Every few months my neck and/or shoulder goes into spasm and puts me out for a few days. I know exactly why it happens too. I work at a desk and stare straight ahead all day, and although I get regular exercise and try to stretch that area at least once a day, those muscles just can’t take the stress of remaining in that position for so much time.
So yesterday I got a stabbing pain in my right shoulder blade, and it’s still here. I’m taking Alleve, and once in a while an Advil (I don’t know if you’re supposed to mix them, but I don’t have anything else) but it still hurts. It is totally ruining my weekend.
And like I said, this happens every four or five months, so I know exactly what to expect. I’ll have to go to the doctor on Monday to get a muscle relaxer, because the Alleve is not enough. You need a muscle relaxer in combination with the NSAID to fix this problem. And you need to take them together for several days.
But the weekend is the only time I have to do a lot of the stuff I want or need to do, and I can’t do them because I can’t move my head, and it sucks.
No, my blood pressure is always good, even on the low side for a guy my size. This is a stress injury from my unhealthy, sedentary job, no question about it.
Argh, you have my sympathies. I just pinched my sciatic at work, the first time I’ve ever had any kind of back injury, and I’m on Alleve and muscle relaxer, too. Good news is that they don’t make me fuzzy, unlike when I was mixing tylenol, aleve and ibuprofen for the last few days…
And no, you’re not supposed to mix aleve with anything but tylenol. Your organs won’t like you for it. Hope the doctor helps you out =/
I feel ya! I’ve got a shoulder impingement which we just applied to Worker’s Comp to get ok for arthroscopic surgery on to remove scar tissue, shave a bone spur and fix up a tendon. Damn thing hurts all the time and especially when I spend hours on the computer – make the whole arm hurt. I hope your doc can sort it all out for you because shoulder and neck problems sure do suck.
I currently have my left arm in a sling for probably the same pain. I too work at a desk and have had shoulder/neck pain for years, right under my left shoulder blade and up my neck. Miserable.
Physical therapy, chiropractor, acupuncture, cortisone shots every 6 weeks for 2 years, you name it I tried it. Just had arthroscopic surgery 2 weeks ago to remove the inflamed muscle tissue and shave some of the scapula. It wasn’t bad at all, very little pain from the surgery itself. (The sling is giving me a hell of a time with neck pain, grr.) Worst part is knowing that because of where the pain was there’s only a 75% chance that the surgery will help. At this point I’ll take those odds. It’s incredible how adversely the pain has affected my quality of life. Once I’ve healed (6-8 weeks in a sling) I start PT again.