Thursday, February 21, 2008

It was nicer when my work was paying for it

Nearly two years ago, I got into a car accident while driving a state car. I ended up with a relatively mild case of whiplash (it was painful, but the guy who hit me wasn't driving that fast) and spent a few weeks going to the doctor and the chiropractor, all paid for by Workman's Comp. Since then I've kept up with my weight lifting, pilates, and started doing yoga, all of which have helped rehabilitate my back and neck and shoulder nearly to their pre-accident state (I had previous injuries that probably don't help with the issue).

I mentioned in my previous post that my neck and shoulder started to hurt seemingly for no reason on Tuesday, and yoga didn't help. It wasn't any better yesterday, and today I woke up and it was worse, bad enough that I couldn't ignore it. Aleve and advil haven't helped enough, plus my range of motion is really limited. So this morning when I got to work I called the chiropractor that I'd seen after the accident and told them I needed a tune-up. My choices were an appointment that started 20 minutes after I called, or Wednesday. I called Dan and luckily he was able to drive me over there, since taking the bus would take at least an hour (I hope he wasn't late to work! He is so good to me).

The chiropractor checked me out, did some poking and prodding, left me on some heat to help relax the muscles, and then manipulated my bones back into the right spots. He told me that I could have done any number of small things - slept on it wrong, sat up abruptly, maybe it was because the neck muscles were cold while I was sleeping, who knows? But he said the stress I'm under because of this whole wedding thing was enough to make those muscles say no way am I going to move, in fact, I'd rather stiffen up and cause pain. He gave me some stretches and other small things to do, said if I didn't feel 80% better by Monday to give him a call, and charged me $55. My insurance doesn't cover chiropractic, so it was out of pocket. If I get better in the next day or two and I can get back to the gym I will consider it worthwhile, but it sure was nice to have all those visits paid for by work lo these many moons ago. I can't afford ongoing treatment at $55/pop. I took a leftover Ibuprofen 800mg my dentist gave me when I had my teeth cleaned a few weeks ago when I was still getting over my sinus infection, and that plus the aleve I took this morning I was sure would make the pain at least diminish significantly. No such luck. I missed my pilates class and I'd like to go to the spin class but I'd also like my neck to feel better more, so instead I'm going to go home after work and lay on a rolled up towel. Bleah.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Have you tried acupuncture? I suffered from a terrible pinched nerve in my neck and tried everything- PT, chiro, meds. This winter, I finally tried acupuncture and have been almost pain free for the first time in 5 years. I know a lot of people think it's a hoax, but I now swear by it. In terms of cost, I found one who has a sliding scale so it's only $20 a session. Might be worth a shot! Good luck!