That was a vaguely terrifying fiasco

So Tuesday afternoon, I was lying on my couch watching Friends before work. I hadn't gotten very much sleep the night before, so I fell asleep.

I realize some of you have already heard this story, but it was actually quite frightening. I just feel like getting it out there and off my chest.

I woke up about 3ish or so. I realized I hadn't had lunch and was walking to the kitchen when my neck felt a bit sore from the nap. I must have slept on it funny. So, as most of us do when we feel a bit sore, I stretched.

And something in my neck ... popped. Not only did I hear it, I felt it.

It was a little unnerving, but it didn't really hurt.

Then I turned my head to the right. I practically crumpled to the ground in pain and lost my breath because it hurt so badly. I realized that for some reason, I couldn't straighten my head, nor could I turn it to the right without experiencing that gut-wrenching pain.

I tried to stretch my neck out a little and rubbed it a bit, thinking maybe I'd just turned it funny and it would ... pop back into place? I'm not quite sure what I was thinking, but I guess I figured it would just go away.

After about five minutes of this, I started to panic. I called my dad in tears because I didn't know what to do. He told me I should try to find a general practitioner (maybe one that my co-workers used), or try to find an urgent care facility.

It turns out there's an urgent care facility about five minutes from my apartment. At this point, it's about 3:30. I had to be at work at 4:30. I called both of my bosses and left them voice mails explaining the situation. I was hoping the doctor would know what it was and be able to fix it so I could make it to work.

Have you ever tried to drive a vehicle and not been able to turn your head to the right to check for traffic? I don't recommend it. It was painful and very scary. Every time I turned my head slightly in the direction that induced said pain, I immediately took my foot off the gas because it was one of those pains that shot involuntary movements throughout your body, and I wasn't interested in ramming into anyone if my foot involuntarily floored the gas pedal.

I called David on the way and he was able to calm me down enough so that I wasn't crying. I mean, not only was I in pain with my neck tilted to the left, but I was freaking out, thinking I'd ripped, torn or strained ... something. I'm sure I looked quite odd to other drivers.

I got to urgent care without any incidents and was able to see the doctor within 15 minutes of my being there.

She was very nice and she wanted to know exactly what had happened.

With no warning, she calmly comes close to me, takes my head in her hands and begins to twist my head in different directions while putting pressure/rubbing the area I told her was hurting. She said she could feel how tense the muscle was and told me I had severe muscle spasms.

Now, while she was moving my head in all kinds of directions, I was bawling. I wasn't crying so people could hear me, but my jeans were tear-soaked by the time she was done. She was turning my head in the directions that hurt the most.

She was, however, able to relieve some of the tension, because I had more range of motion in my neck than I had when I'd gotten there.

She gave me two prescriptions: pain medications and a muscle relaxant. She also told me not to go to work, but to go home and take a bath and rest. It's definitely a good thing I didn't go back to work like I'd planned. I was loopy from the medicines, and there was no possible way I would've been able to hold my head up for eight hours in front of my computer.

I mean, I went back Wednesday (one day sooner than the doctor told me to, since she didn't clear me to go back to work until today — Thursday), and I was so out of it. I was afraid I had made some huge errors on my pages because I felt awful, and I was doped up on pain meds. Steve sat down with me last night to make some corrections, and he asked me if I was OK. I told him what had happened and he said, "But you're on something now, aren't you?" I said, "Yes." He laughed and said, "I bet you're feeling high as a kite because you have no pupils at all!"

Yikes.

So that's my terrifying adventure to urgent care. I'm still on the meds, and my neck still hurts a little, but it's definitely getting much better. I hope I never do that again. I've not felt pain like that since I tore my ACL in high school.