Oh, lord. So, I was saying "This stiffness in the back of my neck is only anxiety", so I told myself it was only anxiety, and I took some 4 TBSP of kava to see. The pain largely seemed to go away, though I felt some minor stiffness. I also noticed repeated sharp pains in my left shoulder shortly after taking it. One thing I noticed is that I felt pretty disoriented, like it took time for the room to catch upto my eyeballs. Anyway, apparently I got rid of the stiffness in my neck by simply throwing my head around without care (Because, not giving a care is what kava does), and then suddenly while using the computer, I felt a quickly crescendoing burning sensation in my chest along with increasing pressure in my head and then I thought to look up, and it started going away. Oh dogs, you're telling me that stiffness in my neck was supposed to protect me from accidentally pinching my nerves and causing episodes like that? Lol, I don't really know if that's the case, it might've been a semi-panic-attack of some sort, but that's not supposed to happen when taking kava, lol. And, looking down has definitely triggered 'episodes' in the past, like, before 'looking down' actually became an anxiety (Which is precisely why it became one, lol. It seemed so bizarre.). I still felt pretty calm in a "What was that?" kind of way afterwards, so the anti-anxiety affect of the kava is still there, lol.
Ok, so I'm not exactly sure if this stiff neck I had was really just anxiety. It kind of doesn't seem like it, I definitely still feel recurrent sharp neck pain where the stiffness was, even under the influence of this kava. I think the stifness might've been where the vertebra had bonded together, and it appears I might've loosened that bond through excessively looking down and all around under the influence of kava, and something started getting compressed that wasn't supposed to.
I don't honestly know if it was 'serious', whatever it was, but man.... I'm not entirely sure I confirmed the neck stiffness was /just/ anxiety as I was originally expecting (I was hoping, anyway). It seems like I'm concluding the opposite.
Then again, I was previously reading online that kava was associated with an increased risk of ischemia, at the time, so it's very possible I was panicking and the kava didn't do a great job in preventing it from happening, lol. Even though, I personally didn't think the increase meant anything immediately meaningful in my case since I'm just pinching cervical nerves, possibly via tightened muscles via anxiety. My neck muscles definitely don't feel tight now (loosey goosey). No soreness in left/right neck/shoulder. There's some neck pain at the base if I lean back, which existed before the kava, but no noticeable neck stiffness. It seems I'm able to increase neck stiffness by moving my head around. And, that in turn seems to increase right shoulder/neck muscle pain. Holding the shoulders up via tense upper back muscles might also cause irritation, lol.(Just noticed the phenomena)
Seems to imply if I keep my neck stationary in the up position for at least 10 minutes, the sensation of stiffness and neck/shoulder pain should go away, without the kava.
If that's the case, then it appears rotating my neck is definitely irritating something, which causes the increased sensation of stiffness.
Cool, some sources that it will take upto 6 weeks to heal the neck from trauma. That should be before I leave, hopefully. It'd be nice to have a fully functioning spine if I plan on taking on the job with hand tools.
Edit: relaxing the upper shoulders, it appears the right shoulder/neck muscles are getting irritated. Will walk around for 10 minutes with relaxed shoulders and see if that changes. Edit: Seems like it lessened quite a bit. Sitting seems to be contributing to the right shoulder muscle irritation.
Now that the kava has worn off, it appears the room is no longer 'catching upto my eyeballs'. I'm not sure, but it almost seems like this stuff makes you 'drunk'?
Uh oh, due to careless head positioning under the influence of kava, it appears there's no noticeable stiffness at the base of my neck (But there is definitely irritation) during rotation. I'm not sure if this is really a 'bad thing', but it seems to be associated with burning neck sensations linked to various intense burning phenomena in the chest/neck/arm when sleeping at night. And, it seems the 'don't look down' rule is definitely in force during the later hours, seems like it tends to be more consequential. This 'flexible neck' feels a bit weird. Rotating it around doesn't seem immediately consequential.
Update: Got really sleepy at 11:50 p.m. just like yesterday night (Abnormally early for me, though exactly what I prefer.), except, I loaded up on honey(&PB) before falling asleep. I used the honey to gauge how much my body wanted sugar, and it felt like it wanted quite a bit of it, lol (About 4 TBPS, 64G of sugar). Anyway, in the 'lower' position, sleeping was largely uneventful. AMAZING! Oh god, that's AMAZING! Uneventful sleep is absolutely AMAZING! :lol: So, I'm starting to think that getting enough iron and making sure blood sugar levels are high enough before bed is important. Since I think I'm trying to make up for an existing iron deficiency, I'm consuming 3 TBSP of thyme a day. (1 TBSP supplment, and 1 TBSP with lunch and dinner.)
Edit: Maybe my sleep wasn't as good as I thought. I noticed I was becoming abnormally lightheaded when laughing, which then got me worried, and then it appears I started having a panic attack shortly after I drank some cocoa. The thought, "People usually panic right before they die", certainly wasn't helping out, lol. And, the tingling in my left first four fingers certainly wasn't helping. And, I noticed those particular fingers getting cold after a while, interesting(I wonder if anxiety can do that? It doesn't seem immediately intuitive how reduced left arm bloodflow would affect just those four fingers.). I just had to run. I'm not sure what's going on, and if it's really 'just panic', but my sleep probably wasn't as good as I thought. ;/ (Not good sleep = lightheaded; panic prone.)
One great thing about this property is that there should be ample space to run. So, if I get there (Assuming this is all just simply panic attacks without a super-significant physiological basis), I should have plenty of opportunity to do just that if I ever feel compelled. And, jogging on a regular basis might not be a bad idea, if it can ultimately stave off events like these through whatever pathways (neurological, cervical, vascular, etc.).
I'm willing to bet the threat to my income yesterday probably wasn't helping. Even though, at the time, I wasn't so concerned because at this point, "my ability to live without (significant threats to my living comfortably) is virtually secured", but in actuality, it isn't really as secure as I might like. So, there's that.
Edit: So I became tired and went to bed. I was napping and then suddenly an image flittered across my mind of this woman, she asked "Will you marry me?", suddenly I felt wide awake and had a really sharp sudden pain in my right ear and an increased tingling sensation in my left four fingers. I previously attributed this pain in my right ear to pinched nerves in the neck (Which I turned around to presume the therapy position), but the fact it peaked rather strongly at /that particular moment/ and it didn't seem I was able to replicate the pain by laying back in bed for some time, has me suspecting it might have another cause. I guess I could brush it off as stress/anxiety, just like everything else it seems, lol.
Today, 8/27, just doesn't feel right. Even though it seems like all the important things are working well, I feel like I have a constant tension kind of feeling that seems to prelude one of those chest burning / head pressure episodes. Maybe eating all that honey before bed might've not been wise? lol. (Granted, I didn't know I was going to fall asleep at 11:50 p.m., I thought it was going to be my seeming normal of 4:00 a.m.; I thought falling asleep at 11:50 p.m. the day before was highly unusual.)
On the other hand, it seems like I can look all around without consequence. But, on the otherhand, it is 9:50 a.m., it may very well change by 12 p.m./4p.m.; perhaps something in my now loose neck is behind this tension feeling? Perhaps it's anxiety, though anxiety in my case doesn't seem to usually manifest like this (Never has before). And, now there's an unusual cough. I guess I can attribute that to anxiety->Acid-reflux. Just need to stop the anxiety and this should go away, right? Perhaps I need to get better sleep, lol. (I'm feeling tired)
Took a nap (Now 12), and it seems like the tension feeling has gone away. Still a bit tired. Sleeping now seems to include etchy pains scrawling down my left arm into my thumb, and down the left side of my chest following the spinal cord into my abdomen. Is this what they meant by 'getting old'? lol
Edit: It seems that eating lunch (tomato, rice, garlic, salt) and tilting my head up has been keeping the anxiety/tiredness away. My eyes and the 'shivering'(? I don't know how to describe it best.) skin sensations indicates like they didn't get enough sleep, which seems bizarre considering how long I slept. Need to stop typing, lol.
EDIT: No wonder why it seems like my neck is so consequential. I started looking down and started probing my neck, and I don't know which vertebra is the highest you can feel, but the gap between that and the one above was burning hot when looking down. I'm not sure which pair that is, but possibly C4-C5? And, I personally can't feel any of the vertebra higher than that in the neck. It's very possible this might go upto C3-C4 or even C2-C3, where the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves exist. If that's the case, that's pretty bad news because you irritate those nerves, you're directly affecting the heart and lungs. Would explain a lot of what seems to be cardiovascular phenomena when looking down at times, and not just anxiety/panic-attacks like I've been blaming. I kind of wonder if that would explain my right pinky/ring-finger tingling at times? Never my left (Which is reassuring in a way, though the first four going numb and is associated with various chest pressure/pain phenomena isn't that reassuring; would seem to imply nerve pinching either between c5-T1, or (c1-c3)-c7. I'm just hoping not the latter, lol. But, given that the cervical decompression unit 'strained' the neck (c1-c7), it's definitely not implausible (c1-c3)-c7 has been affected, as much as I don't want that to be the case, lol. I promise not too worry myself to death about the possibility of sudden cardiac arrest, which is associated with neck injuries in the c1-c3 area, lol.), just my right.
At the least the x-rays confirmed I didn't break any neck bones. It didn't confirm, however, they weren't loosey goosey from overstretching the ligaments, and were liable to compress nerves when looking down/around/etc.
http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/26/11/2194.long
Serious whiplash injuries are usually seen after rear-end car collisions. Trauma in which the victim’s head swings backward, followed by a forward flexion, more frequently causes injuries to the cervical spine than after frontal collision due to the relative weakness of the anterior longitudinal ligament.1 Frequently experienced symptoms include occipitonuchal pain due to local damage of ligaments and muscles2 ; severe headache, neck stiffness, and anxiety or irritability may subside for several months,3 or even become chronic.4 5 6 7
The last estimate was 6 weeks, and now it's several months?! Even CHRONIC?!!! Oh lord, why was there no warnings on that cervical decompression device?
Well, at least I can look on the bright side; it appears 1/3 of deaths in fatal whiplash episodes occur due to stroke, which is preluded by post-crash headaches. I have no headaches, so I guess I'm lucky that implies I didn't cause a lesion on the vertebral artery. At least not the type that would cause clots that would lead to stroke. And, apparently almost all whiplash deaths happen within 8 days after the crash. It's been 2 weeks for me, so I'm good, lol. And, it's obvious I don't /yet/ have permanent nerve damage, so 'chronic pain' isn't even on the radar. I should count my blessings. But, jesus, I so don't need tingling in both my right and left ring/fourth fingers when bending the neck forward, lol.
EDIT: I found I was able to elicit sensation in the first four fingers by pushing in on the thoracic spine. The higher up I pushed, the more notable the sensation. This also elicited sharp pain immediately afterwards somewhere at or above T1, I would assume. Since the bed, when I'm laying on my back, is effectively pushing my thoracic spine up similarly, it's fairly easy to understand how it elicits the sensations in the first four left fingers. I just don't immediately understand how it's accomplishing that since I don't have an MRI machine, but it's obviously associated with this sharp pain I immediately felt afterwards at the base of my neck, and where it seems like the epicenter of neck/shoulder pain is located. So, at the moment, this seems like the "first four fingers" episodes, that seem to predominantly happen immediately after getting up from bed at night (But, not if I've been still for 4+ hours), is probably fairly benign. Irritated nerves; the question is, how far up the neck the nerve irritation goes. If it goes upto C3 or higher, it could also cause heart/lung issues, and that could be less benign. I don't have definitive proof of heart involvement, and it seems the upper rib connected to T1 could potentially mimic some 'cardiac symptoms' in the upper chest (It seems hard to believe it's been fully responsible, but not entirely impossible to believe.). And, it's often found to be sore, at least after the pain episode disappears. (Then again, it's usually sore.)
[6:18 p.m., 8/27/2016]Weird. I read this thread, http://www.healthboards.com/boards/back-problems/880723-loose-clicking-grinding-neck.html, and it seems like the pain in the back of my neck disappeared and I'm able to look around without difficulty or noticeable 'clicking'. It feels like my neck is rotating smoothly for some reason, as if something 'clicked back into place'. I have doubts that actually happened, I'm going to guess that anxiety was giving much of these symptoms and reading her reassuring...
I had a MRI a while ago, the doc said there was nothing structurally wrong and that maybe it is a muscle spasm(s), and may resolve itself on its own.
Just calmed the 'neck anxieties' down. And, then, suddenly nothing was wrong with my neck, lol. It's weird how the clicking during neck rotation disappeared, however; I wouldn't immediately believe anxiety->muscle-tension could do that? But, maybe it can. Leaning the neck back is still kind of painful, but nothing I'm worried about. It's amazing how it glides so effortless. Looking down, though, definitely causes a weird pulling sensation in my neck and pressure in my head. Oh man, maybe I screwed it up, lol.
Update(7:20 p.m. 8/27/2016): The clicking/loose sensation has definitely disappeared and it appears to be gliding really smoothly now. The base of the back of the neck still has recurrent sharp pain, as well as the top, and it seems to be especially triggered by looking down. But, anyway, this feeling that my neck is now mating well with my chest is a pretty good feeling. Sans the sharp pain and looking down phenomena, and this general feeling of unease here and there, I almost feel back to normal.
Anyway, just want to mention that tomato-based dishes definitely seem to pare well with red wine. Or, maybe it's the garlic+tomato. It definitely went well with my white rice+tomato-paste+water+garlic+salt. I'm finding slicing the garlic up to be preferable to crushing it, because when you're mouth crushes the slices, that sudden burst of fresh garlic flavor just tastes so good contrasting against the tomato. I also don't have to clean the garlic crusher, which is not as easy to clean! lol
I'm finding the way to avoid crescendoing neck/upper-back pain is to avoid leaning back in my chair, lol. Also keeps the first four fingers from tingling.
I'm back: Okay, not really sure if anything really changed other than my level of 'neck' anxiety, lol. Went on a walk and now the right side of my neck is completely sore, lol. Leaning back also causes a click. At least it doesn't feel tight like it used to, just sore.
And, as to garlic's mosquito repellent affect:
For what its worth, I had a very large garlic planting this year, two adjacent 100' X 24" rows - about 900 plants. While weeding, I was being absolutely swarmed by mosquitoes, to the point where I couldn't work without using mosquito repellent. Processed garlic might work in a preparation, but IMO, the plants themselves have no repellent effect whatsoever.
So it appears to have been a corporate lie, surprise, surprise, lol.
