I've had the vicious cycle with headaches and neck/shoulder tension that last for days (albeit on a lesser scale). I wish I could tell you a surefire way to break that cycle. Finding a balance between resting the muscles to try to get them to relax and avoiding stiffness is a bitch.

My shoulder/neck have tended to get tense with the migraines, but in the past couple weeks that pain has taken on a life of its own. My masseuse says she thinks it has to do with my trap muscles protecting my rotator cuffs, but who knows?

ita, have you tried a TENS unit?

My pinched nerve (which mostly affects my neck) will also hurt my shoulder and give me headaches. Ice does not help it, at all. Heat helps a little, the collar helps more so (even sleeping with it, when I can bear it). I also go braless when I can (not in public, not at 40, oh no) and wear the shoulder straps a little looser than I ought, when I can't.

Whatever is going on ita, I hope you find the key, soon. You passed "enough" about a year ago.

I also go braless when I can (not in public, not at 40, oh no)

Oh man, I was in a meeting last week with a woman in her 20s (I'm guessing) who was braless, and who REALLY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN. Those puppies were literally at her waist.

sometimes you see larger women with those little strappy tank tops and you just want to say "honey, no. The shelf bra is for A and possibly B cups. You passed that long ago"

have you tried a TENS unit?

No. The only official medical things I've done are having trigger point injections (though the doctor says he won't do any more) and using Lidoderm patches. The pain guy thought there might be a loop between the migraines and the neck/shoulder (and sometimes arm/face, bugger it all), but the pain picked up during my occipital nerve block period which was relatively light in terms of migraines.

So I have no freaking idea.

I'll make an appointment with my GP today. I keep forgetting that I don't work 40 miles from him anymore so seeing him during a work day will be less of a huge deal.

"honey, no. The shelf bra is for A and possibly B cups. You passed that long ago"

That's me you're talking to. I've been wearing them during my D/DD years. The girls are decently positioned, but I very rarely wear one without something over it, and they do move around a fair bit.

I was having a productive morning, it is a beautiful day - and I am home watching Sesame with a 3 year old who greeted me at day care with "I barfed." Having a hard time shifting gears. At keast I have 70 pages left of a new to me Jennifer Crusie.

The girls are decently positioned, but I very rarely wear one without something over it, and they do move around a fair bit.

see, but you're wearing something over it. and you have well developed pec muscles, so they're not at your belly button.

So. My aunt is undergoing open heart surgery today, maybe right now. She had a heart attack a few weeks back and they put in a stent. Friday, she had a...I dunno. Anyeurism in her heart? Anyway, they're going in to fix that and do some other cleanup, I guess.

She's pissed because she's missing her quilt trip.