Postpartum Neck Pain After C-Section: Causes & Relief

Question
I just recently had a C-Section with my son on the 1st of December. I have recentley been getting headaches on and off that are throbbing. One night the headache was on the left hand side, next night it was on the right, then it was in my neck. The pain never went away when I laid down, it only got better if I took a vicodin or ibuprofen. Recently I have been getting this throbbing pain in my neck on the left hand side. Sometimes it's very painful. It hurts if I move my neck to the right like I've pulled a muscle or slept wrong, but it's constant pain. My pulse has been considerably low. Last night I checked it and it was 45. Which I know that is very low. With my daughter, I had an epidurhal, which had actually failed and about two weeks after delievery, I had to go to the emergency room to get a blood patch because I was leaking spinal fluid. I was experiencing "electric shooting" pains from my lower back up to my neck which were horrible. With this C-Section, I haven't felt any of those symptoms, although I was expecting it since that happened with the epidurhal and I had a spinal for my C-Section. I'm getting very nervous and don't know who I should go to. If I should go to my OBGYN that performed the surgery or make an appointment with another doctor. Sometimes my doctor is a hard person to talk to because he is extremely busy. I have been told that it could be a possible blood clot that has traveled to my neck, so I am extremely nervous and anxious to get an answer.

Answer
Michelle,
I can't tell you for sure what I think it is. It could be something as simple as lack of sleep that is causing all this, or something much more serious. When you have a spinal, you wouldn't have run the risk of leaking spinal fluid, because the medication is injected right into the spinal space. It wouldn't leak into the dura space.
I think you should go back to your OB and be very persistent that you would like to have this looked at. Ask him or her who they recommend. They might run the tests themselves or refer you out. I would recommend going to an Internist personally. I do think you should get things checked out though. Good luck to you!