Question
Let me begin at the beginning. Yesterday, around 4pm I began having some mild muscle pain in the back of my neck. At approx. 4:30 it suddenly spiked and could barely move my head. It began in my right shoulder and came up through my neck. Gradually it subsided a bit and I ignored it (I get a lot of aches and pains).

About a half hour later I was walking into a store and it was like I had looked directly into the sun or had an extremely bright camera flashed in my eyes. I say circles of light everywhere I tried to focus (also kind of like if you squeeze your eyes shut for a REALLY long time and it screws up your vision). The light let up a bit but I couldn't really focus my vision... somewhere between double vision and these light spots..... I was really scared.....

I decided to go to my mom's which was only about a 5 min drive away.... as I drove it got worse... I started getting head rushes.... like all the blood rushing to my head ( ok this is graphic, but to explain... it was like what may happen when you're bearing down during a bowel movement) and I could feel my pulse pounding in my head..... and this vise like grip throughout my face and forehead. What came to my mind? Ok I admit it... I thought I was having a stoke....

I stopped at the pharmacy next to her house and took my BP.... normal 126/76 and my pulse was 72.

That eased my mind a bit, but the pain kept getting worse. I got to her house and was in tears. I made myself eat (I hadn't eaten anything all day) and even though the muscle spasms and pain were making me nauseous at this point I downed half a sandwich.

I took on of my migraine pills, Axert, even though it didn't feel like any migraine I'd ever had aside from the location, and laid on her bed and cried. I was SO scared. After about 45 I decided I needed to go home and take a muscle relaxer and so I drove home, carefully... took a Soma and 2 Aleve and went to bed.

I'll be honest with you.... I've not been that scared medically in a long time. I don't know what it was all about.... I'm SURE the muscles had a lot to do with it..... I don't know what was going on with my vision.....


Answer
Hello, Amanda,

Visual effects are common with migraines, which I have found to be associated with very tight neck muscles.  There are also reflexive connections between the eyes, forehead and eye sockets, and the muscles at the base of the skull, that can account for your experience.

That's what I would be checking for, if you were my client, given your description.

My advice:  get evaluated by a clinical somatic educator, and get sessions, if indicated.

You may want to get anything more serious ruled out by medical examination, but that's what I think it is.

The process results in relaxation of contracted muscles and should solve many of your other "aches and pains" problems.

with regard,
Lawrence Gold