Hi @vward1969 I am feeling your pain, because I know what it feels like.
Daily 24/7 excruciating pain, numbness, referred pain etc.
I live in Melbourne Australia and the transport accident insurer called TAC in the state of Victoria will not pay any physio or osteo therapies because they feel that my injuries can't be fixed with traditional therapy. In fact my cervical/thoracic/lumbar injuries can only be fixed with surgery. But in the meantime I have to go through these cortisone injections in order to qualify for surgery.

I would like to avoid surgery by I believe that my C6/C7 and other nerves are under some sort of compression because I get a lot of referred pain, numbness and headaches that I never had before.
Anyway I wish you a Happy New Year despite there is nothing to celebrate for people like use that are always in pain.

Hello, I'm sorry to hear 9f others that share similar issues that I have. Happy to hear that steroid injections help you. Unfortunately injections have not helped me. Ived tried epidural injections under a floroscope & also trigger point injections with no luck. Having CKD also complicates matters for two, 500 mg sustained release naproxen tabs combined with 50 mg Tramadol for flare-ups used to work great. But with CKD...no more Nsaids; therefore I do not have access to inflammation. Have had both MRI & CT's done, combined with x-rays. Pain has radiated to my left shoulder, running underneath left clavicle and down my back a bit underneath rhomboid muscles. It can be extremely intense burning and am experiencing very mild strength loss in my left arm and hand. Have seen 3 Ortho surgeons: one recommended 1 fusion at C3/4, the second recommended 2 disc replacements at C3/4 and c 5/6, and am awaiting 3rd surgeons thoughts & that will come after I take a nerve conduction test along my cervical nerve roots to really nail down which nerve root is the problem child. The pause for the last surgeon I have seen is that he does not like the idea of addressing both 3/4 and 5/6 without touching 4/5. And 4/5 looks good. So any advice would be appreciated.

I feel for you vward1969 because I know exactly how bad and excruciating it feels.

Currently, despite taking 50mg of Lyrica and Targin 10/5 , I am feeling horrible pain going through both sides of my neck and further down the upper mid spine. My groin is tight, my lower back is very painful and feel pain in the legs and the feet. Pain going through both shoulders, arms, hands, finger, arms and shoulders weakness. C5,C6,C7,C8 nerves under some pressure. I feel very anxious. In other words I am not managing the pain.
I live in Australia and have the same problems with the transport accident insurance not wanting to pay, delaying procedures approvals, underpaying for services and I have to pay for the gap even though I was a victim of a transport accident. This frustrates me a lot which in turn increases the pain. I feel that my doctors are useless because pain meds are the only thing offered. They haven't offered any therapies and my spine is deteriorating with time.
They are treating the symptoms but not the causes. I suppose that if your remove the cause you remove the pain. I am struggling daily. No social life, no watching movies, no driving. I feel isolated and helpless.

I hope that thing will improve for us both. I keep praying daily. 🙏

Best regards

Alfred

Our stories are extremely similar, I highly recommend The Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon. I had last injury in 2017, finally got answers and surgeries in 2021 for neck ACDF C3-C7 and L1-L3 a few months ago May 23rd 2023. So much better!!