Severe muscle spasm
So, I had to get up Wednesday morning at 4:30 am to go with Dave down to the cities for his continuing education. His parents came up the night before and we had dinner together, they stayed the night and stayed to dog and chicken-sit on Wednesday while we were gone. It was a lot of driving, but Dave did most of it and we had a good time. Got home exhausted, then the Weight Watchers team leader called to ask if I could work Thursday morning. I said sure. So I had to get up at 6 am on Thursday.
I woke up with a kink in my neck. Not too unusual, but this had kind of a knot in the muscle that feels like a lump through the skin where my skull attaches to my neck. I figured it was just stress and lack of sleep.
Yesterday I took it easy, got to bed early, slept in. Woke up with this knot on my head. Not only the small bump, but a real knot above it on the muscles attached to my skull. Again, I figured stress and maybe it would go away on its own. I applied heat and took Tylenol, and moving around some and stretching it seemed to help. Last night I went to bed and laid on the heating pad, only to discover it had stopped heating. Bad timing!
Woke up this morning with the knot worse than ever. I probably should have gone to my chiropractor yesterday, but I figured it would resolve itself. I felt a little silly going to a doctor about it, figuring there's not much anyone can do. But I called and talked to a nurse and she seemed to feel it was worth having checked out.
So I went to see a doctor, not my usual doc since he's not there on Saturdays. Turns out the hard round lump I can feel is actually a lymph node. The muscles that attach to my skull are in spasm and they are deep under the skin, with this node lying on top of them. Normally you cannot feel this node, but the underlying muscles have shoved it to the surface. All the muscles in that side of my neck are in spasm. Ugh! She recommended ibuprofen, moist heat, and deep tissue massage. I've been doing the first two and have an appointment for the third on Monday morning.
Luckily this isn't really causing headaches, but my neck is stiff and sore and it hurts to move it in certain ways. But in a way it is a relief to know it isn't anything serious. I wish I knew what had caused it in the first place though.
I woke up with a kink in my neck. Not too unusual, but this had kind of a knot in the muscle that feels like a lump through the skin where my skull attaches to my neck. I figured it was just stress and lack of sleep.
Yesterday I took it easy, got to bed early, slept in. Woke up with this knot on my head. Not only the small bump, but a real knot above it on the muscles attached to my skull. Again, I figured stress and maybe it would go away on its own. I applied heat and took Tylenol, and moving around some and stretching it seemed to help. Last night I went to bed and laid on the heating pad, only to discover it had stopped heating. Bad timing!
Woke up this morning with the knot worse than ever. I probably should have gone to my chiropractor yesterday, but I figured it would resolve itself. I felt a little silly going to a doctor about it, figuring there's not much anyone can do. But I called and talked to a nurse and she seemed to feel it was worth having checked out.
So I went to see a doctor, not my usual doc since he's not there on Saturdays. Turns out the hard round lump I can feel is actually a lymph node. The muscles that attach to my skull are in spasm and they are deep under the skin, with this node lying on top of them. Normally you cannot feel this node, but the underlying muscles have shoved it to the surface. All the muscles in that side of my neck are in spasm. Ugh! She recommended ibuprofen, moist heat, and deep tissue massage. I've been doing the first two and have an appointment for the third on Monday morning.
Luckily this isn't really causing headaches, but my neck is stiff and sore and it hurts to move it in certain ways. But in a way it is a relief to know it isn't anything serious. I wish I knew what had caused it in the first place though.