Monday, June 12, 2006

You must whip it. Whip it good.

See, the thing about this weekend is that since I had the state car (The Little Prius that Could) we were supposed to run all these errands, including buying a bunch of plants for the front yard, and then we were supposed to spend Sunday planting stuff and making the yard all pretty. It was even cooler on Sunday than it had been in two weeks or so. Conditions were all perfect for our purposes. However, I got rear-ended in the state car driving back from Grand Junction on Friday afternoon.

From what I understand, whiplash is a sprain or strain, just in your neck/shoulders/back. I think my problem was that since my neck was already bothering me for a few days before I got rear-ended (and the driving four hours to GJ and back in two days certainly didn't help), the whole getting hit from behind thing just made it worse. Saturday I felt OK, like my neck was OK and getting better. Sunday morning I woke up and literally Could Not Move. I had to have the Hulk put his hand behind my neck so I could sit up, because I had suddenly reverted to infancy and couldn't hold my own damn head up. Man, it hurt like a BITCH.

After heating and icing and hot showering and taking Aleve and valerian (a muscle relaxer) all day, I figured I'd get some pain relief soon. But I didn't. It didn't work. We did run a few errands in the car yesterday until my neck just couldn't take it anymore, and then we came home and I sulked. It was Supposed to be Planting Day! Our yard was going to look so pretty! Now we've got $150 worth of plants waiting to be planted with me totally out of commission and I've got a doctor's appointment this afternoon and Advil seems to be helping a little bit more than the Aleve did, and I'm sorry to say that the glass of wine I had last night helped more than any of the OTC drugs, so maybe after I go to the doctor this afternoon I'll start getting my drink on.

YIT, I know you got whiplash last year. What helped you? Anyone else? Bueller?

6 comments:

Yank In Texas said...

Oh I'm so sorry. It sucks.
Mine started more or less like yours. The day of the crash- not much. I got checked out at the hospital just because. But the next day- oh my god. Hurt to exist. The hospital had given me muscle relaxers (mmm) and ibuprofen. The ibuprofen wasn't strong enough. I went to the doc and they gave me percocet. Combined with the muscle relaxer- good stuff. Still couldn't do much. I was in pain. Sitting up was the worst. Lying down wasn't bad. I stayed out of work for 3 weeks, mostly because my employer was able to arrange that for me. But I was ok after 2. Take it very very easy and do what the doctor says. PT helped a lot, but I think I started too late as I still can't move my head around like I used to.
Heat is really good. Ice- not so much.
Basically- a lot of painkillers and nothing. Try not to use the muscles (which means no sitting up and doing stuff so yeah. I know.)
You have my sympathies.

Monkey McWearingChaps said...

Yikes! I hope you feel better soon.

I used to drive the Echo, which in the last few models, was just the Prius's shell with a gas engine. Never got into an accident with it, though...my parents have it now but they only drive it around town where maximum speed achieved will be about 30 mph.

MLE said...

It's funny, because the car hardly even has a dent (actually, it has exactly one dent in the bottom of the bumper from the other guy's license plate screw). He couldn't have been going more than 10 or 15 MPH.

My doctor visit went fine, he set me up to see a good chiropractor, and he prescribed some muscle relaxers for me to take at night. I didn't go to work today but I will tomorrow. It is feeling somewhat better after rest and gentle stretching. YIT, I know yours was really bad. I don't think mine's as bad as yours was. If I lie still the muscles get more stiff and painful.

Anonymous said...

I always make a beeline for the chiropractor's office when I'm in any kind of accident. Mine specializes in a technique called "atlas orthogonal" which is nice because it doesn't involve any "neck cracking" - it's a lot more subtle. You can probably do a Google search to find one near you if you don't already have a good chiro.

MLE said...

Jane, that was my first inclination, but since this is a workman's comp situation I had to do what my employer told me in terms of doctor visits and such. Luckily I don't have to pay for any of it.

I'll google the technique you mentioned. My uncle's a good chiropractor and has been practicing for 30ish years so I'll ask him about it, too.

Yank In Texas said...

Yeah, your guy wasn't going very fast. Mine was going about 45mph and I tensed up a lot because I watched him hit me and had time to think about it.
If you are already starting to feel better- that's really good. I was in too much pain to honestly think of moving much the first week.
Just take it easy- no sudden neck movements. Move slowly for a bit until you feel better about it.

Why do I always seem to hurt the areas that are required for existing? (Neck, rib...)