need answers my head is hurting really bad - Spinal Cord Disorders Message Board

starlight36 · 04-30-2006, 06:45 AM

hi all,
it has been almost 3 weeks this coming wed. and i am in pain yesterday sat i cried my neck and head hurt so bad i felt sick to my stomach.
when i first got home from hospital i was feeling good my head and neck were fine i think i over did it alittle but last week i hardley did anything but lay in bed and watch tv i can't get my neck to feel better i lay down are sit up i am wearing a collar and sleeping at night is bad i can't seam to get my pillow fixed right
please if you know what i might be doing are if you think somethig is wrong with me let me know
i can't take this pain in my head anymore nothing is helping and i don't know what to do anymore
oh and my hip is fine it don't hurt that much just sometimes
thanks
starlight

feelbad · 04-30-2006, 09:18 AM

i am hoping that your surgeon sent you home with some good pain meds here??I really would give the surgeon a call as your pain "should' be getting even a tiny bit better each day,not worse.he could possibly send you for an MRI or even a CT just to make sure some thing isn't out of whack within the surgical area.or even something new?I had alot of inflammation going on within my neck that caused horrid levels of pain within the upper shoulder area as well as the neck.tho you are not supposed to be taking any NSAIDS or using any steriods post op fusion,my NS did order that medrol dose pack for me and said that on a short term basis,its perfectly okay to use the medrol.this really really made the difference in my pain and the tolerability of it.just getting the inflammation calmed down helped me soo much.i really would speak with your surgeons office about this level of pain you are experiencing as at this point,realistically,it should not be quite this bad as it sounds to be.

if things are really inflammed in there its possible that something is actually impinging upon a nerve.just calming all this down with the right med, short term should help alot in the long term.things wont heal well when there is too much inflammation going on.

I would call your surgeons office even today as they should have someone on call to cover these types of things.you also need to still be taking your pain meds at this point too.hopefully your surgeon has you well covered in this area?if not,you really DO deserve better treatment than this.at least for the first six weeks post op.this is just a rather painful type of surgery.when you are operating anywhere near the spinal cord and all those highly sensitive spinal nerves,well,if things are inflammed,this could be the reason for it.'something" could just be impinging upon one of those nerves just because it is swollen and inflammed.this is what was the problem with me and my c 7 nerve root.the medrol was a true blessing for me.once things calmed down in there.i felt much better and the area was finally allowed to heal.

please keep me posted on how things go for you.but please call your surgeon today to see what they advise.you should not be suffering this badly after three weeks post op.good luck,Marcia

starlight36 · 04-30-2006, 12:29 PM

well after 5 hrs of waiting on my dr to call me he finally did and told me to come in tomorrow for an xray he said i should be getting better and did not think this has anything to do with my surgery i just had YES I THINK IT DOES he ask me if i had always had headaches i said yes but like i told him i had surgery just this past aug on my neck were c4-5 ruptured and then he went in and fixed c6 were it had ruptured and the nerve was being pressing which was causing my headaches again, this sucks really sucks now i am scared and can't take the pain much more i am on lortab 7.5 and soma for spasams and they are 350 mg i have been taking this med for a while now and i do't like taking so much of it which now i think my lortabs have lost its effectivenes because i have taken then for a while now this may sound crazy but i did start my period friday and i have been taking pamprin maximum strenght i don't think me being on my period would be causeing my headaches so bad never has so why start now i feel like i have been screwed again by another dr the first dr was a neo surgerion and the plate and screws was tured sideways which my dr now said that could have caused my ruptured c-6 so he went in an took it out and fixed it so i feel like i have had another dr to screw me on this issue and it scares the crap out of me i don't want to be sick and hurting all my life i am 36 and have 3 kids i have to take care of and a loving husband i am at my wits end on this and very depressed
thanks for listening
starlight

SpineAZ · 04-30-2006, 05:30 PM

Starlight:

Two thoughts, keep in mind I could be way off:

You could be experiencing hormonal migraines if the headaches come mostly when you have your period. I had my tubes tied 2 years ago so I could go off the pill. Then a few months later I started getting wicked headaches, especially the week of my period. Turns out I have hormonal headaches, I am back on the pill (full time, I don't take a week of during the month so I never have a period) and the headaches resolved.

Second, tell your doctor you want to be sure the headaches are not caused by a change in the flow of spinal fluid. I had an L5-S1 fusion years ago and a slight nick in the dura mater (the membrane that surrounds the spinal cord) caused a spinal fluid leak. The result was the worst headaches I had ever had and nothing would relieve them. Once that problem resolved the "spinal headaches" were gone.