We do, but I am just going to push through it... codeine and paracetamol ftw!
Next Dr appt available approx 3 weeks time. Unless I want to rock up there at 8am and wait for a possible appt. The NHS is wonderful if you are really really sick, not brilliant if you are just mildly sick.
I’m applying heat and drugs and hoping for the best 
WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT WOT
WELCOME TO MY WORLD
WELCOME TO MY WORLD
I think insurance would cover you for an urgent care visit, but unless you ask for physical therapy, chiro, or medical massage, they will probably just dispense a few days' worth of steriods, anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants and pain killers. If you want that.
When I had chiro after someone tried to t-bone me, the treatments were from basically a big electric vibrator. I only had one manual adjustment. But lots of "The Activator". It felt fine, totally non-threatening. It is used on small children. I don't know what the doc chose to do it that way, but it was just warm and tingly.
Drinking plenty of water helps clear out pain-causing muscle debris, by helping the kidneys keep your bloodstream clean.
I suppose all the stores are closed now, like Super Supplements, for homeopathic pellets Hypercurium. It is a plant reduced by minisculization principle to basically a sugar pill, but they work. To be taken under tongue with no smoking 15 minutes before or after dosing (same with food, drinks, and toothbrushing...)
I know you have painkillers but if you want, here is some alternative help. This exercise should be done just to the extent that it is possible without adding to you pain, and takes about 2 minutes at most. Start by taking a moment to feel your pain, especially turning your head from right to left but stop when each twist becomes strained and notice your lmitation in range of motion. Mark the limitation spots mentally so you can recall afterward how far you were (not) able to move your head when you started (now) compared to when you finish (a minute from now).
Then tilt your head toward the pain side, ear toward same side shoulder. Pretty firmly. Keep it that way for the duration of the exercise. Don't force it, just let it fall as far to the shoulder as it will. You shoulder might come up a little.
Then, gently raise your bad arm and extend it straight in front of you, meanwhile keeping your head tilted sideways toward the pain. Do the same with the other arm, like you are some James Bond girl holding a weapon out. Then, clasp your hands together in any way, and put the lesser pained hand and arm toward the top. This will cause your pained shoulder to rotate out a little (more detail than you probably need to know).
Then, focus on a spot on the wall in front of you, about the height where your hands are when your eyes look at your hands and the wall. Mentally draw a circle around that distant spot using your clasped hands as the cursor. Of course your shoulders and arms will move too. Pay attention to the sensations in your neck but also your back, which supports the neck to some extent. Your attention to your muscles as you do the following might help your brain later change how it controls the muscles. Anyhow, draw 20 imaginary circles around whatever object on the wall going counter-clockwise, then reverse direction to draw 20 more going clockwise.
Then relax gently, shake it out if you need to. Pause to regain equilibrium. Then, see if you got any relief by comparing how far your neck will turn to the right, and the left, compared to before you did the exercise.
Apply ice between layers of fabric onto your neck for exactly 20 minutes if it's not too cold, hopefully while sitting near a heater. If you don't have a neck-shaped ice pack, put packaged frozen peas or whatever ice you have into a long hair towel and fold the towel over the ice lengthwise, then twist each end and hoop it over your head or however you can get it around your neck. I insert both ends into a common hair bungee or rubber band at my neck, or you could clothespin each side of the towel to your top.
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Another thing is to sit in a chair where your feet touch the ground and you have enough arm rest and back support to sit back for about 12 minutes. Take you head and:
1. Drop it forward saying the alphabet twice..
2. Bring it back to center, then lean it back at its natural angle with your nose toward the ceiling or whatever, while sticking your lower lip out far like angry Popeye the Sailor. Count the alphabet twice.
3. Bring it back to center, then let the pained side fall, ear to shoulder (not really, but aiming that way.) Count alphabet twice.
4. Bring it back to center, then let it fall to the opposite side. Alphabet twice.
5. Breath comfortably deeply while doing this exercise, but don't hyperventilate.
6. You have completed the cross. Now, do the X.
7. Bring your head back to center, then keeping your nose straight in front of you (as in, don't turn your head right or left at all), allow your head to gently fall toward your right chest. Like, your jowls (if you had any) would be close to your decolletege.
8. Bring your head back to center, keep nose in front of you, and allow your head to tilt at the same 45 degree angle toward your shoulder blade.
9. Back to center, keep nose in front, and allow head to tilt 45 degrees in front toward the other chest, "jowls" close to decolletege.
10. Back to center, nose in front, allow head to fall back at the opposite 45 degree angle, as if going for the shoulder blade.
11. You have completed the X.
12. Remember to breath.
13. From then on, monitor yourself as you go about your night/day, to make sure that your ears are always just above your shoulders, NOT that your neck is forward of your shoulders. Keep your chin up
.
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Until your neck heals, you might need a lower or softer pillow. But remember to go back to your normal pillow after you heal, to avoid strain. If you lay on your side, you can activate your neck muscles with isometrics because pain lessens while a strained muscle is activated (as long as you don't strain or add pressure, just let the muscle activate itself). The isometric you would do is to use your neck muscles to gently push your head/ear (without bending or angling) deeper into the pillow for 10 seconds and relax. Many times.
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Likewise, a muscle pinching a nerve can be forced to relax by self-activating it (tensing it without the use of weights). While laying, hold the tension as long as you comfortably can until the muscle begins to give way and weaken. But don't be religious about holding the tension - certainly not to the point of having to bear down mentally. Just do what you can. This can be repeated through the night. Inbetween tension holding minutes, when you relax afterward, relief usually comes a little. There is an art to gently forcing any muscle into a position that relieves pain and then gradually relaxing (or letting the muscle surrender/wear out) while at the same time not allowing the muscle to get out of position. Muscles are controlled by the brain so in a large part, we choose our pain. I am NOT saying you did, and not that we always do. But by deliberately brain-controlling the muscle, we can make a difference in tension reduction.
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Muscle guarding tense muscles think they are protecting us, so we can trick them into relaxing. So, try to get someone else to do this one with you, but if you have to do it yourself, it can be done. The idea is to take the muscle through graduated resistance to pressure until the muscle realizes it has been on over-drive. You will notice and realize at some point that part of you has been holding onto to tension too long (Like you don't already know that! But, you'll "know" it viscerally, not just intellectually, after this exercise).
So...
Have someone find your pain side while standing behind you as you stand, sit or lay. They put their hand on the pained side of your head, like their palm over your cheekbone right by the ear. They then apply significant pressure (not suddenly though) to push your head straight away in the opposite direction from the pain BUT your job is to resist their pressure and not allow your head to move at all. Of course, this is all done gently. It's resistance, but not a battle, ok! Anyhow, hold the resistance positions for a few moments.
Then, proceed to do the exercise over again many times, each time with less and less pressure from your partner while you resist less and less also. You and your partner will have to find a rythym. By the time the resistance exercise are lightened up to the point that you are barely being pressed, and therefore barely resisting, then you are done. Most clock time should be given to the latter half, when your partner is barely applying any pressure to push your head at all, and you should be able to resist them lightly, your muscle having been talked-down from overdrive. Spend the most time on the lighter pressures at the end, re-training your muscle to simply resist as appropriate. You might notice your muscle learn that it was trying too hard. There is actually a moment when your muscle will gain intelligence about how stupid it is being.
The moment can feel embarassing! But, it's progress. Then, on your own, through the night, your muscle will probably tighten up again, but if you can mentally harken back to how it felt when light pressure was applied and how little your neck had to do to resist, remember the feeling of the muscle having earlier learned to correct (reduce) the amount of tension actually needed, then you might be able to get the muscle to relax on its own. There is a letting go process. Your friend should do this with you as much as needed, like a few times a day until your muscle can relax its own self.
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Here is a short, simple relief: Laying on your back, have you or a partner put your fingers on the base of your skull. Feel around. There are two magic spots, one on each side of your neck, which will release pain away if you massage them. If you get the right spots, you'll know it. A good shower head or electric massager can massage these points just as well.
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Deep breathing for several minutes will bring oxygen into your blood, and as the blood pumps through the muscles in your neck, the oxygen will pick up "dirt" which muscles cast off (not exactly sure) and that will make you feel less pain. The same effect can be achieved by increasing circulation by alternating 10 min heat with 10 min ice (through fabric) a few times. Use fabric so the ice doesn't burn your skin. The same blood-cleansing effect can be done with a hot bath with a few cups of Epsom salts in it. Like a horse after a race, but you would need to submerge your neck I think. Drink plenty of water when you are blood cleaning like this, because the toxins need water to help them be eliminated through the kidneys, otherwise they get re-circulated again and stay in your system longer, which prolongs pain unnecessarily.
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You can fashion a cervical collar with a long hair towel. Just roll it up lengthwise and use a clothespin to clip it at your neck. If it is thick enough to support the sides of your neck, I think you should get some relief. I wouldn't use it more than an hour or two because you don't want to spoil your neck where atrophy could set in from lack of use.
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Your meds probably work, but so will chamomile oil (diluted with a carrier oil), CBD oil I hear, comfrey ointment ("knitbone" also knits muscle tissue), and honestly vapor rub is a topical painkiller, but it has phenol in it so don't apply it if you are allergic to phenol and don't apply too much or over too large of an area. It affects your nervous system. The Internet says that overdoing phenol even by using too much topical vapor rub could cause tremors or even seizures, that's why vapor rub isn't supposed to be applied on tiny children. Menthol in the rub is very unappreciated and modest, but really does kill pain. And, almost everyone has it at home. Brand name Mineral Ice works well, too, although it dries out faster, requiring more frequent applications.
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Neck strains can sometimes come from not taking breaks.
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If you think you need neck strengthening isometrics, I have some that you won't find on any website. I don't know if I invented them, but seems that way, and they work. Although just as well, I am a fan of Bob and Brad, the most Famous Physical Therapists on the Internet, as well as a couple other funny (and funny-looking) guys there.
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Accupressure points and You Repeat binaural beat music for muscle strains also have worked for me, although I'd have to check again to remember what.
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I hope you sleep well. An electric hot pad near your neck for a while might help you sleep. And if you can find which muscle is aggravating you, just deliberately hold gentle but firm tension in it until it surrenders as you fade in and out of sleep. After all, the muscle can't hold maximum tension forever so if you tense it yourself, it's like taking matters into your own hands instead of letting the muscle keep you in bondage. Use that muscle up before it uses you up! Gently!
