Evan;

If you do not mine my opinion I would do a follow up to determine why this occurred. You might write down all the details as best you can and attempt to remember each time this occured, what you were doing at the time. Perhaps it was something simple like a bad position your neck was in. Keep it for future reference. The question is did you do something that caused this condition or is it due to something you are not aware of? I hope you have a Healthy and Happy New Year!

Tom

>Man o man, what a bad night. About 11pm on Friday I was laying on the couch watching the the end of the national news. Blamo, neck spasm/cramp. Has anyone had these. This hurt like a dickens for a second, then the pain goes away. After that it hurt so much when I swallow that I almost passed out. I've had these 4 or 5 times before. Once when I was a kid, twice in univerity, then once since university. Of those times, each one unspasmed (sp?) within about 15 minutes. Once I went to emerg and while waiting, it unspasmed.
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>Well this time after about 1.5 hours of ibprofen, cold compresses, hold baths, massage... nothing was working. My wife drives me to emerg about 12:30am. Emerg is only 4 blocks away and my day job is actually at the hospital. The only problem is that this is the 2nd largest hospital in Canada, in Canada's 3rd largest city... which means BUSY. After 2.5 hours of almost passing out each time I swallow (oh... now I also have a splitting headeache), and enduring 2 different waiting rooms, plus finally a cold treatment room, I am finally seen by a doctor for about 5 minutes, and given 6 Tylenol 3's (with codine). I am told to see my family doctor on Monday.
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>Returning home at 4am, having popped one of the pills, the headache is gone, and swallowing is now gone from blinding pane to unconfortable. I slip into sleep, hoping that my neck will unspasm during the night.
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>Well no such luck, here I am at almost noon the next day. Just popped another T3, and the pain is manageable. What really sucks is it is hard to eat and drink.
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>Sheesh, what a crappy end to the Xmas holidays. I guess I should count myself lucky. In my 36 years I've only been to emerg twice before this. First time to get scalp stitches, the 2nd time with a neck spasm (as mentioned). I've never been admitted to hospital for a procedure.
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>I just wish there was 24 hour clincs as an alternative to emergency. Though I was in tons of pain, I wasn't in the same league as the rest of the people in there. Some guy with a broken foot, another guy with a huge gash on his hand, yet another being treated for pepper spray to the eyes.