Cause of pain - left side Head; neck; shoulder & back muscles

Posted by cpeeler @cpeeler, Sep 30, 2025

Woke up with sudden pain on left side, upper body - head pain in rear and top; still neck; muscle cramping of shoulder and upper back. No pain or tingling in arms. Doctors referring to this as my muscles are constantly "firing". They are tight and tense and it feels like a hard knot when being examined. Constant pain 2 months now. Had x-ray & MRI. Have seen 2 orthopedic doctors; family doctor; chiropractor & acupuncturist.
X-ray report states: there appears to be osseous (bone encroachment on left C3-4 neural foramen by uncovertebral osteophyte. No prevertebral soft tissue thickening. But MRI report appears to state opposite; C3-4 normal height. Minimal central disc protrusion. Canal & neural foramen widely patent. Mild degenerative change in the facets without nerve root compression.
I have been on prednisone; muscle relaxers, strong pain meds. None helped at all, only applying heat (cold aggravates) . One orthopedic doctor (thinking it was nerve related) performed multiple nerve blocks MMB on C2, C3 & C4 and block on left Occipital Nerve in head. None helped alleviate pain at all.
Second orthopedic doctor (thinking it was muscular) performed 12 to 15 injections in 5 various muscles (ipitalis; trap; rhomboid minor; rvical paraspinals; supraspinatus) with Lidocaine& additional meds. This alleviated pain for approximately 8 hours. Chiropractic did not help at all. Acupuncturist helped the most in that the treatment alleviated the pain for approximately 18 to 20 hours.
No one seems to know how to stop the continuous pain ( I can't sleep as any pressure on the back of my scalp or left shoulder/ back makes it worse). Any advice on the cause and how to stop the symptoms/pain? or who else I should see?

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Have you considered a neck pillow? I just started using them. I’ve had the same sort of pain on my right side from the base of the skull all the way down to the tip of my right index finger sometimes accompanied by muscle weakness and extreme pain.
I didn’t notice that because I’m a side sleeper that very often my alignment is off so I decided to try a special sleeping pillow with an indentation for your head and space to separate your shoulders and keep your spine straight. You can lie on it on your back or on your side and I found it helps with pain tremendously. Hope that helps. .

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