So I woke up in the middle of the night and my neck was so stiff I couldn't turn in either direction, and it hurt fairly seriously from even tiny movements. Could this be pseudogout?
At first I figured I just tweaked it, but the stiffness lasted through the day. I finally started wondering about meningitis, but I felt fine otherwise, which didn't match. It got better slowly over a week, so I just let it fade. But just a few days later it has come back.
Aspirin helps. I have had (self-diagnosed) pseudogout in the knee and foot, just a few weeks ago. I've had regular gout before as well, but have been taking celery seed and I think that's been 100% preventative on the regular gout. I only started taking "pseudogout" seriously as a real diagnosis, as of a few weeks ago.
Googling turns up a lot of stuff that says pseudogout (CPPD) in the neck, in the "yellow ligament" (Ligamentum flavum) does happen. The call it rare, they find it in really old people, but hey I think I've got it too.
Anybody else here have any similar experience?
Stiff neck is almost as common as the common cold, and just as sometimes a cold turns out to be double pneumonia, mostly it doesn’t. Equally the chances are that your stiff neck is a muscle strain of some kind. Warming and massaging it might help; so would painkillers. (Aspirin is very bad for ordinary gout btw). If it you also have a bad headache or problems with your eyesight you should see a doctor.
As for pseudo/ordinary gout - why not see a rheumatologist?
Good luck with the neck.
JX, whereabouts on the neck?
beware that main arteries to the brain run up both sides of the neck, you can feel them and any blockages in these can be very serious and restrict blood flow to brain and cause a stroke.
Abracadabra let me wave my magic wand & hope it goes away. Ignorance is bliss. You can't take aspirin when you have gout, at any time, as it causes extreme gout pain. Go see a chiropractor and stop being a hypochondriac.
In years gone by I have slept awkwardly and ended up in dreadful pain for weeks. I would be surprised if you have pseudo gout in the neck.
Agreed.
The 99% chance is that it’s muscular. If the person tries a Valium - it that fixes it it indicates it’s muscular.
Where on the neck? Well, I couldn't turn left or right, if I tried not only was there pain but some kind of feeling of resistance. What made me think it might be pseudo-gout (which is different from regular gout, and afaik NSAIDs are recommended for pseudo-gout) is that pseudo-gout moves around from joint to joint as often as every few hours, and the specific pain points in my neck seemed to do that too, mostly. The remnant now is mostly high on the right side of my neck.
I was concerned that it could be something worse, but my experience with doctors is such that I tend not to run to them for every issue ... and when I finally do, the experience is generally disappointing. I expect Star Trek medical tricorders and a shot of cordrazine to fix whatever ails me, and these seem unavailable in local facilities.
“Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate deposition on cervical spine is very rare, and only 50 patients with this condition have ever been reported. In the literatures, the mean age of patients with cervical spine pseudogout is old (72.3 years old) and 84% of them are females. “
The way to establish spinal pseudo-gout is through a CT scan.
I think in the first instance a trip to the GP is in order.
If it does turn out to be pseudogout you’ll be only the 51st specimen known to science!
Great, that would be my change to go to Harvard Medical School - as a patient!
I saw that same cite. I think it's silly. How would they find any? Who runs in for a CT scan when they wake up with a stiff neck, that's already much better two days later? I'll bet if you took your CT scanner and advertised for cases and paid $1,000 for anyone who turned out to have it, you'd find another fifty in a week. What would you say to an exterminator who said, "You have exactly 50 cockroaches"?
Though I'm not sure I'd take a CT scan for $1,000 even if I was certain. Maybe if it also entered winners in a drawing for a Mazda Miata.
I'm 32 years old be diagnosed with degenerative disc and my doctor just told me he thinks I have pseudogout in my neck I have had similar experiences like I had a gout attack at 23
It's putting pressure on my nerves in my neck causing sholder pain and pain in the middle of my upper back and also dizzness I'm freaked out.
HI Jamie
You say your doctor “thinks” you have pseudogout. Surely he should “know”? Did you not have liquid extracted from your joints, and X-rays on the effected articulation? If not the symptoms could be other maladies.
This is unusual at your age. Are they doing further tests? In Younger people it is often associated with thyroid problems or blood mineral issues.
Good luck anyway.
I'll let you know if I have pseudogout on the 6th I'll probably be the youngest person in history with it but my doctor already told me he thinks I have it.
If your doctor hasn’t seen the results he’s just guessing as there are several other things it could be, and someone of your age, pseudogout is often caused by something else.... unless of course half your family already have it?
How is pseudogout caused by something else? Or do you mean similar symptoms of something else may be mistaken for pseudogout?
Mean both, the symptoms mimic other illnesses, but also other illnesses can cause it (copied and pasted, not mine):
Pseudogout can often run in families, so many medical professionals believe it to be a genetic condition. Other contributing factors may include:
hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid)
excess iron
magnesium deficiency
overactive parathyroid gland
hypercalcemia (too much calcium in the blood)
Pseudogout can sometimes be associated with other illnesses, such as:
hemophilia (a hereditary bleeding disorder that prevents the blood from clotting normally)
ochronosis (a condition causing the deposit of a dark pigment in the cartilage and other connective tissues)
amyloidosis (an abnormal buildup of protein in the tissues)
hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid glands)
hyperparathyroidism (an excessive amount of parathyroid hormone in the blood)
hemochromatosis (an abnormally high level of iron in the blood)
That’s a bit harsh. The guy is in pain.
Worse type of person is one who thinks he can self-diagnose and self-medicate. I come from the medical world, if he were smart he'd visit a doctor or a gp or a chiropractor. Pain is a symptom of something gone wrong in your body. Do you sit around looking up possible diagnosis on the net for which doctor google never got a degree? I've heard people say in these forums, I think I'm about to die from the diagnosis a little pain I have in my stomach, according to dr. google. All to find out when they went to the doctor that it was gas. Really now, you came that close to dying, causing yourself stress, lessening your life units, when a simple trip to the doctor stopped it in its track? Sorry for my caddy attitude but I don't tolerate ignorance very well.