Neck pain

[Gilamon]

Dave woke up today with neck pain on his left side going down towards his shoulder blade. I assumed it was just a stiff neck, but as the day has progressed, he's struggling more with it. We've just tried creating a better pillow arrangement ready for tonight but it was incredibly painful for him to lie on the bed and get up again. It's now become more clear to me that it's painful to touch and I've noticed rampant fasciculations in that area. He won't take ibuprofen or paracetamol (he also has a dementia so communication and understanding can be difficult) but he managed to put voltorol gel on it earlier in the day which didn't help. Just wondered if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks xx

[Ellie]

It’s hard to know what caused Dave’s neck pain, Gill, whether it’s down to sleeping awkwardly, if his neck muscle is in spasm or it may be an injury to name but a few culprits.

Neck pain is quite common in MND because of weakening muscles trying to support the heavy head, keep the spine aligned and the scapula from dragging but this doesn’t happen suddenly, and you would have noticed him struggling to hold his head up, for example.

I get pain in the same area and I find warming the muscles with a microwaveable heat pack, then massaging it gently with oil releases the muscle, or do the same with Voltarol if he’s happier using it. I also need to get into a warmish bed so I have an electric blanket (on a very low heat) on a timer, meaning my muscles don’t get a chance to get chilled and tense up - yes, I am a Princess, even in this weather it doesn't take much for my muscles to complain

Can he safely have a bath - that’s usually good for relaxing muscles too.

If the pain persists, you may need a physio or GP to examine the area and make sure there’s no injury.

I hope he can get comfortable tonight, you too.

Love Ellie.

[Gilamon]

Thanks so much Ellie. I've not seen him struggle with his head previously. Yes it's hard to know what it is but it does seem manageable except when he lay down. A warm bath may be on the cards. Thanks for getting back xx

[Gilamon]

Just a quick update. Dave slept ok last night. He was in a sitting position with lots of pillow support. Neck's feeling better. I'm hoping it was just a stiff neck which should improve further over the next few days. Thanks for being here xx

[Ellie]

Oh that's good to hear, thanks.

Hopefully he'll be in less & less pain over the weekend.

[LolaLi]

I hope you are feeling fine! Anyway I'm just curious, did you consider changing an ordinary pillow to a special one? I mean when my husband had the same problem we changed his pillow to an orthopedic one, and it helped.