Has anyone experienced this?: I’d had my hair washed (including the colour treatment being washed out) and I was sitting in the chair, opposite the mirror so that the hairdresser could cut my hair. I began to feel rather unwell, quite nauseous and dizzy, and wanted it to be over. Fortunately I live five minutes away by car. The feeling receded over a few hours.
This morning, whilst dashing around the house trying to get things done, I had the same feeling. Sort of a bit like seasickness. I was going to the osteopath, and told him - he thought it could be something to do with my neck, and might be unrelated to MS. He did give me a scientific sort of explanation…good luck with me taking that on board these days! Thing is, that I’ve had this before at the hairdresser. I just remembered, and wondered whether it has anything to do with the backwash. The wonderful osteo did some work on my neck, and it has settled down now, but I just wondered…? A couple of years ago I tried some yoga classes - the same thing happened. There was one exercise which involved having your head tipped back - I hated it, it made me feel quite yucky!
There has been some research done about the Axis -or Axel - a neck joint. lt is thought it could have a connection to MS. Try googling it and see for yourself. Ask for a forward wash next time at the hairdressers.
I gave up going to the hairdressers for this reason, everytime they did a backwash i was really quite ill,i tried asking them for a frontwash but they didnt like it,
so after a few times of feeling ill, i decided to get a mobile hairdresser and washed my hair my self ready for the cut, i find this much better,to be honest i never did like going to an hairdressers much,i found it a bit of an ordeal i much prefer to have it done in the comfort of my home.
Hi, although hairdressers prefer to backwash hair, when I go in my wheelchair, that just isn’t possible at all! So they make room for me to lean forwards, but I can’t get as close as I need to be, so they drape big bin bags around me, my chair and the basin. There is a bit of a flood, but they never mind at all.
So instead of missing out on your pamper time, try a front wash. If they won’t accommodate your needs, take your brass elsewhere!
Hi. I have a feeling that the atlas joint was mentioned by the osteopath and I’ll mention it when I see him next and report on here.
I think that next time I go to the hairdresser I will say that I don’t want to go on the backwash, as it’s too coincidental - whether MS related or not.
This forum is so fantastically useful for those ‘I’ve got such and such a symptom, has anyone else got it?’!
I have cervical spondylosis, which is wear and tear of the neck joint. Apologies if you knew this
A physiotherapist advised me to avoid leaning my head back. I used to experience similar to what you describe at the hairdressers. I have a lovely young lady that comes to my home now…great when the weather is bad
this post has been REALLY useful for me too, i googled ‘atlas neck joint MS’ it’s led me to a site detailing symptoms of ‘atlas subluxation’, hells teeth if i don’t have several of these issues. i keep seeing the expression ‘MS: the gift that keeps on giving’…boy is that ever true!
Wendy I went on Google but there are just so many links. Please would you post the specific link you are referring to? I’d like to mention this to my osteopath.
My sister and brother-in-law have a friend who died after two strokes following a hairdresser and backwash visit. It’s called ‘beauty parlour stroke’, I believe, and there’s some connection with high blood pressure. Mine’s always been normal, thank heavens, but I really didn’t like the way I felt at the backwash. This is on my list to ask the MS Nurse (list gradually growing; they’ll run a mile when I go in, I think!)
well, i think i’ll be going to the hairdressers, IF i ever go again, with soaking wet hair from now on… i have high blood pressure and i had a subarachnoid haemorrhage (not related, just a fluke aneurism i hadn’t been aware of) in 2012. i REALLY don’t want a ‘beauty parlour stroke’ to add to my woes ,
the page i found is at:
bear in mind that i’m brand new to this too, so i’m curious what your osteopath says about it, if you wouldn’t mind letting me know. the sheer number of neuro symptoms we all end up dealing with is potty!
Morning everyone. Thanks for the link Wendy. I think I’ll send it to my osteopath and will let you all know what he says!
Re the hairdresser, the thing is that she is very local to me but very highly trained in cut and colour (she owns the small salon herself and prides herself - correctly - on West End standards at more reasonable prices) so I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else. So I’m going to have to think about this and work something out for next time I go. It’s every six weeks, so I’ve got time. It’s odd, though; I’ve felt a bit strange on backwashes for years , and always put it down to my dodgy neck. The chairs and basins vary according to the hairdresser you go to, and I’ve been offered rolled up towels to put behind my neck in the past. I think it’s got worse now since what I believe was a relapse at the end of last year (which led to my investigating my symptoms and the RRMS dx). Another example of one of those ‘always thought this was odd before but I never really thought about it too much until I was dx’ things.
I first had osteopathy over 30 years ago and have been treated by about four over the years. They tell me that there is much in common with physio and chiropractic (I had chiro twice in the States whilst on holiday, years ago) I’ve had physio, and it wasn’t really my cup of tea - too much emphasis on exercises and gentle adjustment, but each to their own. I also used to go to a McTimoney Chiropractor, which was very good, but different from normal chiro - very gentle adjustments and ‘straightening’ the body out. I’ve had back problems for a long time but keep on top of it with regular maintenance treatment. I personally like osteo the best - the one I see now is fantastic, and advocates certain exercises as well as manipulation. You have to find what suits you.
i’ve had problems with my spine since my early 30’s, mostly my neck. apparently i have very ‘flat’ thoracic vertebrae, which i hadn’t realised before a physio. told me. once she’d said so, i could compare mine with other people’s, and i do, very flat. having flat thoracic vert. makes my cervical (neck) vert. more vulnerable to injury, which it has. several times i’ve really pinched a nerve roots, which hurts like hell. the first time i was trying to offset the pinched nerve pain so much, that i herniated (slipped) a disc, which hurt even more. i now know exactly which exercises to do, the second i feel any telltale twinges and they tend to calm things down in days, as opposed to the first injury, which took about half a year to solve! i seem to have a fairly ‘dodgy’ neck all round, added to my ms symptoms it’s not just a pain in the neck.
i had a brain operation in 2012, they went in via the base of my skull, at the top of my neck, since then i’ve frequently felt that lovely crunching, grinding sensation listed on the site i mentioned above. i also get horrendous headaches, which is meant to be a common after effect of cerebrovascular surgery. i can’t help but think that it could easily have something to do with atlas sublux. too, not that there is any way of identifying the definite culprit.
i inherited my dad’s high blood pressure and sciatica and my mam’s dodgy neck and knees (it’s looking likely her arthritis too) so, basically, what with ms and the brain thing…i’m a physical wreck , oh well, happy days !
I’ve had what sounds like the same dizzy problems as you describe. Did some research myself because and found some info. on the MS Trust Web site. For me anyway, (and my G.P. agrees that it probably is) Positional Vertigo. There are medications that can be taken to relieve it - I tried one of them and stopped taking them after 1 week because they made me feel worse (very lightheaded if you know what I mean by that). I didn’t want to try a different one (GP said there are a few I could try , and it’s just a case of try and see which one works) or, there are exercises by Catherine Cooksey whose written a book about them. I’ve been a coward and not tried them yet, as the book warns that you are better to have someone else with you when trying them as they may make you feel worse while doing them until they start to have an effect.
When I read your post, I thought to tell you of my experience as it may be of some help to you.
“re the atlas subluxation, i think it’s a bit of a reach. the rationale is that a twisted skull/first cervical vertebral joint will mess with the venous blood outflow from the cranium causing pressure changes which some how result in (i assume) poorer brain nutrition/damage… never heard of this as a reason for demyelination… in general terms, if i wrench a neck around its clearly not ideal but I’m not sure how a minor positional “irregularity “ can mimic symptoms from something chronic like MS…”
I’m more baffled than ever but my neck is feeling pretty sensitive at the moment so I’ll not be going near a backwash for a while…
trying to work out how to deal with all our MS symptoms is a pain in the bum. i find that tipping my head forward, ie looking down or up above myself and then ‘righting’ myself, if i’m not holding onto either a wall, or a heavy/stable bit of furniture makes me lose my balance and feel really dizzy. too. i don’t know if this is because of ataxia or vertigo, or both, possibly(?!), or what the hell is going on. i’ve recently realised that when i’m concentrating on what i’m doing, balance or movement wise, i have a tendency to hold my breathe, which doesn’t help my balance problems, of course. if i can’t see i just fall, i keep forgetting not to take a jumper off while i’m standing, even the momentary loss of sight and i drop like a bag of rusty spanners.
I’m typing from hospital after MS relapse. I, too, started feeling very poorly and weak after backwash. And now I seem to recall feeling weak another time as well. I have a bad neck as well. I wish I would have googled this sooner. No more backwash for me.
I don’t like having my hair washed at the hairdressers, I wash and dry my hair at home then go to the salon.
They can dampen down my hair with a water spray bottle at the salon. Some hairdressers offer a dry cut and it’s fine on a warm day, it’s cheaper than a shampoo, cut and blow dry anyway. Otherwise if the hair is still a little damp I might ask if I can use their hairdryer to give it a quick dry.
Morning everyone. Boisenberry73, so sorry to hear about your relapse. I wish you a speedy recovery.
Just wanted to add that after a couple of visits to the hairdresser where I came home with the colour on my hair and washed it off in the shower (all quite irritating for some reason) I decided to risk the backwash again. They give me a kind of a collar thing which cushions the back of my neck, and are very careful and solicitous of my wellbeing and it seems to be OK.
I think it’s triggered by tilting my head back at an acute angle and having something digging in the back of my neck - i.e. the edge of the backwash basin -so I have to avoid that.