Random Access Memories - Cracking My Neck Brings Random Flasbacks

After suffering from off-and-on migraine headaches for 10 years, I thought I had a pretty good handle on the situation. I'd go to the chiropractor once a year or so when the headaches got unbearable, and usually one session would be enough to keep the pain away for a few months.

Two years ago I was working in Las Vegas for the summer and the migraines came back, worse than ever. They would last for 16 hours or more, always behind my left eye. I went to a chiropractor in Vegas and had 10 sessions, and the migraines would not go away.

It was by far the worst pain in my life and the chiropractor wasn't helping, so I decided to become my own chiropractor and start stretching the hell out of everything in my neck. Instead of the jerking and pulling the chiropractor does, I would stretch as far as I could one way and just keep the stretch on it for as long as I could. It seems to have worked. I'm not sure if extreme neck cracking is for everyone but it works for me.

A strange thing has been happening the past six months or so. If I stretch my neck and look over my shoulder, either way, I will sometimes get a vivid random memory flashback from my past. Obscure moments that I thought I'd long forgotten about will pop up in my head. I had one today from when I gave a co-worker a ride home as a teenager and she gave me a surprise kiss. From 1998.

Some days I will get numerous flashbacks, like every time I look over my shoulder to do anything. The flashbacks seem to come from a subconscious level, as all of them are obscure moments that I haven't recalled in years.

Sometimes the flashback comes and goes so fast that I can't quite perceive it and I'm left with a puzzled sense of deja vu. Sometimes it will come in the form of music, as obscure songs from mostly the 1980s will pop into my head. Patty Loveless' "On Down The Line" repeatedly comes up as does the Family Feud theme music from the 1980s. My parents listened to country radio when I was a kid and I've heard plenty of Patty Loveless, but that song is more than 20 years old and I've never listened to it on purpose. And Family Feud? I'm baffled.

More often than not it's just a brief but vivid glimpse from my past, seemingly chosen at random. Does anyone else on ATS have the over-the-shoulder flashbacks like I do?

reply to post by gfthree7


I just about messed my pants when I read the thread title. I KNOW ABOUT THIS!

My ex-wife suffers from back problems, as well as TMJ. During our 18 year marriage there were numerous times when she would suffer a bout of back or neck pain and then completely recount an experience she had when she was 7 years old, like it just happened. She could see things that happened 30+ years ago like it was 3 minutes ago!

We went to multiple doctors and chiropractors, who would only give her meds or crack her back. When we mentioned the vivid flashbacks we were treated like crazy people. We even had one doctor ask if we were using drugs! I used to get so pissed! I mean its fricken obvious that your nerves connect into your brain! There has to be a connection!

Our stupid corporate doctors only care about treating the symptoms, not finding a cure.

I am very curious about more info from you.
How long has this been going on?
How many times have you been to the doctor about this?
Have you been given the same "you're crazy" look from the doctors?

I just have never heard ANYONE else ever give this same type story.

Please share more!

reply to post by tvtexan


Wow that's crazy to hear about your ex-wife. My experiences are similar, though I've never actually mentioned this to any doctor or anyone else until I posted on ATS. I knew someone on here would understand, lol.

Much like your ex-wife, it seems that certain specific physical movements in the neck/back causes direct stimulation to the memory bank in the brain. It's been going on for me for about six months, maybe a little longer. When active, it seems that turning my head back over either shoulder is like spinning a wheel and getting a random memory.

I had something similar occur when I was a young adult and played "All-Star Baseball featuring Derek Jeter" for the Playstation 2. I would buy the new version of that game every year, and I believe it was the 2002 edition that caused numerous random flashbacks during gameplay. No other version but 2002. I bought the 2003 version and life went back to normal.

These flashbacks I get now are the same, just so very random and obscure. I've never told a doctor about this but I've had doctors look at me like I was crazy and I know how that goes.

I think it's interesting that a crack of the neck can bring forth a memory that would otherwise be buried forever. I've read that Terence McKenna, for what it's worth, had a most intense experience while suffering seizures from migraines.

The migraines I get are inhumanly painful when they blow up to full strength. I can imagine your ex-wife's pain was significant. Perhaps the pain causes a trauma that makes the brain do weird things.

I used to think the only way to remember something was to think really hard.

II am just floored right now.
I have never heard anyone else describe what you are talking about.

While her back problems have diminished, she still suffers from migraines’ that will occasionally produce the same type of "Flashback" that you describe.

I knew there were others that had this problem! Stupid f*ing doctors treated her like she was crazy and needed more meds.

NOW I'M PISSED!

reply to post by tvtexan


It's very real for me and I hope you and your ex-wife can find some answers. I know the majority of doctors I've been to are hellbent on getting you in and out with a name-brand prescription as fast as possible. Although I've never spoken to a doctor on this specific topic, to be fair.

I did speak with my childhood family doctor about the sleep paralysis episodes I used to have and he didn't treat me like I was crazy at all. He called it cataplexy and said he had suffered the same thing in his youth.

Also, I had surgery in 2006 to repair a rare spinal cord condition called Tethered Cord Syndrome, something I might do another thread on at some point. I was having a host of physical problems beginning in 2003 and saw numerous doctors, most of whom gave me the "crazy" treatment and prescribed me an anti-depressant, under the guise that "in small amounts certain anti-depressants can be used to treat pain." Yeah right.

So I never took any of the anti-depressants and kept going to more and more doctors as the pain in my abdomen, back, neck, shoulders increased, and (unfortunately) urological and reproductive functions began to be painful also.

Finally in 2006, after three years, I got a call from an 81-year-old neurosurgeon that had seen MRIs of my back, sent to him by a urologist that couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. I went to his office and this 81-year-old genius with white hair and a thick Japanese accent proceeded to explain that I had Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome, which meant that I had the wrong kind of tissue on the bottom of my spinal cord, causing all kinds of havoc all over my body.

It's apparently very rare and I'm lucky that Dr. Yamada in Fontana, California came across my MRI. But it came after fighting the "crazy" treatment for three years.

Funny you guys mention this because ancient yoga teachings from thousands of years back speak about accessing the subconscious and superconsciousness by stretching alone.

reply to post by dominicus


That doesn't surprise me as the stretching I do on my neck is more of a yoga style, bending my head and shoulders in unusual positions and holding the stretch.

I want to look into this yoga connection a little more, perhaps start doing the real deal yoga myself.

As a note I had three flashbacks yesterday, all obscure and random. One was a quick glimpse of the jeweled patches we wore on our AWANA uniforms when I was in kindergarten in Christian school. The next was of a girl in one of my community college classes from 2002 or 2003 that was attractive but I never talked to. The third was a glimpse of the ramp that leads out from the back of Lee's Discount Liquor on Flamingo Rd. in Las Vegas, a spot I went to many times while I lived in Las Vegas.

The Lee's Liquor memory brought a smile to my face, as me and my roommate would use that back exit to get home after stocking up on top-shelf Belgian beer that we had no business spending money on. Chimay, Unibroue, Delerium Tremens.... haha those were the days. Why just a quick glimpse of the back parking lot though?

If anyone has links to research on the ancient yoga teachings please post as I am very interested. I will do some research on my own and keep us posted.

This might sound ignorant, but could it possibly have something to do with increased blood flow to the brain?

Originally posted by Xaphan
This might sound ignorant, but could it possibly have something to do with increased blood flow to the brain?

I don't think that sounds ignorant at all, and with all of the different little joints and bones in and around the ear, I would think certain stretches make the blood flow into some of these little spots behind the ear that don't normally get a lot of stimulation.

Sometimes when I'm stretching parts of my neck will "wake up" and start tingling and itching like crazy. Sometimes it's more of a fire or even a watery sensation.

I had a couple of more flashbacks last night and now I can't remember what they were. I was quite tired.