neck issues questions (for those with cervical spine woes too)

[wendyoh]

I have the auto-immune diagnosis but also cervical spine dysfunction (stenosis, djd, ddd, bulge discs etc) and sometimes symptoms overlap making getting to heart of what is going on to inform what to do more difficult.......

curious if any of you who have similar situation have this issue I do where I have to be careful to avoid turning my head over my shoulder and reaching up and behind me, especially if lying down......its not like it causes an incredible palpable pain per se, but it leads to neck feeling sort of sprained and I have noticed over the years I get more brain fog + malaise for some days after I do it....its easy to forget and do it....but I really hate how I feel afterwards as it really decreases my pleasure in life until subsides....feel more like shell of self

I don't understand mechanically what the mechanism is to cause that, thought of going to PT again briefly to discuss

but if any of you have something like that happen and have found good ways to remember to avoid doing that (like if lying in bed and trying to reach behind to grab another pillow or anytime if ie just looking behind you without remembering to be cautious about body mechanics  etc) and any successful ways to treat it once you have done it.?....don't know how to help the brain fog part, I just do stuff like arnica, and peppermint oil on neck and apply ice and heat.......some years back a neurosurgeon said I could also have possible Chiari syndrome, I don't know if my brain is getting directly effected from those sort of movements or if my neck position effects the brain when there is dysfunction, but sort of feels like I have to wait it out after symptoms start of brain fog part

I had related to exfootball player McMahon's symptoms when I saw a docu about his neck and head injuries and read further that his brain dysfunction cleared up a lot after he had his neck manually fixed recently after years of suffering....I did atlas orthogony years ago with some luck but unfortunately cannot tolerate physical manipulation of any kind at this point (causes too much residue pain even if its mechanically helpful)
http://jeffnixon.sportsblog.com/posts/11047486/espn---s-documentary-will-show-jim-mcmahon---s-miraculous-recovery.html