Occipital Neuralgia and Basilar Migraines

Posted by staci @staci, Mar 21, 2018

Hello my name is Staci I was recently dx with Occipital Neuralgia and Basilar Migraines after suffering for 2 1/2 yr of head neck and shoulder pain. my symptoms was as follows it only effects my right side shoulder and neck ear pain like an earache sharp pain in top of head like someone drilling,lots of pressure and sharp pain behind rt eye, I have fainting spells and near fainting spells, I'm nauseous 24/7,marjor vision issues, I have muscle twitches and tremors in hands an face. I'm looking for any information treatments

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Chronic Pain Support Group.

Bonnie | @eifeltower | Mar 21, 2018

Please try good acupuncturist
I had terrible pain in that area after pedicure bed collapsed on top of me
accupuncture totally cured me of pain and nausea,16 sessions,it’s so perfect now,no pain at all,incredible,only go to recommended acupuncturist

jlfisher56 | @jlfisher56 | Mar 22, 2018

Stacci I can understand a lot of what you are going through although mine "supposedly" is coming from my cervical fusion being crooked (cervical torticollis) causing huge knots both left and right side of neck. I have had the pain and burning in shoulder blades, neck, shoulders, base of skull all the way up back of head to front. Also, fullness in the ears and "TMJ-like" pain in the right jaw from C8 nerve irritation.
My daughter is going through many symptoms like you are and has cervical problems but the migraines recently are more severe and very persistent affecting her vision, ears, balance, etc. Botox has helped my migraines (hers not as much) plus chiropractic to break up the muscle knots (no oral medications or TENS helps). Same with my daughter.
The migraine medications don't seem to help. A new medication my daughter stated is coming out in June; her neurologist would like to try it on her. She and I also have the optic migraines, but I never had the pain like she gets, just vision problems.
She would like to get a MRA to check the arteries in the brain for any problems contributing to the severe migraines. The MRI doesn't show this. At this point, her neurologist is uncertain if her migraines are related to her cervical problems. The neurologist she sees is the doctor who helped me.
I suffered for a year with migraines and my doctors just looked at the knots, injecting kenalog into them. Did nothing! The Imitrex shots helped somewhat but botox every 3 months is correcting my deviated neck and the massage from the chiropractor (go weekly and his manipulation) breaks up the neck spasms (knots) to decrease the severity and number of migraines. My daughter's botox shots are injected at sites different than before plus now the chiropractor. Acupuncture has been suggested also.
Don't know if you see a neuro-opthamologist, but is an excellent for optic migraines (affecting vision) and has many helpful suggestions. My daughter was getting a very bad, dry eye with her optic migraine and needed a plug put in her tear duct. ? if it will help long term. The best for you Staci and hope you find the help needed!

lrobbins25 | @lrobbins25 | Jul 16, 2018

Get normal massages 2x a week for a month, then 1x a week the next month. Treat trigger points in the traps and neck. Mine cause my symptoms. Also get a book on trigger point headache guide. It has a map for where pain in head is. I use it all the time to work out trigger points that affect those areas of the head. It has helped me tremendously. Not gone, but manageable. Physical Therapy is also really good for ON. Build up your lower and mid traps because most pain from those areas are from a bad ratio of upper trap to mid/lower traps. The upper usually are much stronger, and the lack of balance can cause pain issues.