I'm 34 and have had incredibly scary neck and head tension (muscle-ripping spasms) along with tinnitus for months at a time since I was 21 for no reason. No one knew what it was after scans etc so I Iived with it. Four years ago (next March) I fell skiing on my side and yanked my arm. Since then I've been in agony for no obvious reason with my whole right side in spasm as if the nerves and muscles had gone mad. About 18 mths ago London pain specialist prescribed pills for epilepsy and an antidepressant that worked together to 'dampen' my nerves. This helped a bit, but the 'moving tension' sensations in my right side (felt like squashed nerves) continued - I could fell the sensations simulataneously in my hand, foot, head/neck, arm and back! Weird things, nerves. I have a mix of bearable, bad and horrid days, when my whole body (except for say, my left forearm) is affected.
Finally my chiropractor - who I'd been seeing about my constantly siezed up right side and twisted hips – decided to get me to see her tutor 'AJ", a Dutch 'visceral manipulation' expert who agreed with her suspicion that I had adhesions. AJ teaches in the States and Europe, so he's not often in London. He felt my abdomen and said I had about seven adhestions including one big one - that my peritoneum was stuck. He said they could be caused by stress! I had a real reaction to being touched around here - felt bloated as if I had a bladder infection, back muscles v sore and felt like a stuck nerve was being garotted. Suddenly the weird where-is-it-coming-from tension sensations made sense. AJ's seen me only twice, and he's not been able to unstick me – but the bad reactions make it clearer whereabouts the problems are, such as what's stuck runs into my right leg which hurts when I move it/walk.
AJ doesn't advocate ops; "you end up with more adhesions". But, his slow and gentle hands-on approach may not get me anywhere and I'm still in pain (especially as I went off the pills this summer to monitor my non-existent recovery). I may see a therapist as I don't know how to cope with the fact that I may never be sorted out for years, or until more doctors recognise the problem. I'm SO SICK OF THIS and can't confide in friends and family much longer (they've got their own problems!) Any advice? Many thanks in advance