This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

Sharon, that cagey lady, got the muscle relaxant Soma for her neck pain post surgery and felt great relief. She recognized relief after a massage and realized it was muscle tightness causing her misery.

This may be something others will try as well and I wanted a thread to follow the information regarding this idea. If you use a muscle relaxant for neck pain please report it here.

For me, I had stents on May 19 and had a significant amount of neck pain which I treated with percocet and a hot towel on the lower neck tossed on "Rocky Balboa" style. Wet towel and microwave it is how that was done. I do not tolerate muscle relaxants well as they make me weak, but I did suffer a lot and wish now I had tried a peripheral muscle relaxantlike Soma in the early days when it was so uncomfortable. (a central muscle relaxant like baclofen is not likely to help much-I use that one myself)

I still have some bad days at 5 weeks but they are better now than they were earlier. I find sitting up tall is better than anything remotely "slumpy". hunching or slumping posture is sure to bring on the neck pain. Computer work needs to be limited too as I tend to slump after a while, then it is time to move around with a rocky towel.

Any tricks to reduce neck pain and any experience with muscle relaxants please report here

Hey Mrhodes, when I have real bad neck pain I get out of bed and do a yoga move. I don't remember the name of it, but you just slowly bend down from the waist stretching every vertebra and hang so the weigh counter balances. I go up and down for a while and the longer I hang the better I feel. Then I use an exercise roll or a couple of rolled up towels to lay on in the supine position (face up) to open up my spine and shoulders . I hope this info helps you IG

Thanks I'll try it!

Marie - I was on vacation and I missed this thread. Good idea because I think anyone with the blocked jugs is going to have a problem with the neck pain.

Mine is so much better. The shoulder is still tight, but I am trying to work it out in Pilates and my exercise class. What is really wierd though is prior to the procedure I would get a "burning feeling" between the shoulder blades (symptom which I relayed to Dake). Now I am only getting that burning on the left side. Hmm

This is what has been happening with my neck and shoulder:

Initially, everything was in spasm - the upper trap, the levator, the sterno cleido mastoid (SCM) (this muscle goes from the collar bone to that little boney thing behind your ear). As of last Tuesday (five week out from surgery), she says the trap is much better and the SCM has improved except that the upper part of the SCM is still in spasm. I still have inflammation high up in the cervical spine - C-3 and up. The deep stabilizing muscles are in spasm - these would be the scalenes and the splenius capitis. So, I am back on 1/2 dosage of my muscle relaxant and will continue until I see her on Monday.

I may have exacerbated all these muscle issues by getting back on the golf course and getting started on my excercise routine too soon. Oh, well!! So, I would suggest to everyone to be aware that the shoulder and neck tightness may not improve for sometime. I am continuing on with my activities and things are getting better..maybe just a little slower than I would have liked.

I have emailed D.Dake with this information - thought it might be useful to him.
Marie sent me this link - good pictures of muscle groups

http://www.massagetherapy.com/articles/ ... r-Scapulae