Tight neck and throat

Hi Neck stiffness It sounds like you have been through the wars big time. I would contact your nurse asap and seek some pain relief . All the Best Regards Minmax

Have you been given any exercises to keep the area supple and mobile? 
I’ll tag Peter PFJTHS who also had extensive lymph node resection. I’m sure he will pop in to offer some advice 

Hello and thankyou for your reply its not a painful sensation its a feeling of being choked its awful and getting worse it feels like a tight metal band being wrapped around my neck tightly

That would be great thankyou I've been told not to do any exercise until after my chemo and radio therapy but the sensation is really horrible x

Hi It's Peter as tagged by Dani. 

I can't say that I have experienced what you are describing.  There is a tightness in my neck and sometimes, especially when eating, it does feel like someone is gently gripping my throat.  I found that things do settle down with time - although the results of a neck dissection never fully go away.  I am now 18+ months since my second dissection and generally life is normal in that area.  Yes I know I've had it done, but it is not greatly limiting.

I would certainly speak to your clinical team for advice.  Maybe some of what you are experiencing is due to the extensive nature of the surgery on top of the neck dissection??

I hope they get to the bottom of the issue.

I had a lymph node dissection in December 2020. Followed up by radio therapy in May to try the shrink the fibrous tumour. I have oxycodine hydrochloride , slow and immediate release , progablin, and paracetamol for pain relief. Plus  lansprazole  daily anti sickness metoclopramide and dexamethasone 2mg  .  
It is worst in the morning. I get a coffe, pain relief and try to get some food as fast as possible. My wife helps with neck and  shoulder massage, neck and shoulder stretching, a warm heated wheat bag, but be careful not to burn the delicate skin after radio therapy and lack of nerves, I try to do as many stretches as possible during the day. I also try to get some form o& distraction activity. It’s not easy. 

Thankyou for your reply im sorry to hear that things still remain difficult and painful so many months down the line. I havnt started my treatment yet but hate this feeling its horrible feeling like I'm being strangled 24 7

I completely sympathise. 

I had a neck dissection almost three months ago. It is only recently that I have started to feel the vice-like grip has begun to recede.

I still have some swelling and limited neck movement, but it has gradually improved. I found gentle daily massage and warm flannels helped (but only after the wound had healed).

Also gentle exercises (little and often) turning my head from side to side and up and down have helped.

I was taken-aback by how the recovery took months rather than weeks, as I would have preferred. But improvement did eventually come.

The massage didn’t seem to have any immediate effect, but by persisting it definitely did in the end.

I hope you get some improvement soon, and I know some people do improve more quickly after a neck dissection, in terms of reduced swelling and increased movement, than I did.

Cathy thankyou so much I was beginning to feel like I was going out of my mind its so hard to explain the sensation other than being strangled with hard metal hands 24/7 it's horrible. I'm glad your are finally getting some relief which gives me hope thankyou x

I found that a hot shower and using a massage shower head on the neck worked really well for me.  I rarely need to do that some 18 months down the line.  I think it is only the last 3 months or so that I suddenly realised I'd regained much of the movement that had gone as well as the strength.  Physio really helped as well.