Hi Deb,

It all started with severe headaches in the back of my skull about 3 weeks after a hysterectomy. The pain at that time never went into my arms at all. So, for 3 years the docs at the medical center tried various conservative treatments but never found the right pain generators. Then I switched to a Spine Group and the PM there is the one that found it was the C3/C4. So, I had the fusion and it took care of all those headaches, sounds, dizziness...you name it. BUT...at the same time as that fusion they told me the C5/C6 was bad but my Neurosurgeon did not want to fuse both at once as he wanted to see how well I healed from the first one. So, I got about two years worth of waiting. Now, just this last spring I started to have pain in my shoulders and upper back, it bypassed my arm and went right into my thumbs. So, I go back to the Neurosurgeon and he told me it would get progressively worse as the disc was pressing on the spinal cord. And if I did nothing I could expect neurological deficits.

By August my penmanship was nothing but scribbles, I was dropping things and the pain was worsening. So, I had the C5/C6 fused in September.

And, I am going to add that you will know when it is a cervicogenic headache as the pain is horribly severe...enough to make you want to scream and I am not being dramatic. I know of one gal who became suicidial over it. And her story was not one of drama either. She was in a rural area and just could not get help from any place near her. It is that bad.

If it is the lower levels of your cervical spine, such as the C5, C6, and C7, it will refer pain downwards usually i.,e, shoulders, upper arms, forearms and depending on what precise level it is, either your thumb, index finger and middle finger.

It sounds to me like you are having severe muscle spasms. But like someone said the other day, "Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?" It can be the nerves causing the spasms or the spams clamping down on nerves.

If you had some Valium you could probably kick some of that out. I just got back from massage therapy because the spasms were kicking in again. And boy, do I feel much better now. But I know it is ALL from my neck.