I am a 45 year old female. All my like I have been above average in strength and fairly active till age 33 when the back and knees started to go. I have a strong family history of osto arthrithis. My mother has had everything replaced starting at age 50 and has been in a wheel chair for last 4 years. Seems there is nothing to do for her but attempt to manage the pain. Myself I have a herniated disc between 5 & 6 in my neck, arthritis with advance degeneration, arthritis in both hips, planter faticitis in feet and that is only what has been xrayed. My lower back: my tailbone was displaced in childbirth at 24, arthritis with advanced degeneration at last two discs, occasional numbness in the feet and hands. I have had orthoscopy on left knee which resulted in them cutting the tendon to relieve pressure from behind the knee cap. The right knee is giving me pain now . I have done physically therapy for 2 years consistantly while living in Germany and only for 4 - 7 months at a time for last 3 since returning to the states. I have a history of migraines which have become more of a problem lately. My left hand from the palm to my fingertips is tingling and going numb now after only 10 minutes at the computer. Any hoo. I am changing neuros and will have a new appointment soon. I tried to explain to the last one who said I have cerebrum muscular headaches and the herniated disc (also treating me for RLS) ordered PT for disc and massage for headaches. I tried explaining to her that if I turn in my sleep or try to lay on my right side my head feels like a blood pressure cuff pumping up and the flashing lights will start. I will always wake up with a migrane. While visiting my family doctor in January for a sinus cold I vomited and fainted twice. I had a mild headache but not a migraine. I do know the difference. When I started coming to my husband told me that she said my eyes were unresponsive and all I did was grunt. This happened twice. and she had me taken to the hospital where they only treated me for a migraine and flu. I had both flu shots. I am also a coughing asthmatic. This is still disturbing to me but she says it was a migraine. Since being back in the states I have done massages a few times and every time they say I am the worst they have ever touched. This past Tuesday she said every muscle in my neck was rock hard, the back of my head above my neck was even worse (this is where the headaches start), my clavical would not move for her and I had more knots, big ones than she could count or even begin to break up. I have been given muscle relaxers but I work a 10 hour night shift and they leave me to groggy and not able to fully focus for work. What PT folks don't understand is that all the excercises in the world don't always help if my muscles are so tight and hard that it causes more pain. In Germany he used a combination of heat, massage, manipulation, excercise and heat again. It was the first time I knew what it was not to have excessive pain. In the states they don't understand the need for a combination. An order is written and that is it. No variation. What concerns me is my muscles through my neck, traps and my lower back which I don't trust anyone enough to touch and who knows where else. When people are telling me how hard y muscles are and all the other things I am experiencing I just wonder if there is more to it or how best to treat it.