Hi Jennifer @jenniferhunter

Thanks for the very in depth explanation. I am amazed by your knowledge.
Not even my pain management specialist has given me that much information.

I will quickly summarize the situation:
1) 16 August 2022 I started feeling a nasty sting in the left of my neck around C6 I believe. This wasn't preventing my from doing sports activities, but it was annoying

2) On the 27 August 2022 the situation degenerated. I was lying on the loungeroom floor, sort of relaxing, and when I got up I felt part of my spine making popping noises, but didn't hurt.
I went to sleep and 30 minutes later I woke up in excruciating pain 10 out of 10 starting around C6 level and spreading down the left of the first 5 vertebrae of the thoracic spine. It felt as if I was twisted inside. I got some MRIs of the cervical/thoracic spine on 29 August 2022. I attached these reports when first started this conversation on Mayo Clinic Connect . In the first few weeks I saw an orthopaedic surgeon for an opinion who told that it was a mechanical injury. He recommended no surgery, perhaps a fusion if things didn't improve. In September 2022 I received a CT Guided Injection at L5/S1 to ease the lumbar pain, but it didn't help at all. I wondered why the specialist aimed for that area first rather than my neck.

3) I paid for some physiotherapy and osteopathy out of my own pocket. I feel that some physiotherapist/osteopaths made things worse by pushing to hard on the neck when I specifically told them that I was inflamed, but they ignored my requests. I was very angry. I wondered if these people made things worse inside.

4) On 1 Dec 2022 I went to the Alfred Hospital Radiology department to have a left C6 nerve root steroid injection based on the recommendation of the orthopaedic clinic's orthopaedic surgeons. Once I came out and the local anesthesia wore off, I started to feel a new horrible pain a couple of centimetres down from C6 that was really excruciating. They told me that it could be a cortisone flareup. I waited 1, 2, 3 weeks, but nothing improved. I wonder if they accidentally disturbed some nerves.
The latest MRIs/Bone Scans that you read were taken on 21 Dec 2022. My pain management specialist has recommended left C7/T1 T1/T2 T2/3 facet joint injections. I am going get these injections tomorrow 5 Jan 2023. This is the first time that I will be taking these facet joint injections in order to diagnose the cause of the pain.

In the last 2 weeks my specialist changed my pain management medication from:

Diclofenac 50mg bd.
Endep 10mg nocte
Pregabalin 25mg nocte prn.

To:
Targin 10/5mg nocte for 6 weeks
Endep 25mg nocte.
Diclofenac 50mg
Clonidine 50mcg
Pregabalin 25mg

This helped a lot in killing the pain so that I could sleep.
Personally I don't not taking medications for the rest of my life. It is ok for a short period.

My Pain

When I stand I have the least pain in the left of my neck and I can manage even without medication.
Then when I sit, the pain increases in intensity and also get some numbness in the part of my groin, legs and feet.

Lying down, I.E. going to sleep is the worst position, because it causes an incredible, unbearable amount of pain unless I take the meds. My legs/feet go numb.

Recently the right side of my neck started to hurt from C6 to T3 but not as bad. I never had pain in the hand right side of my neck before. I can't understand why this is happening now considering that I have been very careful, I haven't exerted my self and avoided physios and osteos in the last 3 weeks due to the inflammation.

I get referred pain in my traps, shoulders, arms and fingers, mainly the index fingers and the middle fingers. Sometimes I can feel the pain in the little, ring fingers and thumbs. These radiated pains are not always there, they come on and off, go from left to right, but most prevalent in the left side.

I asked my pain management specialist why this is happening and was told that it is very difficult to determine where the pain is coming from and that MRI equipment mostly detect between 60-70% of the details, 30-40% is not detected. Hopefully they are going to design newer machines that will get the full picture one day. He also told me that there could be people with the MRI results similar to mine and they get no symptoms.

All these treatments and doctors' visits have been paid by the Transport Accident Commission insurance in the state of Victoria, because I was a victim of a transport accidents (2015,2019). Every driver in the state of Victoria pays this compulsory third party insurance as part of their car registration fee. Unfortunately they have set scheduled fees to pay for visits and surgeries, which means that if a neurosurgeon charges a lot more than the TAC scheduled fee, I would have to pay the difference. This really sucks considering that your body has been badly mangled by the actions of a negligent, you nearly lost your life and even though you are alive, you live your daily life putting up with a lot of pain and are restricted from performing your work, sporting activities and social activities.

One thing that I haven't understood is this:

Are my cervical nerves causing this pain and referred pain? Or is pain/ referred pain being caused by facet joints? I read online that the cervical facet joint's sensory nerves can cause referred pain that mimic the pain of neck functional nerves.

Is the above true?

How do I tell whether the pain/referred pain is caused by the facet joint sensory nerves or by the cervical functional nerves?

When I turn my neck left/right I feel lots of clicks and cracking noises inside. Is there a possibility that a bone spur may break and may float inside causing pain?
Can MRIs detect this?

I asked my pain specialist, but he couldn't give me an answer.

Thank you

Best regards

Alfred