I have a similar condition to what you have. tingling and intense pain in my hands arms and shoulders. I have yet to see my surgeon on the 15th to discuss a treatment plan for me. Have already gotten two cortisone shots, two weeks apart, pain usually returns between a week and 10 days. Last week, I had a Stellar Ganglon Root block, a rather painful injection in the front of my neck. that was not as effective as the cortisone shots, but served as a diagnosis of where my pain might come from.

I am also undergoing physical therapy, which involves repeated next traction, heat, ultrasound, and massage. The PT doesn't seem to do that good for me. Some of my own exercises I've developed, seem to work just a little better, and my PT instructor says they are safe to do.

As a computer programmer, my programming days have ended. I cannot use the keyboard anymore, and have to rely on MacSpeech Dictate, a nice program which takes down my dictation. It works quite well, but does not get along with Skype, so I cannot receive calls during dictation.

If you wind up deciding to get surgery, I would be most interested in knowing what type of surgery will be. There are several types, some of which are noninvasive endoscopic treatments, which in my case, I am not a candidate, because my condition is far in advance.

My condition started happening last July, it came on rather suddenly over a period of a few weeks. I do not know the cause of why it happened, it could've been just a simple situation where I slept kind of funny.

John