Okay, people, I over exerted myself while I was working out. I did too many reps, too much weight, whatever. A pain went up my neck, back of head, front temples, and pulsated. I almost passed out. Since then, if I overexert myself again (workout, sex), here comes the pain. What did I do? Did I actually pull a muscle in my head? What’s the treatment? Do I rest or get a cat-scan?
anuerysm? …I hope not
Well friend sounds to me like you possibly did some nerve damage to the high end of your spine. What exercise were you doing when this happened? Were you by any chance doing lat or tricep exercises? Sometimes whilst doing lat pulls or tricep extensions one can pull a muscle in the neck and possibly cause some nerve damage. I am not a doctor, but I have been lifting for many years and suffered my fair share of problems…
Annyerism? Maybe. I had a massive head injury four years ago. Fell and went unconcious for four days. Fully cured. No sign of damage as of one year ago. So probably not.
My excercise? I WAS doing lats, not behind the head but chest. It’s on the Paramount 2000 workout center. It’s a combo of triceps, pecs and biceps. The pain will return mildly after the treadmill, but any more than ten or twelve reps on any machine, I feel like drilling the hole so the air will seep out.
…except when it precedes death
The most benign thing I can think of that is causing your symptoms would be a tense muscle bundle compressing a nerve.
In this case, the pain in your head could be a reflex phenomenon (faulty switchboard) mediated by the pain pathways in your spine. There are also spinal nerve roots in your neck that innervate parts of the scalp as well and direct compression to these could produce your pain.
More ominous would be something like a disk herniation or neck sprain which can likewise compress nerves but at critical locations like the spinal canal or the little holes where they emerge from the canal. Herniation of a disk is less likely in the neck, which bears little direct weight. And yes, an aneurysm should be considered possible especially if you have any focal neurologic signs (weakness, numbness, tingling of the same area everytime).
You should probably see a doctor, especially if conservative therapy (rest, ice, a little motrin) does not help your pain. I would not recommend seeing a chiropractor for this.
bloomsdaygroom
Your history of head injury is another red flag. The big question is did you have any bleeding inside your head with that injury or did they have to operate? Once that delightfully soft organ gets manipulated the risk subsequent “vascular accident” is appreciably higher.
Have a good weekend.
This person is NOT necessarily dying (any more than we all are). The OP should be examined by a medical provider to find out what’s really going on.
I have/had something that’s felt like a pinched nerve in my neck for years. Sometimes it would feel like a scratchy shirt label irritating the base of my neck and other times it would cause neck pain. For a little while I had headaches originating from my neck, shooting up the back of my head. Felt like I was being stabbed in the head. Excruciating pain. So I went to the doctor and she gave me a big shot of Demerol which wiped me out for the rest of the day, and the headache never came back. I don’t know if this is what the OP has or not. I looked up headaches in the Merck manual, and they described this particular headache… can’t remember the name, but it was said to be one of the most severe headaches a person can get.
I work out with weights, too, but I finally traced my problem to cradling the phone on my shoulder at work. Since I stopped doing that, I rarely have a problem with my neck.
ps - You shouldn’t do that lat pull down BEHIND your head. You should lean back slightly and pull the bar down to your chest.
A “cluster headache.” That’s what I had. http://www.mhni.com/faqs_cluster.html#cluster
Not saying that’s what the OP has, though.
For bloomsdaygroom:
My injury was a direct blow to my right, back side of my head. It caused a 1cm contusion, classifying me as a grade-3 concussion recipient. No surgery was necessary. When I first awoke, I did not know my name, or where I was. That came back in just a few hours. The worst of all was the pain I felt on the unaffected side. I thought I needed 3 or 4 root canals in my teeth, had them examined, and my dentist found nothing, due to compensatory pain that I would be feeling on my right side. Since it’s numb, that’s why I’m feeling it on my left.
I think I’ll try resting first, then maybe an x-ray.
Have you seen a neurologist since your head injury?
Jillgat: Oooooh yeah! I saw three in the hospital, and two afterwards, about six months. I had at least fifteen cat-scans, an MRI and an MRA. The MRA is the most painful noise in the world and it lasts twelve minutes. Jim Carrey was wrong.