I did a really stupid thing, now paying

[Cindylou]

Boy, I did such a dumb thing the other day. And am I paying now. I had been out running some errands at the mall and walked by one of those chair massages out in the middle of the mall, at a kiosk. There were two men with these two chairs and they each had a customer in their chairs, giving them massages. You could do 10 min, 15, 20, even 30 or 45 minutes. You know those chairs I am talking about, where you put your face into the front fold and you tuck your legs up behind? Anyway, it was late in the day and I thought, man that looks good....I sure could use some massaging on my shoulders and back. Anyway, so I did it. I paid for roughly 30 minutes and the guy mainly worked my neck and shoulders. Well, long story short.....it felt good at the time, but obviously, it was way too much pressure on my neck. I began getting severe headaches, nausea, my neck was just pulsating. My pain got up close to an 8, and finally I told my husband I had to go to the ER and get some relief, about 8:30 pm the other night. My meds were not cutting it at all. Well, the ER was absolutely packed. I couldn't believe it. I've never seen it that crowded. I waited for 5 hours curled up on a chair until they called my name at 1:30 in the morning. I was just crying in pain. The ER doc was great. I could hardly think straight tho to tell him what happened but of course I explained I was a chronic pain patient, blah, blah, blah, and I should NEVER have gotten a massage at a random place in the mall. Never again! He knew I would be somewhat opiate tolerant but he offered to give me a morphine shot and I took it. Unfortunately, it barely put a dent in my pain. I just cried. At 4:30 am we got home and I still couldn't sleep because of the pain. I went to my pain management clinic yesterday and she put some steroid and numbing medication in my neck to try and calm it down, but I still am having severe headaches. I never ever get headaches. It's just not my MO. I thought I would be feeling better today but I'm not. I am scheduled next week to have a block by my neck doctor with sedation, and then another one 2 weeks later, and then will hopefully get this left side of my neck done with the RFA (radiofrequency ablation). My insurance carrier requires the two blocks done first before they approve the RFA. I sure hope it helps. This throbbing in my head is just sending me over the top. Sorry for the rant. CL

[ajj1001]

oh goodness, what an awful time. we have all been there, done something that we thought was a good idea and then regretted it. hope you feel better soon and next time - walk away from the chair!

[KBear]

I know exactly what chairs you are talking about, because I've contemplated a massage a time or two myself. That sucks that they did such a number on you and left you in so much pain. No fun being a spiney and not being able to do stuff like that without thinking about it. I hope you get some relief soon.

[Jan P]

CindyLou - So very sorry to hear about your chair experience. You have always been there for me when I wrote in - in fear the pain that I created by doing something stupid had hurt by fusion healing. You always have encouraging words and empathy. Here's mine for you -what you did was not stupid, it was a great idea - with a bad result. But probably a good lesson learned for me and alot of others of something to avoid with a ten foot pole.

Thinking of you and hope that you get the relief you need.
Jan

[dalhousie]

CL - I really feel for you. I did a similar thing myself a few weeks ago. I'd been having a weekly back massage by a remedial massage therapist which was fairly gentle & fine. I then thought if I had one twice a week I might get more benefit & this therapist only visits once a week so went to a beauty place I'd been to in the past & the masseur gradually gave me a deeper massage which felt fine at the time but the next 4 days I went through absolute hell pain-wise. It really inflamed my back muscles the worst ever. I must have cried for 4 days solid & felt like ringing the masseur's neck after what she put me through! I've really learn't my lesson & in the future will only go & see a masseur who has a medical as opposed to beauty background.

I hope the pain & soreness soon settles. It's rotten when you go through hell after what should have been a pleasant experience.

[KanRunMo]

CL,
So sorry to hear about your back pain and headaches. There can't be anything that hurts much worse. I sure hope the shots do their job. I've only had one massage in my life and it was from a young woman who was first a physical therapist and then later decided to go into massage therapy. She said she got tired of making people hurt with the physical therapy and wanted to make them feel better with the massage. Obviously, it can be visa versa.

[rfane]

Hi Cindylou,

Sorry to hear of the pain you are experiencing. Hope you feel better very soon.

Roger

[Cindylou]

Thanks you guys. I really appreciate it. I just looked back at my post, writing about the ER being so crowded and have never seen it like that, and gave myself a chuckle.....like I'm a regular there. I've been there only 1 other time. haha As I kept going up to the front desk to check on my status I learned that ambulance after ambulance kept arriving (we couldn't see these), with elderly people having strokes, heart attacks, etc. So sad. It made me wonder if statistically we see more of this in the winter here in Minnesota. Don't know. But I would think it could be possible since that's when folks who normally may not be regular exercisers are suddenly out shoveling heavy snow. And lord knows we have had a ton of it this winter. I think the whole world is ready for spring, big time....unless you're lucky enough to be having it right now. It's mainly these headaches now I can't shake since my stupid massage. Every day, all day. Oh, well. This too shall pass. CL

[Justin]

CL, I hope you are feeling better.

It made me wonder if statistically we see more of this in the winter here in Minnesota. Don't know. But I would think it could be possible since that's when folks who normally may not be regular exercisers are suddenly out shoveling heavy snow. And lord knows we have had a ton of it this winter.

^ You hit the nail on the head.

[Cindylou]

CL, I hope you are feeling better.



^ You hit the nail on the head.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking Justin. When I was growing up, my Mom used to really worry about my Dad going out to shovel the snow. He wasn't overweight by any means, but still, you would read in the paper about all these folks having heart attacks from being out shoveling. So finally when I was around high school age, she asked my Dad to stop shoveling and she and I would go out to get it done. (I'm the youngest of 4, so all my older siblings were already grown and moved out of the house) Of course, this killed my Dad to see his 2 ladies of the house out there shoveling the snow he thought "a man should shovel." Sometimes he would sneak out there with the shovel when we weren't looking. Of course, these were the days when no one ever hired a service to do anything like this. You did it yourselves the old fashioned way. Eventually, my Dad went in with a few neighbor buddies and they bought a communal snowblower together. They would all take turns storing it in each of their prospective garages during the off season. Looking back, I always thought that was such a great idea, instead of everyone going out and buying an individual one. Communal effort. I like it. CL