[Joeaksa]

Mike,

How old are you? Where is the injury? Makes a bit of difference where it is and if you are an old fart like me or 20 years old.

I had a rough landing in a parachute many years ago (do not ask, did not have a choice) and compressed C5-C6, the lower neck area. Worked with it for years with pain pills and muscle relaxers, which did nothing but hide the situation. Finally the flight surgeon overseas gave me some Indocid and it changed my life. I could move my neck and back freely again. Problem is that its also rough on the stomach and can cause bleeding.

Took that for several years then Celebrex came out. Tried it and again more relief. Then when Vioxx came out went on that for a year or so then stopped when the heart issues came out and went back on Celebrex. I am one of those who have no choice of using a Cox5 med, its either that or not turn my neck. It literally locks up due to the pain. Will take the risk, otherwise life is not worth living for me.

I have a friend who had the same situation. She was on Celebrex for a long time and decided to get the operation to fuse the two disks. 3-5 months rehab and lots of pain meds. It worked for 18 months now has returned to the same problem and pain. She is now back on Celebrex and wishes that she had never had the operation. Your mileage may vary but unless the docs can tell me 100% it will work, I am not going under the knife for an operation on my spinal area while there are meds that do take care of the pain.

I have tried about every med available and the Cox5 meds are the only ones that work for me. Please do not take the damm muscle relaxers that the docs try to give everyone. Every person I talk with on this subject say that the doctors try to pump them full of Flexiril or the like and for most it just does not work.

Get an MRI and see what the problem is. My last one shows exactly what and where the problem is. The tech came to me and described the symptoms down to a "T" just reading the film. As well for me nothing worked but heat and asprin. Ibruprofen is worthless but for some reason the asprin helps but then it is an anti-inflamatory agent.

Hope you get this figured out and go see a doctor. You need to know what is going on to make an educated decision.

JoeA