My Breaking Point

My neck was always stiff and turned a little to the left, but I was always able to manage it enough that people didn't really notice what was happening.  I would hold my neck with one of my hands, which would set off the "sensory trick" and my neck would instantly start to relax.  I always tossed and turned during the night because the muscles in my neck were spasming, so there wasn't a morning where I would get up and didn't have a stiff neck. In 2008 the spasms were getting worse and it effected my ability to do things with my hands.  I couldn't write or type without my neck twisting and making my head turn to the left.  I also started to experience jerking motions when I looked downward.  My neck would literally move up and down as if I was nodding "yes" to someone.  My husband would have to cut my meat for me during dinner, because I needed one hand to be resting on my neck (sensory trick) in order to stop the spasms. My balance was also being effected.  I had to cancel my gym membership because using any of the machinery became almost impossible for me. One day I  lost my balance on the tread mill, and I had to stop the machine immediately before I would have gotten hurt.  I left the gym in tears that morning.  I knew something had to be wrong with me.  I was tired of hearing from so many doctors that my muscles were just tense from stress, or maybe there were nerves that were pressing on a disc in my neck or back.  It's not normal to reach for a door knob and have your neck pull to the side and than upward, and it's not normal for your neck to move up and down when trying to tie your shoe.  I thought it was pretty disturbing that spinal surgeons, neurologists, physical therapists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, and other physicians all prescribed me pain killers and muscle relaxers before sending me on my merry way.

That's when I started to Google all my symptoms, in hope that someone out there has been experiencing the same thing as me and I wasn't crazy...because I was starting to feel like I was.