[yorkietalkjilly]

I had a 4 day severe headache that started in my shoulders upper back and neck and worked up to the back and sides of my head within 15 minutes back in May, so severe I was too nauseated and miserable to even drive to the E.R., let alone sit for 3 hours waiting, or I would have gone several times during that awful episode. It was awful! My head hurt too bad to even move or think! Even after it went away, for the best part of a month I had a ghost sensation of the pain lurking in my neck, back of head, about to strike again, and several, almost as bad, severe headaches that lasted much shorter periods of time - shorter I think because I would take the medication as soon as the symptoms started to fire up. The pain was so bad that I was nauseated, dizzy and could only lie about and whine. I had something called Esgic for the headache and generic generic or diazepam for the muscle spasm that I took to tide me over until I could get in to see a specialist and if I took them the minute the neck pain started, I could keep the headache from being one of those long ones. Sometimes I would drape a thick towel over my shoulders, neck and the back of my head and stand under a hot shower until I was fried but it helped stave off the bad headache by rushing blood and much-needed oxygen to the spasmodic areas and keep them from knotting up, cutting off blood circulation to the tissues.

Saw an orthopedic surgeon finally and was told it was related to neck pathology - arthritis, disc desiccation, nerve root irritation, etc. and given 6 weeks PT, steam packs and ice therapy which strengthened the muscles in the front of the neck, stretched those in the back and sides and stopped the headaches, thankfully. I couldn't stand to go through that again so I'm probably going to go back and have another round of PT next time I feel anything similar to the beginning of that same shoulder, upper back or neck pain starting up. The orthopedic surgeon said he would likely order an MRI if the trouble persisted and then possibly to a neurologist depending upon what the MRI showed.

I sure hope you get to the bottom of what is causing yours and find some treatment that works. That neck pain radiating into the head is completely disabling. I'll be praying for you.