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Lupus And Neck Pain Treatment
There are a variety of medications available for the treatment of lupus neck pain or back pain. However, if you can avoid using pain medicines than you should, as many are addictive, carry heavy risks, and may have potential side effects. Some ways to stop lupus neck pain without using medication are:
Heat and/or cold treatments: These treatments can be very helpful in treating joint or muscle pain. Moist heat is better at soothing joints better than dry heat. Cold applications should only be used when muscles are strained, twisted, or injured and only in the first 36 hours after an injury.
Behavioral techniques: Behavioral techniques can be an effective tool in pain management because they direct the minds attention away from pain and relieve stress. Examples of these techniques include Tai Chi, yoga, meditation, focused breathing, and self-hypnosis.
Alternative treatments: Alternative treatments include practices such as acupuncture, acupressure, biofeedback, and chiropractic adjustments. These types of practices should be discussed with your doctor beforehand, however.
Anti-inflammatory medicines are often used to treat lupus neck pain and other types of pain brought about by lupus. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are the most commonly used for lupus pain. Aspirin, naproxen, and ibuprofen are examples of these. Planquenil is another drug often used by lupus patients. It helps to prevent flares and can be used for pain if NSAIDs are not helpful.
Lupus And Digestive Problems
Digestive problems are not common with lupus, but some people may experience belly pain, nausea, vomiting, difficulty swallowing, or inflammation of the liver or pancreas. This can be related to lupus itself or medications used to treat the disease. Some people tend to lose weight during lupus flare-ups.
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Lupus And Lung Problems
The tissue surrounding the lungs becomes inflamed in about a third of people with lupus. This may lead to painful breathing, or chest pain, or it may not cause any symptoms at all. Sometimes lupus causes chest pain that is not related to the lungs or the heart. Instead, the pain comes from an inflamed chest muscle or rib joint. Any chest pain should be promptly evaluated by a doctor.
What Causes Headaches With Neck Pain
There are a variety of medical conditions that can cause headaches with neck pain. These conditions are both caused by irritation of sensory nerve fibers, and sometimes head or neck pain can spread to the other area because the sensory nerves of these structures are physically so close to each other.
Additionally, a medical condition that affects one can affect the other due to their proximity.
Causes of headaches with neck pain include:
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The Role Of The Derangement Of The Immune System In Primary Headaches Suggested Pathophysiological Links With Immunological/autoimmune Disorders
Immunological and autoimmune disorders include several diseases or conditions caused by a dysfunction of the immune system.
Specifically, autoimmune diseases are characterized by abnormal immune responses to self-antigens resulting in a damage or dysfunction of a wide range of body tissues. Autoimmune diseases can be systemic or can affect specific organs and/or body systems. Their aetiology is multifactorial, involving both genetic and environmental factors. Likewise, the aetiology of headaches and specifically of migraine is accepted as being multifactorial.
Polymorphisms of genes encoding for human leukocyte antigens and cytokines are considered risk factors for autoimmune disorders. Some studies have found that the same genes are involved in migraine pathogenesis . These findings suggest that a common genetic background renders patients more susceptible to both migraine and immunological disorders and that some immunological alterations, for instance changes in inflammatory cytokines levels, may have a role in migraine pathophysiology.
The increase of IL-10 levels observed during an attack in some studies has been interpreted as a compensatory mechanism aimed to antagonize pro-inflammatory cytokines during the ictal period, by exerting anti-nociceptive effects and limiting neurogenic inflammation. This anti-inflammatory cytokine plays a pivotal role also in immune regulation and therefore may prevent immunological/autoimmune disease onset and progression .
What New Research Shows
In 2013, researchers published the findings of a 10-year study that involved almost 1,800 women with the most common form of lupussystemic lupus erythematosus. This study suggested a link between lupus and headaches. At the start of the study, almost 18% of the women experienced some type of headache. Over the 10 years, that number grew to almost 58% of the women.
The women in the study had different types of headaches, including migraines and tension headaches. Less than 2% of the headaches fit the definition of a lupus headache. The researchers found no connection between lupus medications and the headaches. They didn’t find an antibody related to lupus that was responsible for how often the women got headaches, either.
The cause of headaches in people with lupus remains unclear. However, researchers did discover that most of the headaches related to lupus tended to go away over time. Thats good news if you’re coping with both lupus and headaches.
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Take Steps To Protect Your Nervous System
Lupus brain fog and other nervous system problems can make everyday life challenging. But youre not alone professionals called cognitive therapists can help you learn to cope with lupus brain fog.
You can also try these steps to help with lupus fog in your daily life:
- Focus on 1 task at a time
- When someone tells you their name or an important piece of information, try repeating it out loud and writing it down
- Keep a calendar to record appointments and reminders
When To See A Doctor
In some cases, the things that lead to your headache with neck pain need medical attention. Call your doctor if the pain:
- Is severe or sudden
- Involves personality or mood changes
- Is paired with a fever
- Comes with confusion or memory problems
- Also makes you feel sluggish
- Involves jaw pain, vision problems, and a sore scalp
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Can Lupus Cause Neck Pain
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A number of causes can be attributed to a certain ailment. In the subject matter at hand, neck pain can be attributed to a wide variety of causes. With this in mind, it is important to explore the possibility of whether lupus can cause neck pains. While on the surface, this may seem like a trivial matter to explore. Nonetheless, the answer to the question of can lupus cause neck pain is important especially for the people suffering from this particular ailment.
You can appreciate that for a proper understanding of the subject matter, an intricate understanding of lupus is paramount. Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the immune system. Once lupus occurs, the immune system attacks the body, affecting various systems and parts. The most vulnerable parts include body organs such as the skin, blood cells and vessels, kidneys, and lungs.
However, and in the interest of neck pains, you should note that lupus also affects other parts raising the possibility of lupus causing neck pain. The parts of the body that are susceptible to lupus inflammation are the body joints the muscle tissue , and the tendon and bursa.
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Pain In Back Of Head And At The Base Of The Skull:
Does your neck feel stiff and sore even though you havent done anything strenuous?
Sometimes your neck may hurt more on one side and your headache is at the front of your skull.
Dull and nagging pain is what is commonly felt and described for this type of headache.
Plus, a tingling sensation in your arms can occur at the same time.
Some people feel nauseous and may vomit with this type of headache, more so feeling like a migraine.
Lupus headaches and neck pain are common.
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What To Do Nexthow To Determine If Headaches Are From Lupus
Talking to a medical team is essential to understand what treatment options are for headaches associated with lupus and migraines as some medications compromise the immune system. It is paramount to get checked for CNS-SLE if diagnosed with lupus and experiencing constant or severe headaches. Tests such as spinal taps and MRIs might need to take place to determine if the disease has spread to the CNS.
What Can You Do
First, I recommend keeping a log so you can avoid things that trigger your headaches. You may notice a pattern that relates to certain activities in your daily life that seem to be the trigger of headache pain and migraines.
Staying active and eating a healthy diet are very important to keep headaches at bay. I have found there is a list of things I must avoid and things I must do:
- Stress is a huge factor in triggering a headache for me. I try and listen to relaxation music to let stress go. I pray for peace within myself and think about all the good things in my life.
- Drinking excessive caffeine or alcohol and can trigger a major lupus headache. I try and drink a lot of water every day instead.
- I avoid processed foods, which can be a huge factor in triggering days of major brain pain for me. I read labels and eat lots of veggies locally grown if possible.
Though some doctors may still debate whether migraines are often a comorbid condition of lupus, this type of headache seems to me to be clearly connected to my flares and the disease I battle each day.
I think blood flow issues are very common with lupus patients and that is a factor in developing chronic migraines. If you have severe lupus headaches, what seems to trigger them?
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Diabetes Mellitus Type 1
Epidemiological evidence
Unlike other autoimmune diseases where a high prevalence of headache has been documented, a negative association between type 1 DM and headache has emerged from population-based cross-sectional studies. In the Head Hunt Study, the OR of migraine was lower among patients with DM, compared to those without, being 0.4 for type 1 DM and 0.7 for type 2 DM, respectively. In the same study, the prevalence of migraine among patients with diabetes varied depending on age, with a higher prevalence in younger age groups . A more recent research specifically investigated for an association between type I DM and headache in particular migraine. From a multivariate analysis of 26,121 participants in 2 surveys, an OR of 0.55 emerged for headache and 0.47 for migraine, compared to those without DM after adjusting for age, gender, years of formal education, and smoking. Accordingly, the merged group of patients with type 1 DM and latent autoimmune diabetes of adults had a lower risk of migraine . Similar results were obtained from a third survey including 39,584 participants. In contrast with findings from patients with type 1 DM, this survey reported no inverse association between headache and type 2 DM .
Pathophysiological mechanisms
How To Treat Headaches With Neck Pain
Talk to a healthcare provider about the following treatments if you experience headache with neck pain.
Treating headaches with neck pain includes methods that address symptoms and treatment of the underlying cause. Often, the medications used for headaches with neck pain effectively reduce both symptoms, but this depends on the cause.
Treatments that can relieve both headaches and neck pain when they occur together include:
- Getting some sleep to relieve fatigue
- Pain medication to relieve pain after minor trauma
- Migraine medication or sinus headache treatment
- Rest and rehabilitation after a concussion or another injury
- Fluids for meningitis treatment and antibiotics for bacterial meningitis
- Surgical procedures for a tumor or subarachnoid hemorrhage
- A procedure to relieve hydrocephalus
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Demographics And Headache Characteristics
A total of 57 patients with SLE were recruited, including 52 females and 5 males with a mean age of 38.7 ± 9.7 years. Of these 57 patients, 31 had a primary headache. Among headache sufferers, migraine was the most common type recorded , followed by TTH , cluster headache , and finally both ICT headache and non-specific intractable headache . None of the patients met the SLEDAI-2K criteria for lupus headache and none had more than one type of headache at the same time either. A Hit-6 score > 55 was found in 45.2% of the headache sufferers . Headache characteristics and impact are described in table .
Table 1 Headache characteristics of SLE patients
Lupus Can Range From Mild To Severe
| Severity | How it affects the body |
|---|---|
| Mild | Joint and skin problems, tiredness |
| Moderate | Inflammation of other parts of the skin and body, including your lungs, heart and kidneys |
| Severe | Inflammation causing severe damage to the heart, lungs, brain or kidneys can be life threatening |
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Pain Pain Go Away The Chronic Pain Of Lupus
With lupus, pain can hit any part of the body and at any time, and chronic pain can make day-to-day life difficult. So, what can you do? Read on to learn more about the many kinds of pain associated with lupus, how they are diagnosed and what can be done to treat them.
Introduction
Chronic pain can feel like you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders . Your head may pound, your lower back may ache, or things may just hurt for what seems like no logical reason whatsoever. It often feels like you can never escape the pain. While you may want to retreat to a deserted island to lie on the sand and watch the waves roll in, you cant exactly escape yourself the pain is always there with you wherever you go.
But there is a logical reason, in fact, many logical reasons, why you may experience the chronic physical pain that comes with lupus. Knowing why the pain is there and being able to adequately express exactly how you feel to your healthcare practitioner or anyone you trust, can put you on the road to some relief.
This article serves as an overview of some of the common types of pain that often comes with lupus. It is not inclusive of all the types of pain an individual with lupus may experience. We have included links to a few of our other blog articles that provide more information about specific types of pain such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, and Raynauds Phenomenon.
Why do I hurt so much?
Types of Pain, Diagnostics, and Treatment
Tendonitis
Fibromylagia
The Latest On Lupus Headaches
Living with lupus means you may suffer from headachesmigraines in particular. If you have lupus, you are twice as likely to have a migraine-type headache as are people who don’t have lupus.
Although lupus is not proven to be the cause of headaches, many health care providers believe there’s a connection. In fact, the headaches you have are sometimes simply called lupus headaches or lupus fog. These headaches may appear along with other brain problems caused by lupus. These include fatigue, confusion, memory issues, or trouble concentrating. These problems result from the effect that lupus has on your central nervous system .
Health care providers don’t know if the triggers that cause other lupus symptoms also directly cause your headaches, or if something else causes them. For example, headaches are a side effect of some medications taken for lupus. Medications that may cause symptoms in your CNS include antihypertensives, corticosteroids, antimalarials, and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs .
Lupus can lead to conditions like anxiety, depression, and seizures. These can also result in headaches. All of these factors make lupus headaches hard to understand.
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If Your Lupus Headaches Are From Dehydration Or Vitamin Deficiencies:
Dehydration:
Avoid caffeine-based drinks. Green tea, coffee, and matcha are some examples.
If you cant, make sure to drink water with your coffee to help offset its negative side effects.
Did you know in as little as 30 minutes to as long as 3 hours, your body can feel the results of hydration.
Boy does it feel good! You have more energy as a bonus!
Because it can take so long its best to prevent it by drinking at least 100 oz of water a day.
If youre going to be outside or are eating and packaged or processed foods, it may be best to drink coconut water that is not full of sugars and syrups.
The best types of coconut water:
Even if its labeled 100% Coconut Water thats All Natural it could be made from reconstituted concentrate. Just like other juices in the store, they heat fresh coconut water and reduce it to a syrup. Its cheaper for them to import this coconut water syrup, which they later add water prior to packaging.
According to foodbabe, you should shop for coconut water that has these qualities:
- Young coconuts have the most nutrients, not mature ones.
- Coconut water is very delicate, naturally perishable, and should be kept cold. Never buy it from a shelf.
- Its been reported that some non-organic coconuts may be preserved for transport to the U.S. by dipping them in chemicals, including formaldehyde a known carcinogen. Buy certified organic only.
The best types of electrolytes:
Iron