Burning Pain Right Side Head, Neck, Shoulders...possible neuralgia?

Hi. In 2010 I found out I had Chiari Malformation Type I. I had CMI surgery. Also had upper cervical replacement w/trinica plate in 2011. The symptoms you are experiencing are my side effects from both surgeries. I am under the care of pain management anesthesiologist. I receive greater occipital neuralgia nerve blocks 4 times a year and cervical facet. This Thursday I am getting a cervical facet. It relieves the burning pain and sharp pain for my upper neck and the base of my head. In 2014 my PMA sent me to see a specialist, Dr Ivica Ducic, Specializing in Peripheral Nerve Surgery. Unfornately I wasn't a good candidate. I know how you feel the burning pain, sharp pain. The pain I have, is you say to yourself I have my good days and my bad days. I hope this is helpful. I hope you can find a PMA. Take care.

Thank you for your response! I haven't had surgery but the pain started after a mild car accident but it went away for a while and now it's back. No medication so far seems to help. Does this sound like what you have? What's a cervical facet? I'm sorry you have been through all that...the surgery must have been awful! So your symptoms are from occipital neuralgia from the surgery or the malformation itself?

Does the nerve block hurt? Any side effects?

Im having this same exact feeling. Burning cheek around right ear and down shoulder neck area. Did you ever find out what you have? Thanks

Hi, I was diagnosed in November 2017 with Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) and Polymyalgia Rheumatic (PMR)... GCA gives you a wicked headache (that does not respond to OTC pain meds), pain behind the eyes, pain in temple(s) and in the back of the head where your skull meets your neck... it is difficult to turn your neck side to side or look up. You also get pain down neck and into shoulders... across shoulder blades and across collar bones. You are extremely fatigued and you feel like crap! PMR is in your hips, thighs, buttocks and maybe lower back... an achy, dull pain that won't stop. The two go hand in hand. The only treatment is corticosteroids, and if it is GCA and not treated YOU RISK GOING BLIND! So get it checked out soon!!!!! Good luck!

Did you have dizziness? What kind of doctor did see to get the diagnosis?

Hello mamici1

I wanted to respond to your post about the symptoms with pain up the back and side of the head , into the shoulders, and about not being able to turn your head or look up. I have had symptoms like this when the alignment of the vertebrae in my neck are pulled out of the normal because of muscle spasms. My physical therapist has been able to resolve this for me. I have thoracic outlet syndrome that also causes my neck and chest to be tight, and tighter on one side, and it shifts my pelvis. If I do something with bad posture, I can kick up some of these symptoms, and what happens is my C1 or C2 gets twisted or tilted, then the other muscles are trying to compensate for this misalignment and they hurt too. There have been times my neck was locked and couldn't rotate to one side, and I've had some vertigo after looking upward when things were out of alignment which I had not realized at the time. I don't know about your other diagnoses, but sometimes conditions can have overlapping symptoms and something gets missed. It would be something to ask questions about if this could be something that may also happen to you. If that's something that has been checked out already, perhaps someone else can benefit from reading this. Sometimes that pain is intense and very fatiguing. It's important to know if there are any issues or instability with the cervical spine before any physical therapy treatment is done, particularly when the issue is right at the base of the skull. My physical therapist told me she would not treat without knowing this because it can be serious if there is instability there and something is moved. The physical therapy I'm talking about is a hands on manual muscle release by a physical therapist with expertise in treating the cervical spine. I also had a cervical disc problem for which I have had surgery at Mayo, so this kind of thing doesn't happen much anymore, and the muscle spasms have calmed down. The TOS (for me) also pulls from my neck through my chest to my pelvis and can cause my pelvis to go out of alignment, and some of my physical therapy is resetting the pelvis. The misalignment causes low back pain (worse on one side) and some sciatic pain which physical therapy resolves for me. Building core strength in my spine helps everything stay where it is supposed to be and keeps this from happening. I am still in physical therapy for the TOS which is a full body functional alignment approach and doing well.

Thanks Lisa. Yes, I had intense physical therapy for two weeks (after headache 'hit" me one day, out of the blue) it did not help. I have also had numerous blood test, scans, physical evaluations, etc. etc. etc. I never really had lower back or back pain... Mine is definitely GCA & PMR. I responded to Prednisolone within 8 hours of taking first dose... and have been on high dose steroid for 9 months now and have both somewhat under control. Good luck

Hello,
A number of you had mentioned experiencing burning pain on the side of the head, or in the neck and shoulders. Interested in how things are going, and I'm sure your experiences will also benefit others in this discussion who've gone through similar things.

@mamici1 - how is your pain? Are you continuing to take steroids?

@lisaeckman27 - how is the burning pain you talked about?

@husbandandwife - wondering how the burning headaches are these days and if you ended up having a nerve block done by a pain management doctor?

Hi Jennifer
Saw your post here also after years later. It seems your symptoms are very similar to my symptoms although now mine has migrated to giving me pressure on the neck and bottom of skull and head affecting my ear and eye.
I notice when certain parts of neck and shoulder muscles are stimulated, brings on some relief for a short time. It’s like a congestion on the upper chest and shoulder area that is affecting the head and like you said lower spine and pelvis. And yes the neck muscle pulls.