replies. You have been quite helpful. As I mentioned in my original post, I tend to be a bit fearful of taking new drugs (okay maybe more than a bit). I started the first night with the Soma and took only half of the tablet. Other than making me very sleepy, it didn't seem to have much effect on relaxing the muscles in my neck. I seriously doubt that I could take these three times a day at full dosage. I would be asleep the entire day. I am a bit worried about taking even the half of a Soma on a regular basis, as I already have problems with sleep. I do NOT want to become dependent upon these to sleep.

Skipped the second day and just took two Motrin twice during the day.

Took half of the Soma the third day and had a great night's sleep. Other than that, still no effect on the muscles. I know I am not taking the full prescribed amount and this may be why the muscles aren't cooperating.

Yesterday I took one Motrin twice during the day and, I decided to try half of a Vicodin. I had no adverse reaction to the Vicodin and no sleepiness with this. The only thing I noticed was that I did have some random muscle twitches in my body, which could be just plain stress. Kind of had a rough night sleep wise. Fell asleep just fine but couldn't stay asleep and was awake for most of the night.

At this point, I am not sure what I am going to do. My neck muscles are screaming for some kind of relief and I just can't figure out what to do to get them to ease up! I have a prescription for Xanax as needed and to be quite honest, the Xanax seems to relax the muscles more than the Soma. I am well aware of the risks of taking Xanax on a regular basis so I know that this probably isn't the greatest of options either.

If anyone else has any input, I would love to hear more. Thank you again.

Hi - I was given flexeril for muscle spasms in calf and after that quit working, I take 5mg valium at bedtime. It works for me. I'm scheduled for fusion this month.

Well Folks - I am really sorry to say that reading this thread has given me an "Aha' moment! Over the last few years I have had several neck 'pulls', I called them. I would awake with an awareness that my neck was ... 'frozen'. To move it was painful and the feeling of tension or tightness extreme. In every case, I would slowly loosen up and the sore area would gradually receed in a few days. Always.
About 2 months ago, I awoke with a frozen neck. Only this time I also had stabbing pain all down my shoulder and into my arm. My left thumb was completely numb and my left arm was remarkable-ridiculously-weak. Since I was already a lumbar spine patient, I was already taking Flexeril and percocet. The first week I had to double up on doses just to cope with this pain. Anyway, the numbness has gone away and was gone at about the 6 week mark. My neck and arm pain has lessened considerably but not to nothing. I have pain when I move my neck to the left or right.
Got a call from spine specialist surgeon today (he's going to be doing a revision L4-5 fusion surgery on me on June 22nd) after he went over the MRI he ordered done on my cervical spine (at my request). DDD at C4-5 mild. A broad central disk herniation at C5-6 with no spinal cord compression but with bilateral compression (impingement) of the nerve roots and moderate stenosis of the foraminal space.
AHA! I guess now I know that I haven't been waking up with 'pulled' neck muscles. Life justs gets more interesting, eh?
As far as meds go, I find percocet works very well for me but by the time I get past the first dizzy, nauseous icky feeling - the Rx is about gone! I have had flereril but I really don't know if it does any good. I'll be satisfied if this remains a frozen neck problem and not that stabbing pain that I had for one week. One week was enough of that! Of course, my tension/stiffness has always eased up in a few days. If it didn't (and it sounds like yours doesn't), I'd be singing another tune and dang quickly, too. Nice to chat with you - Suzy-Q

[REMOVED] I sometimes take a percocet and ice packs seem to help too..

Maurice

[REMOVED]
My step son called me the other day and ask how my back was doing and if I needed anything(which was weird because he lives an hour and a half away and has never ask me that before) I said uh no I am fine. [REMOVED]

I would be awful careful mixing alcohol with meds, all those warning stickers arent for nothing :) so take it easy ;)

[REMOVED]

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