Hi Prairegirl, just wanted to welcome you to the forum, sounds like you've been going through quite alot lately. I also have MS, was diagnosed 3 years ago. Treatment of diet/supplements for that. My ON started after a injury at work lifting a patient, actually that's not completely correct. I did have burning pain at the back of my head for months after that injury, but the actual burning across the top of the head and gripping headache pain didn't start until the worker's comp. system kept making me do office work which further worsened my condition(I'm not too happy about that). In fact, I'm a PT, and I knew the work was making it worse(they didn't care), the only reason I didn't just quit was because of the MS, I was too afraid to lose my longterm disability insurance.

Anyway, enough about me. Do the nerve blocks help to relieve your pain? I'm still learning about this whole ON thing, but it sounds like it can be caused from many things. The swelling/inflammation of the surrounding muscles which you mentioned. It's also been mentioned to me that the occipital nerves can become stuck to the muscles during the healing process(especially where alot of inflammation is involved). This can cause the nerves to be pulled/irritated every time you move since the nerves can no longer glide properly. And you having upper cervical lesions adds another thing to consider. I think the occipital nerve has a component from C2.

Again, welcome to the forum, keep us posted on how you're doing, and what working for you.

Diana