Yesterday, I had an oral exam, which I passed flawlessly, so, in the evening, I decided to go out for a celebratory beer or two - I didn’t drink much, just enough to wake up this morning with a slight headache that barely bothered me. But, as the day progressed, I noticed the dreaded onset of my most hated hangover symptom - The Annoying Neck Pain. Nobody else seems to know it, but I get it almost every time, especially, it seems, when I don’t drink all that much. It’s not especially painful, but it has a certain annoying quality to it, the feeling that something’s dislodged in my cervical spine, and if I were to turn my head just the right way, it’d ‘pop’ back into place, and the pain would vanish. So basically I spend those days tilting my head at odd angles, hoping for relief, which usually doesn’t come, sometimes not till the next day.
Now, what I want to know is, does anybody know what I’m talking about, and/or can explain what exactly causes it?
I only seem to get it on those ‘days after’, so the alcohol very likely has something to do with it - but, as I said, there’s this weird feeling of something being physically wrong in my neck, and I can’t imagine how alcohol could cause that… my own crackpot theories range from tissue dehydration causing the whole area (the discs, maybe?) to ‘loosen up’, though I can’t really imagine how the tissue could become that dehydrated, to my neck muscles being more limp in my sleep than usually, so the spine loses a little support and ‘shifts’ while I sleep (I usually sleep on my side, with my neck slanted slightly upwards).
And furthermore, what can I do against it? Occasionally, when I keep tilting my head, there will be a little ‘click’-sound, and things will improve little by little… so should I just keep tossing and turning, or am I likely to do more harm than good with that?
Likely you move a lot more (or a lot less) while asleep, causing you neck-pains.
But if this is a recurring thing you really should see a dokter about it, or lay off the sauce:)
Well this particular doctor wouldn’t be able to help much and I doubt many of my colleagues would, either. Perhaps a chiropractor…
I agree with Librarian that it’s related to how you hold your neck when you are sleeping after a light session with the Demon Rum–just enough to make you sleep heavily. My guess is that it stays in one place to long and tightens up a bit.
Based on your particular story I think the (useless) Medical Advice is: drink a lot or not at all.
It just seems strange to me that it’d only occur ‘under the influence’, then… I think I should expect it to happen by chance every now and again if it’s merely due to neck posture…
That’ll be my personal version of ‘Do, or do not. There is no try,’ then, I guess.
Anyway, for today my torment is apparently over, and so I’m content for the time being.
Thanks for your answers!