Has anyone experienced neck stiffness AFTER the flu?

March 7, 2020 4:50 AM

Neck pain after an intense flu.

Recently I had the worst Flu I've ever had in my life. So bad that I thought I had walking Pnemonia. But the doc said I only had the flu.

That was a surprise since this Flu lasted twice as long as any flu I ever had and I was pretty miserable, but followed doc's orders. One of my flu symptoms was neck pain. All the other symptoms have stopped except for the neck pain. In fact. The neck is stiffer and more painful now than it was during my 2 week flu. The whole left side of my neck hurts and it's hard to move it. Which makes it somewhat to move anything really because everything's connected to the neck.

Yeah, I'll go to the doctor, but since this pain has lasted a couple of days now and my appontment isn't for another couple of days. I was wondering if anyone's ever experienced this or has any ideas of what I could do. Because I'm clueless and another 2 days is a long time to deal with this. Even typing this is a burden. I've never experienced anything like this before.

posted by fantasticness to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

Are you in the US? With insurance? I would call your company’s nurse line and see if they suggest urgent care.
posted by bluedaisy at 4:55 AM on March 7, 2020

You had it two weeks ago? You might call your local health department’s coronavirus line too.
posted by bluedaisy at 4:56 AM on March 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

Neck pain like that can be a sign of meningitis. Call your doctor and see if you can get in earlier.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:08 AM on March 7, 2020 [15 favorites]

I got neck pain after my most recent bout of the flu thing(that-is -most-likely-not-the-thing) but I think it was because I was sleeping differently to get better airflow . I tended to prop up withpillows and such and my neck got triggered. So I've been trying stretches, neck exercises and warn baths and that seems to help.
posted by AlexiaSky at 5:10 AM on March 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

i get this from terrible coughing (due to fluid aspiration, not illness, but it's so bad) or sneezing (allergies) but i have an underlying spinal condition that makes such things especially awful. if you do not have anything similar going on in your c spine then this is definitely an asap doctor-seeing situation, even if it's nothing infectious, simply because there is no earthly reason for you to suffer in horrible pain for days at a time.

as for what to do right now, you can try a muscle relaxant if you have any, or a lidocaine patch, for some relief in the interim.
posted by poffin boffin at 5:47 AM on March 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

I don't say this to be alarmist - it's very very rare - but it's worth going to a doctor to rule out Guillan-Barre syndrome. Strange pain sensations (though usually in the extremities) is an early symptom, and it can be very very serious.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:16 AM on March 7, 2020

Response by poster: I'm pretty sure meningitis and corona can't exist without fever and I don't have one. But will try to get in earlier.
posted by fantasticness at 9:36 AM on March 7, 2020

Any time I spend more time than usual in bed, flu or not, I wind up with neck issues which for extra fun can move into my shoulder. Try both heat and cold. If it is a pinched nerve, you want cold; if it is muscle- or tendon-related, you want heat. It may even be both. So start with cold, then try heat. The cold can calm down the nerve so it isn't exacerbated by the heat as much. If it does feel worse again after the heat, you can do another shorter blitz of cold.

Obviously it could also be other things that heat and cold will not help, but it's pretty easy to try and may give you some relief until you can get a diagnosis.
posted by Athanassiel at 3:07 PM on March 7, 2020

Does this neck pain extend to the base of your skull? Does it feel like pressure? Does it improve or go away when you lay down? I ended up with a spinal CSF leak after a terrible flu that featured a very high fever and bad cough. Low, back of head/top of neck occipital pain started after my flu symptoms were resolving. Many people with spinal CSF leak experience headache, but some people experience pain or pressure in the neck area. Often the pain is relieved by laying flat. (Tylenol, Advil, and other otc pain meds don’t help, but laying flat does.) If any of that sounds familiar, it might be worth getting evaluated for that. But either way, probably worth a call to your doctor.
posted by mothershock at 8:11 PM on March 7, 2020 [2 favorites]

Viral meningitis, the type you would expect from flu or most other upper respiratory crud, can definitely happen without fever.
posted by basalganglia at 3:48 AM on March 9, 2020