Whiplash injury...please come and talk to me about this...ow...

[misspollysdolly]

I was in a car accident last Friday morning - some clown reversed very hard/fast into the driver's side front door and wheel arch whilst I was in the car with DS2. He seems fine but I took all the impact and have had whiplash confirmed by my GP.

Had hoped that I might have seen a bit of an improvement but instead I am still in quite a lot of discomfort. I can move my neck, but it aches throughout my neck, right shoulder and back. I tend to wake in the morning with little or no discomfort but by mid-morning (nearer to midday today) I am needing to take pain killers (diclofenac at the mo) as the discomfort has just got too much.

It's like a combination of the pain/warmth you get immediately after you 'crick' your neck and the radiating pain/ache of tooth or earache. Today I have felt like I have a weight pressing down on my right shoulder and thus 'stretching' all of my neck muscles. I am beginning to feel a bit miserable to be honest .

Please come and talk to me about your experiences and what helped (or otherwise). TIA. MPD

Hoping someone will be around in the morning...will bump then if need be...

bump

Ok, had whiplash myself and it tends to get worse before it gets better which is strange but there we go. I found some luck with an osteopath but it took a couple of goes. It is miserable and I really feel for you, also don't expect it to go away quickly it can take months (sorry to be the bearer of bad news!)

I have had this twice and the first time did very little about seeking compensation for it as I don't believe in the compensation culture in the main. However after the second go a couple of years later and the amount the osteopath was costing me I decided to take action and it really helped with the cost of it. I think they appreciated that I only really wanted my expenses paid for rather than a family holiday for 10 in barbados, but I really felt that the twerp who had driven into me because he was snogging his bird should have to pay for said treatment as he wasn't paying attention to the road and I was stopped at traffic lights!

Good luck, as I say osteopath and physio can help to relieve the pain but it does take time and patience and is far more painful than people often believe!

I had bad whiplash after someone drove into the back of me at about 60mph. Felt like someone was stabbing me in the back with a screwdriver. It did take a long time to get better and it wasn't until nhs consultant referred me to chiropractor that things improved.

What the chiropractor did was allow me to gain enough movement to do physio type strengthening exercises. I wasn't able to do the exercises straight away because I literally couldn't do certain movements.

I still get twinges occasionally 4 years on, it took about 9 months before I wasn't in some pain every day (prob not what you wanted to hear, sorry)

There's no reason to think a chiropractor would be beneficial and there are some serious risks associated with neck manipulations.

Whiplash type symptoms are a funny beast, there is pretty good evidence that it only exists in societies which expect it to exist.
It seems to be a product of our culture.

It's probably best to emphasise the limited and benign nature of these symptoms, remember to use safe mild analgesics and try to carry on with your routine.

Most people with symptoms will find they resolve within 3 or 4 weeks.

Please if you go down the route of osteopath or Chiropractor get x rays/ scan done first if possible, to show where the actual damage is.
The only thing I found that helped me was acupuncture with physiotherapy and eventually exercise, the acupuncture also helped with the stomach upset from the the pain killers.
More immediate it may help to alternate between hot and cold pads on the area, do your pain killers need to build up in the system you may need to take them every 4/6 hrs even when not in pain to prevent pain IYSWIM.
Also I tend to have a hot shower when it begins to ache [power shower turned to full and as hot as you can bear may help].
Please know it does get better but until then no lifting anything heavy.

Yes, any good chiropractor/osteopath/physio should refuse to treat you if you've not had initial investigations. And second the advice about keeping taking the painkillers, it helps keep you moving which helps recovery. I actually found the very worst thing for it was sitting upright (at work or in the car), it was much better if I kept active, unfortunately I had no choice but to sit at work 5 days a week.

Ignore those who say it isn't real. I had visible physical symptoms, inflammation and muscle spasms. I'm sure there are people out there who try to 'milk it' but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Whiplash is essentially a sprain, so there are huge varying degrees of severity. The car I was travelling in was essentially concertinaed, bent enough that 3 out of the 4 doors wouldn't open, creased along the roof and had to be lifted of the road with a crane as did the car that had driven into me. So I felt fairly lucky to have come away with 'only whiplash'.

I had exact same accident twice!! except the other person was going forwards and drove into side of me! My shoulder/top of by back between shoulder blades and my neck were killing, hurt to do anything and just wanted to lie on the floor!! I had an xray I had flattening of the cervical wall of my spine - whatever that was. I saw an osteopath through work, the first time it hurt before it got better, was like a funny bone pain I was in agony couldnt move but laughed my head off. Osteo thought I was off my head!! But after that first time each session made it better. Especially when she twisted my head round (like when ppl in films kill ppl!!!)

So like others said maybe your best getting an xray first but osteo definitely helped me