Advice For Chronic Neck Pain?

dreamcatcher

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Oct 29, 2016
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It's been ongoing for about 6 months. It began one night reading in bed, my neck was resting at a very awkward angle, twisted to one side while I held the book up to my face. That night it started hurting and I got some brief (2-3 seconds) visual darkness, and numbness in the back and top of my head. I soon developed numbness in the front of my neck, and serious blurriness in my right eye. The numbness has largely resolved itself, so has my eye. (Though I'm pretty sure it's not back to normal, it's slower to focus but does at least focus now.

I had a brain MRI that ruled out any congenital stuff, MS, cancer etc. Came back normal. I had another cervical spine MRI only recently, about a month ago. It also came back normal, ruling out pinched nerves etc. Recently the pain has progressed to my collarbones and the front and sides of my neck (it was mostly in the back of my neck before). The sides of my neck, especially the right side, have been very sore and tender, and this usually is accompanied by ear pressure and popping/clicking. ('ve had repeated ear infections throughout this ordeal, and some TMJ problems. Recently I've also developed some annoying twitching in my right thumb and upper arm.

I'm getting worried as to what might be causing this and my GP has recommended physical therapy, but they've closed those services in my country due to coronavirus. I'd still like to know the root cause of this. I don't know whether to press my GP to see further specialists for more tests.

I've read some things about thoracic outlet syndrome causing neck pain, but it usually affects the arms more.

It gets better with rest and ice packs, but gets instantly worse if I try to sit up for a day or do anything but lay down.
How's your B12 levels?
Ray Peat told me that food sensitivities can cause all sorts of bone/muscle pains. Long story short, after all the normal X rays and chiropractic treatment, I realised that all the pain I had was food related, coming from my gut. It specifically caused neck and shoulder and lower back pain.
Ray Peat recommended me small amounts of antibiotics in combination (taken together) with raw carrot salad. You might find this beneficial.
 

Ableton

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Nov 21, 2019
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Stretch your neck twice daily for around 5 min each.
Use YouTube tutorials for it and do the exercises that feel best
Complete reversal of symptoms for me in around 2 months
 

Elize

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Jan 25, 2016
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Ray Peat recommended me small amounts of antibiotics in combination (taken together) with raw carrot salad. You might find this beneficial.


What does he mean by small amounts? Which antibiotic did you use?

Thanks so much
 
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oisinh3

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Jul 13, 2020
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To everyone who replied, thank you very much. I'll update on my situation for anyone in a similar situation.

I've been going to physiotherapy and that's been some help. I definitely seemed to have some very tight muscles around the occipital area, preventing my neck from decompressing very well. I worked on those muscles, along with various neck stretches and manoeuveres. Pulling my head forward towards my chest seemed to give me the biggest change. It felt as if I was cracking months of stiffness, in whatever form stiffness was manifesting physically. Another move that helped was to look to either side as far as I could, and hold my head in position while I looked up and down. A lot of what I've been doing is trying to see where my neck is grinding the most and to grind it with stretches/flexion until it loosens up. After loosening up some of my neck I realized I had a lot of stiffness and tension around the top of my spine, which I worked through with some massage belt.

Now my main problem is around the top of my cervical spine I think. I've had constant ear infections and ETD throughout these neck problems, and I can feel my eustachian tube freeing up a bit when I lay down and try to stretch out/lengthen my neck. I've seen some interesting stuff about the McKenzie method and how neck problems can cause this.
 

SamYo123

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Oct 4, 2019
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Address the system

 
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pastanagueta

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Oct 7, 2021
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To everyone who replied, thank you very much. I'll update on my situation for anyone in a similar situation.

I've been going to physiotherapy and that's been some help. I definitely seemed to have some very tight muscles around the occipital area, preventing my neck from decompressing very well. I worked on those muscles, along with various neck stretches and manoeuveres. Pulling my head forward towards my chest seemed to give me the biggest change. It felt as if I was cracking months of stiffness, in whatever form stiffness was manifesting physically. Another move that helped was to look to either side as far as I could, and hold my head in position while I looked up and down. A lot of what I've been doing is trying to see where my neck is grinding the most and to grind it with stretches/flexion until it loosens up. After loosening up some of my neck I realized I had a lot of stiffness and tension around the top of my spine, which I worked through with some massage belt.

Now my main problem is around the top of my cervical spine I think. I've had constant ear infections and ETD throughout these neck problems, and I can feel my eustachian tube freeing up a bit when I lay down and try to stretch out/lengthen my neck. I've seen some interesting stuff about the McKenzie method and how neck problems can cause this.

I've had really bad pain mostly on the back of the neck and shoulders for the past couple of years, and when the pain's really bad I can even get vertigo. Also I've had TMJ for many years (I use one of those sexy night guards when I go to sleep so I don't destroy my teeth).

Some types of exercise have helped, as well as avoiding certain foods. I also avoid taking supplements as much as I can however lately I've been taking this Bromelain supplement, and it's giving me amazing relief from the pain. I'm using the brand Paradise Herbs, the product is called Bromelain+, and has no fillers whatsoever. I take 2 capsules twice or sometimes 3 times a day (always making sure it's on an empty stomach), the last dose being before I go to sleep. Not only does it make the pain subside once it's begun, but if I continue to take it for a couple of days the pain won't come back for a while. You might want to try it.
 

pastanagueta

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Joined
Oct 7, 2021
Messages
91
Location
Spain
How's your B12 levels?
Ray Peat told me that food sensitivities can cause all sorts of bone/muscle pains. Long story short, after all the normal X rays and chiropractic treatment, I realised that all the pain I had was food related, coming from my gut. It specifically caused neck and shoulder and lower back pain.
Ray Peat recommended me small amounts of antibiotics in combination (taken together) with raw carrot salad. You might find this beneficial.
Which antibiotics did Ray Peat recommend and in what amounts? And for how long did you take them?
Thank you
 

yerrag

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Joined
Mar 29, 2016
Messages
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Location
Manila
Last night I resolved a neck pain that has been bothering me for the past 6 days. It turns out to be high serotonin. I also had a headache along with it.

A few drops of Cyproheptadine and I am seeing the pain go away.

But I had to scratch my head to figure this out. I had to see what I did that led to this condition, as I don't believe in this pain popping out of nowhere.

The tldr; is that I have been taking a new supplement for 2 weeks. This supplement is intended to improve the micro vessels flow, as I have been trying to lower my bp for the past 20 years to no avail.

I expect there to be some lysing involved, and I expect some biofilms to be busted, and for microbes to get released into the bloodstream, and for my immune system to react. All these happened, as I was urinating a lot of foamy urine.

It wasn't all bad. It seemed to reduce my eyebugs and I would dream daily (which meant good sleep) and I was waking up with a stiff rod. Better circulation certainly, and I'm already thinking of improved hair.

But I soon developed a cold, and had a runny nose. A bit congested. I suspect all this was the result of a lot of debris from immune activity going to my lungs- as the lungs clear waste from internally, not just from external sources, as most would think.

It wasn't just the lungs becoming more busy, but my liver as well. As I would defecate more from once to 3x per day.

The increased activity can be observed from my nightly charts of spO2, which show frequent drops of sp02 at the times known by TCM to be associated with liver, gallbladder, and the lungs. All these drops relate to high activity of phagocytes, which consume lots of oxygen during respiratory burst activity.

As the lungs are where serotonin are deactivated, the lungs at this time fell short of clearing away the aerotonin, perhaps because with the mucus its dealing with, a lot of serotonin were building up. My guess is that this buildup came to be manifested as neck pain and head ache.

Thankfully, I have on hand Cyproheptadine. Thank you @haidut
 

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