V-shaped bruisey mark - cause for concern?
July 15, 2014 2:08 PM Subscribe
I have a v-shaped bluish-purple mark on the back of my neck, about 1" large. Is this cause for concern?
I slept crooked on Saturday night and woke uip Sunday with a very sore neck. Throughout the day, my neck continued to hurt (up near where it meets my head) and it hurt to look up or side to side. I also had a tension headache and felt nauseous throughout the day (not a hangover thought).
Yesterday I was still vaguely nauseous in the morning and my neck hurt, but less.
Today, I still have residual soreness when I try to look up or to the side. Normally I would just chalk this up to a REALLY bad night's sleep but my mother noticed a purplish-blue mark on the back of my neck near my shoulders. It doesn't hurt when pushed.
Here is a picture. Here is another.
It is not raised or bumpy. I normally wouldn't even really notice this but a) it accompanies neck pain and b) you don't mess with the neck, makes me a bit nervous.
Does anyone recognize what this could be?
I slept crooked on Saturday night and woke uip Sunday with a very sore neck. Throughout the day, my neck continued to hurt (up near where it meets my head) and it hurt to look up or side to side. I also had a tension headache and felt nauseous throughout the day (not a hangover thought).
Yesterday I was still vaguely nauseous in the morning and my neck hurt, but less.
Today, I still have residual soreness when I try to look up or to the side. Normally I would just chalk this up to a REALLY bad night's sleep but my mother noticed a purplish-blue mark on the back of my neck near my shoulders. It doesn't hurt when pushed.
Here is a picture. Here is another.
It is not raised or bumpy. I normally wouldn't even really notice this but a) it accompanies neck pain and b) you don't mess with the neck, makes me a bit nervous.
Does anyone recognize what this could be?
IANAD but why not go get checked for meningitis, perhaps a tick-borne illness (if you have been in the woods lately)? Better be safe than sorry.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 2:16 PM on July 15, 2014
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 2:16 PM on July 15, 2014
It looks like the scrapey-rubby marks I get when I carry a heavy bag on my shoulder, or the marks I get from a bra that doesn't fit right.
posted by elizardbits at 2:17 PM on July 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by elizardbits at 2:17 PM on July 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
Is there anything preventing you from going to the doctor? If your neck hurts and you've felt malaise and you don't recall getting hit there, you could go to a doctor. I probably would, specifically because of the nausea. I am not a doctor and no no medical expertise. For things I am on the fence about, I usually give it a week and if it's not any better, then I go to the doctor without feeling like an ass. But your symptoms already seem like enough to be like, "I'm sure it's nothing but, worth asking about because of x, y + z."
posted by AppleTurnover at 2:20 PM on July 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by AppleTurnover at 2:20 PM on July 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
You should go to the doctor. Neck pain plus nausea plus discoloration are not great.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:29 PM on July 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by KokuRyu at 2:29 PM on July 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
Go to the doctor to be safe, especially if you can afford it. But FWIW, whenever I get neck pain from bad posture or a bad sleeping position, the resultant tension headaches can make me pretty nauseous, so I wouldn't freak out too much about meningitis or the like. Usually the only thing that makes them go away is a combination of ibuprofen and one of those Salonpas or IcyHot patches with the camphor and menthol.
posted by yasaman at 3:01 PM on July 15, 2014
posted by yasaman at 3:01 PM on July 15, 2014
Do some good neck stretches and wait a week or so. If no relief visit the doc.
posted by beagle at 5:46 PM on July 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by beagle at 5:46 PM on July 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
That looks about the width of a fingernail. Could you have scratched an itch, maybe in your sleep, too hard/often?
posted by 4ster at 7:58 PM on July 15, 2014
posted by 4ster at 7:58 PM on July 15, 2014
Um ... please don't do any neck stretches until you've either been checked out by a doctor or the mark is fading and you feel 100% better.
Not knowing whether the bruise was there when you first noticed the neck pain on Sunday morning makes the situation more mysterious, but this is Tuesday and you shouldn't still be having residual nausea or neck pain from sleeping crooked on Saturday night - or I wouldn't expect it, anyway.
If you can, have someone check you over and in the meantime keep an eye on the bruise for changes in color or size. You have these two pictures now to compare to, which is cool.
posted by aryma at 10:09 PM on July 15, 2014
Not knowing whether the bruise was there when you first noticed the neck pain on Sunday morning makes the situation more mysterious, but this is Tuesday and you shouldn't still be having residual nausea or neck pain from sleeping crooked on Saturday night - or I wouldn't expect it, anyway.
If you can, have someone check you over and in the meantime keep an eye on the bruise for changes in color or size. You have these two pictures now to compare to, which is cool.
posted by aryma at 10:09 PM on July 15, 2014
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posted by mollymayhem at 2:14 PM on July 15, 2014