Think I Pulled Something

fureverywhere

beloved friend who will always be with us in spiri
Location
Northern NJ, USA
Like most of us I hate going to the doctor. With Medicaid they usually farm you out with a referral anyway. Our physician is far too free with the Oxy prescriptions. You go in with a head cold and they send you to a respiratory specialist and an Rx for Oxy.
I don't know what muscle I pulled but it feels like I got shot in the back. Actually that might hurt less. And my right arm is somehow connected. Manipulating the mouse and that arm keeps going numb.

It's been a couple days. Maybe I just slept wrong on something one night? Aleve isn't touching it. I tried the online symptom checker. Comforting...mention back, chest, arm pain and BINGBINGBING...you get a red warning square that the heart attack is about to start. Maybe try cold and hot packs? Any suggestions? I have to be back to work Sunday and I have to be able to move again.
 

I have a nerve in my neck that gets pinched sometimes and those are the exact symptoms I get. The numbness is part of the nerve pinch thing. When it happens, I go to the chiropractor, and he fixes it right up.
 
If this came on suddenly, and you were engaged in any kind of physical activity, or made any sudden movement, the odds are pretty good that you have dislocated a vertebrae, or suffered some bone relocation that has pinched, or otherwise irritated a nerve. I've had the same thing several times, over the years....and when it happens, I usually make an appt. with a chiropractor...and invariably that fixes me right up. The MD's are in Love with drugs, but all that does is cover or mask the symptoms...and can result in even more problems if the root cause isn't fixed. Another possibility, if most of the pain appears to be in the arm, is a rotator cuff tear in your upper shoulder. I've done that to myself, too. The MD said I needed surgery, but I went to a DO, specializing in sports injuries, for a 2nd opinion, and he gave me a Cortisone shot, and worked up a series of exercises I could do on my home gym. The shot helped a bunch, and the exercises cleared the problem in about 3 months. I am 110% against surgery and prescription drugs...if there are any other options available.

I'm 73, and engage in all sorts of physical, and sometimes strenuous outdoor work...That is My health care plan...and so long as I remember to pace myself a bit, I still do just fine.
 
I don't think sleeping incorrectly would cause the kind of pain and numbness you describe. Massage can get oxygen rich blood flowing to the injury site and should offer you some relief as would gentle stretching exercises focusing on the back and your arms. (How are your shoulders?)

What kind of movement is required in your work? How many Aleve are you taking a day? Can you take time off from your work or is this a stupid question?

My senior senior mom sustained a back injury a couple of months ago and she was in serious pain with it. Her doctor prescribed steroids and special pain killers but not OXY. In a couple of weeks her back pain went away, but she really couldn't do much in the interim. Sometimes you just have to listen to your body and give it the rest it needs when it needs it so you can make a full recovery.

Good luck.
 
Could be you had a muscle spasm. I had that happen in my shoulder just as I was opening the car door and it was disabling to say the least. That first night I took two sleeping pills, a couple of Ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer and still couldn't get to sleep because the pain was so bad. It took about three weeks before my shoulder was back to normal.

So maybe just some time and a massage? Or maybe like Butterfly suggested, go to a chiropractor?
 


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