Incredible neck pain

[[Ho...]]

I'm down to 1.5 mg valium in my taper. I've had a nice stretch with no real symptoms. Yesterday I woke up with a kinked neck, much like anyone can experience. As the day progressed, the pain spread to my upper back. At 2:00 am I woke up and it took me 10 minutes to get out if bed. Any attempt to sit up, move, or shift  send intense pain through my neck and back. I tried ice, heating pad, long shower and had minor relief. The pain returned once I went back to bed. I've never had a kinked neck last more than half a day, and this is now day two. I don't know if this is withdrawal, or just a result of how my neck was positioned when sleeping. What I do know, is that I can't function like this. I was grunting out loud in agony trying to roll off my bed on to my feet. I'm 150lbs and athletic. I haven't done any heavy exercise since my taper, just a healthy amount of walking and light swimming.

[[sm...]]

I get similar symptoms, I tend to carry a lot of tension in my shoulders which worsens during withdrawal. Muscle tension and cramps are a side effect of the w/d. The shoulder tension turns into neck pain, and I had an episode Saturday. It was after an intense workout. The solution for me is pressure/massage on the knots in the shoulder muscle that are the root of the neck pain. The knots form along the inner ridge of my shoulder blade, and I am flexible enough to reach over and press my fingers into them but need help from someone else to get rid of them. So my Saturday episode my wife ground her thumbs into the knots and it got better by Sunday.

 

If you find this is the same root cause and don't have a partner you may need a professional massage. It doesn't require the full body deal most pay massage are for but I haven't been able to get rid of them myself and they don't just go away without pressure being applied.

 

They also sell rollers online you can use on yourself, I have never tried one so I can't say if it works, but if you look at the lower right of what I link from Amazon my knots form in the muscle they are working. Kind of weird the actual pain is in the neck and not the shoulder but for me at least 100% of neck pain is knots in that muscle group.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Gurin-Massage-Roller-Increases-Flexibility/dp/B0087TZVW8

 

[[sm...]]

I found an image showing the exact spot. It is appropriately labeled "stiff neck"

 

Hopefully posting links to other sites is ok on these forums?

 

Anyways here it is, not sure if this will help but X marks the spot that causes my neck pain.

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/410601690997908643

 

[[Ni...]]

I don't know if this is withdrawal, or just a result of how my neck was positioned when sleeping.

 

My money is definitely on withdrawal - I had it too: neck shoulders, upper back -  and wondered exactly the same as you are wondering now - was it the pillow height, the way I was lying on it; all that.

 

It is a very common symptom and there are many threads on it here. The common wisdom is that the muscle relaxant effects of the benzo are no longer in play and your muscle has to re-learn how to relax with only body-based GABA.

 

Mine came and went and came back again - a lot. The good news is that it fades over time. I'm free of it now. Hot water bottles helped when the tension felt "locked-in"...

 

Hope that helps some bit...

[[be...]]

Hi Holden, I think it is wd also, it looks like you are doing a rather speedy taper, when I did my first two tapers I went too fast and the neck thing was horrible, sometimes it felt like my shoulders wrapped around neck and head, yes I know that sounds weird, but it felt awful and painful.

 

I have some neck tension at times and what I do is get a sock and put a tennis ball in there and then walk the wall.it will let you know pretty fast where the knot is and you will feel the tightness and walking the wall in that area will loosen it up. Stay Strong.

[[Ho...]]

Thank you everyone for your replies. That diagram that shows "stiff neck" is exactly where the pain is. I rubbed it quite hard yesterday while pointing my chin down, as recommended in videos. I seemed to have pushed do hard that it now seems bruised, very tender. I can also hear little crackles like rice crispies as I move my head side to side. I found an old prescription from when I had a collapsed lung. It's prescribed in China as mephenoxalone. It seemed to have worked a little, but I'm not keen on using it again as I saw that it's a muscle relaxer, and prescribed for anxiety. I don't need anything getting in the way of my prgress. While this neck pain is excruciating, I feel like a pig in shit just cause I haven't had ANY psychological or anxiety related symptoms for some time. For me, the physical ones are minor compared to the psychological ones. Thank you all for your help.

[[Ho...]]

While most my other symptoms are quite manageable, my neck is still very painful. This will sound crazy, but it now feels like there's a burp stuck between my shoulder blades. The pain radiates ti my chest and feels like bruised ribs, and sometimes like a collapsed lung.  Seems like there's an muscle and GI issue working together to create this monster.