muscle relaxant?

Ugh. my right arm/shoulder/neck area is getting painful... I'm starting physical therapy on Tuesday, but this agony is bothersome.

Ibuprofin isn't working. What can I do to reduce the pain?

thx!

n/t

Half hour of each with a rest between each of half an our. Start with the ice pack. Drink three beers.

If the problem is a muscle spasm and you have the muscle relaxant by all means wait no longer!


.....but skip the beer.

or one of those wet heat pads, or capsacin patch. The capsacin patch might get a little itchy--for me, it does, and I have to take it off, but other people swear by it. Another possibility is to heat a towel in the microwave. Be careful though--too long and it will burn. Boil some water and fill a hot water bottle with it. Wrap it good, though.

Bengay might work, IceeHot might work, or one of a dozen other creams. A hand massager might help. Having someone give you a good massage might work wonders.

as far as I know. A hot bath if you can get into the tub might be best.

?

I find the when there is muscle tension/pain in my shoulders, a bit of natural diuretics helps immensely. Just be sure and drink plenty of water too.

Parsley is a good choice if you don't wanna get tablets from health food store. Parsley tea will help fluid retention and has good vitamins and minerals.

When muscles get tight, it slows blood flow and then tissue start holding fluids which makes the muscles feel tighter... Bad circle.

Heat/cold packs, lots of water and something to help you flush out the tissue might help until you get therapy.

Also, magnesium/calcium sometimes helps.

while showering. Hope you are soon feeling better.

Laura

Recommended by my doctor several years ago and last year,after surgery,I only took those when I came home. I had a pain medication prescribed,but this was as effective and no wooziness.

Take every 4 or 5 hours.

If it is muscular the muscle relaxants will help--and it can make all the difference. IF it is some kind of nerve issue then you are Not going to get the pain relief you need from relaxants, probably. You might actually need pain pills of some sort.

IF you have no pain pills in the house right now, I do want to suggest that you try two Advil and one Tylenol till you can get something stronger. Together they can offer about the same level of pain control as a Tylenol 3, I've been told.

IF you have a torn rotator cuff, then you are in the boat I'm in--and pain is gonna become your new buddy till you have some kind of surgery done. I'm told that there is not much blood flow to the rotator cuff, and it doesn't heal quickly or well--and heat will do a BIT for it--but not a lot. Ice just makes mine hurt more.

NOW, at the risk of being REALLY over the top, I do want to mention that "arm/shoulder/neck" pain can be symptomatic of heart attack. IF the pain is worse when you have an increased heart rate, GET THEE TO AN ER, and do it NOW! Especially if this is a new development for you. (You mention physical therapy, so I assume you must have some kind of ongoing pain issue--but I had to mention the heart thing just to be sure.)

I also want to suggest that if you have chronic pain with it, you may want to go try acupuncture for a few weeks. It has helped me a great deal with other issues in the past--and I expect I'm facing another round of it with this stupid shoulder. (How stupid do you have to be to blow a rotator cuff opening a stuck window, I ask you?)

Best of luck, this pain in the shoulder stuff just bites. Sleep becomes impossible and you can't sit in a chair forever...

Pax.

Laura

Either one can help a lot or aggrevate the problem depending on what the problem is. It sounds like a nerve issue that is in your neck and is radiating down through your arm... I had the same problem years ago after a car accident and sometimes it flairs up a little to this day. A good chiropractor could help things a whole lot.

One thing that helped me was an infrared heat lamp. The chiropractor would have a big one, but you can get a handheld one pretty cheap that you can use whenever and where ever you want. Unlike a heating pad, which only helps the surface tissues, it penetrates deep into the muscles. It also doesn't get too hot which can be a problem with a heating pad (you can actually burn yourself with a heating pad). Even if the problem is nerve related, much of the pain can be relieved with an infrared heat lamp because a pinched or otherwise aggrevated nerve causes the surrounding muscles to tighten... vertebrae minutely shifts, and that just makes it worse. A mild muscle relaxant like Parafon Forte can help, but the side effects can be a problem, and frankly, I got just as much relief from the infrared heat lamp that I did from the medication. Some muscle relaxants can't be mixed with other common popular medications, so be VERY careful that if you get a prescription, your doctor knows what other meds you take or may take while you're on the muscle relaxant... some drug combinations can kill you.

http://www.chiswingusa.com/infrarex.htm
this one is almost identical to the one I have... mine was about half that price though. Clairol made it, but I've had mine for years and don't know if they still make them.

Accupuncture can help a lot. My chiropractor used to do accupuncture on me with a laser... you don't feel a damn thing but the relief is instanteous, nearly total and lasted awhile. Accupressure was somewhat helpful, too, and some things you can do yourself (also helped a LOT for my psycho mentrual cramps from hell).

Oddly enough, it may even be a tooth problem especially if you get any jaw pain or pain in the ear area. But I've had the same symptoms as you before and it turned out to be a tooth, and I never had any jaw or facial pain.

Best of luck, buddy... been there, and it royally sucks. :(