Why am I feeling constant nausea?

Any ideas why I am getting nausea, spaced out feeling and numbness in arm after physiotherapy?

• I had physio on Thursday because I had pain in my top of shoulder muscles and shoulder joint. I also had some numbness in the muscles between my shoulder blades The physio said my muscles were very tight so he pressed down hard on the vertebrae in my neck which was very painful while he did it. While he was pressing on my vertebrae I told him that I was now seeing shimmering when I had my eyes shut like when you look at heat shimmering off a hot road in summer. I am still seeing the shimmering with my eyes shut, but don't see it with my eyes open. He said he had never heard of such a thing and carried on. A couple of hours after physio I started feeling very nauseaous and spaced out like floating feeling. On Friday my rifht arm felt heavy and my forearm and hand feel odd like a tight and slightly numb feeling on the top of my forearm. more noticeable when it twist my wrist. my little finger and the one next to it and the palm underneath below them and at the base of my thumb feesl thick and numbish and the top of my hand feels thick and numbish. I went to the local emergency room yesterday and the doctor said I have a virus because the glands are swollen in my neck, but I have no fever. He gave me Antinaus tablets for the nausea, told me to get lots of rest and not to eat any dairy products. But I am still worried about my symptoms.

• Answer:

  I read your question because I had physical therapy on my neck for several weeks, and after each session I would be nauseated, have a terrible headache, and my arms would feel heavy. My therapists did not treat these complaints with any seriousness, so I canceled the remainder of my therapy. If you have pain or an unusual feeling while a physical therapist is peforming a procedure, tell him/her to stop immediately. Although PT can be difficult, it should not cause nausea or the shimmering feeling you describe. There are a lot of nerves in your cervical area (neck), and what the therapist did might have affected some of them. Any time a patient complains of an unusual sensation, the therapist should stop what he/she is doing and ask more questions, or even get a supervisor to evaluate what's happening. It is your right to refuse physical therapy, or to stop having physical therapy. If I were you, I would do so. I don't know why you're having the therapy (injury? everyday pain?), but the overall goal of therapy is to make you feel better, not cause strange symptoms like you're having. I personally recommend chiropractic treatment if it's everyday pain and not an injury from sports or a car accident.