Desperate for Migraine Pain Relief in Neck and Shoulders

TENS unit, accupuncture mat, heating pad, ice, chiropractor

I also have an essential oil roll on and a pain cream I use. My migraines can be triggered from work (I have to look into a scope with a light all day) so this can help while I'm working

I have tried a ge different methods. I'll first try some excercises/stretches that my physical therapist gave me when I was in physical therapy. If that doesn't help I try trigger point massage. If you look on Google they will tell you where these points are. Now if that fails and I'm home I'll try an ice pack on my forehead and a heating pack on the base of my head and switch every so often now that typically works at least for a little bit of relief

I did dry needling for a while which seemed to help. I also do ice packs and do a ton of support with pillows and stuff when I’m laying down. You can also try mixing heat pads in there too- I would avoid scents but that’s because scents make me SO sick

Try migraine Botox

See if your doctor can refer you to physical therapy. It sounds like you have occipital neuralgia (I do also), even though this is a nerve issue, it can be aggravated by muscle spasm and trigger points. PTs can try stretches to soothe the muscles, ice to reduce inflammation, TENs to confuse the pain processing pathways, exercises to strengthen supporting muscles and thus improve posture and reduce spasm, massage to directly reduce spasm (assuming you have some, most modern people do. If you use cell phones/computers you probably do), and other techniques. Some people find that weekly acupuncture can reduce the pain by distracting the nervous system (similar to TENs). Ice helps me sometimes, but can make it worse others. Diclofenac gel can help a little; it is basically topical ibuprofen marketed for arthritis. I find if I layer it on thickly it reduces the pain slightly after a few hours. Topical cbd and thc can similarly help. With all of these typical agents there may be some rebound if you use them too much. My guess is stretches and ice will end up working the best for you, but medicine is just so personal that it is hard to say. Note that pain processing is subject to mind over matter processing too and so I find that acceptance and commitment therapy techniques can help too. For example: 'I notice that there is (severe/moderate) pain in my neck. I notice also anger and irritation because of that. These things are trying to protect me, but I know there is no injury to protect. I accept the pain gratefully and release it.' For me this helps a lot on days that I can powerful, but it consumes willpower and so does pain, so sometimes it's just straight up impossible. Also, sometimes you just gotta take 600mg of ibuprofen and 1000mg of acetaminophen with a cup of green tea and sit with an ice pack on your neck and just hate the pain for a while. That's ok too. I think I may have been writing this message to myself as much as you. Note, I'm a fourth year medical student in California and a former research scientist for a decade who has been struggling with severe migraine since age 8, chronic migraine since age 25, and occipital neuralgia since she 30. I'm 36 now. My advice is a mix of my own experience and my considerable medical knowledge on this topic. It's not official medical advice though, because I haven't spoken to you, so I really have no idea which of the things above will work for you, if you can even take any of the meds I mentioned, etc. It might be a good idea to try and find a primary care doc or PT who knows a lot of this stuff and can help you. Good luck! ♥️

Something that helped me the last time I got that was putting ice on my neck and shoulders while I sat or laid down, it also can help with nausea or if you head feels like it is spinning around. I don't get injections for the pain as I don't normally have it but when I do this is what I do