myofascial pain

[yorkiegirl]

I have dreaded asking this question. What does anybody do for myofascial pain? Mine started out with knots in my neck that led to crawl-on-the-floor migraines and trips to ER for morphine. Progressed to trigger point injections, cervical block, radiofrequency lesioning and finally, botox injections in my shoulders that went "bad" (like the lady on Dateline). 6 months of hell after that. Now I am left with constant burning in my neck and shoulders, pain is almost a 10 all the time, and I have headaches every day. Can't stand clothes to touch my shoulders.

I am unable to take meds--have tried every medication on the market but they all burn my bladder. Physical therapy & massage are not an option because I can't tolerate anyone touching my neck and shoulders. I asked my uro if I had fibromyalgia that was isolated in my upper body and he said, "Sure, could be." At nighttime I use Lidoderm pain patches on each shoulder; without them, I could not sleep.

Is there some great clinic somewhere that I could go to? Or has anyone had any relief from something I haven't tried? (have tried acupuncture, chiropracty, massage, exercise therapy, physical therapy, pain management counseling, steroids, muscle relaxants, and all the pain meds imagineable.) Pain clinic told me they had nothing more to offer. I believe that neck and shoulder pain are related to weak pelvic floor muscles; articles and books I have read seem to support that idea. Thanks for your help.

[ICNJess]

I don't have myofascial, but I do have Fibromyalgia, and mine is mostly in my shoulders and neck, and upper back. I get it through my collarbone, my neck, my shoulders, my upper back...those are the worst trigger points for me. I also get it in my knees, but not nearly as bad as the top portion.

I wake up feeling stiff and achey, like somedays I can't even raise my arms. :( I do yoga and that has helped to loosen up the pain, because Flexeril did nothing for me. :( Also, I take Neurontin for IC and Fibro pain, and it has been a tremendous help for my fibro.

Hugs and love,
Jess

[tigger_gal]

HI Fibro and myofascial pain are the same but different if that makes any since at all..fibro is the muscels and joints and myofascial is the gel substance in between, hope I have that right, I have info on it both if you want them pm me w/your email addy) I have been survivng taking 5 mg of flexeril 2 times a day (it helps somewhat).. the wet cold weather makes it 100 times worse.. I recently started pt fot pfd, I'll let you know if any thing helps... Jess told me light stretching yoga helps her fibro and I plan to look in to finding a tape... sorry I am not much help but I still haven't found any thing that really helps with the pain...
hugs
Brat