Severe neck pain

lawr64, your description makes me think you have bone spurs. They are sharp little boney growths called osteophytes. They like to stab your nerves.
If you haven't yet, you could get a cervical MRI. Depending on the reading you might try injections they intend to reduce any inflammation and may provide enough space for exiting nerves to relieve pain. You might try radiofrequency ablation it severs the exiting nerve that carries pain signal to the brain. Last of all, you can have those offending osteophytes removed in a minimally invasive surgery. https://www.neurosurgeonsofnewjersey.com/blog/posterior-cervical-foraminotomy-a-treatment-option-for-bone-spurs/
You know, though. that arthritis simply means inflammation in the joint. You could be having inflammation from looking at the computer in a position that irritates the joint, or from adjacent muscle adhesions. Practitioners sometimes use the term to dismiss our concerns.
In bracing myself at the end of a fall last winter, I disjointed my thumbs. Chiropractics restores the positioning but even chirpractors dismiss the discomfort saying--you just have arthritis. At your age you should expect it. I've had to insist on the adjustment. Now, I no long have "arthritis." You'll find relief after you find out why you have arthritis. Bless your struggle

Wow! Thank you very much! The radiofrequency ablation and removing the osteophytes are options that sound very promising. I've consulted many doctors and this is the first I have heard of these options. I'll follow the link you provided and see where i go from here. Can't thank you enough. The 24 hour pain is almost unbearable.

@lawr64
Did your orthopedic spine specialist recommend surgery? Do you have compression of spinal cord and nerve roots? Do you have disc herniations and osteophytes/bone spurs? Do you have any pain/weakness/numbness radiating down your arms? Do you notice any bladder control issues or balance/walking problems?

@lawr64
Did you have a cervical MRI recently and an EMG/nerve conduction study of upper limbs to check for pinched spinal nerves? MRI may not pick up all compression of spinal cord and nerve roots so functional MRI may be needed. This shows how different head/neck positions compress spaces differently. A static MRI may miss this movement compression.

If you do not believe you are getting the right evaluation, assessment, testing, imaging, diagnosis and treatment options, you may want a 2nd or 3rd opinion. I had my 4th surgeon do 2 of my cervical (2022 and 2025) and 1 of my lumbar (2024) spine surgeries.

Sorry for the late response. I have consulted with a spine surgeon at HSS in NYC. His recommendation is fusion surgery. He did not offer any other options when I inquired. I do not have any pain/weakness/numbness radiating down your arms. No bladder issues. I have had an MRI-cervical spine non contrast, Xray scoliosis ap lateral, Xray cervical spine flexion extension and CT scan cervical spine wo contrast. Findings: C1-C2 moderate atlantoaxial arthrosis, C2-C3 minimal endplate osteophytes, C4-C7 minimal endplate osteophytes, disk bulge, mild to severe degenerative disc disease. The radiofrequency ablation sounds like the most appealing treatment. I'm looking for recommendations for a doctor that specializes in this procedure. Your advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

lawr64,
the trouble may not be the bone spurs, but the disc bulge. Does the report indicate which disc level has severe degeneration. Does it mention stenosis or effacement?
You may not have the full report; sometimes we get an edited version.
You might call the radiology lab where you had the scans to retrieve CDs of you imaging, and the written reports, you may want a second opinion and I would send reports to minimally invasive spine surgeons.
MRI usually gives a measurement of the disc bulges. It sounds like you have only one?
Meanwhile, I would see a different chiropractor. I wish I could send you one of mine. I'd take the images with me. And I'd see one who does manual adjustments.
Was the steroid injection epidural or facet. The relief, even temporary indicates that you've located the level causing pain and that you need more space in the central canal or in the facet. There are other ways of gaining space that would last.
You might repeat the injection so that you are a little more comfortable while looking at your options.

@lawr64 I would also suggest another surgical opinion with a surgeon who does many surgeries at those levels. Many spine surgeons do not want to operate on levels of C3 and above because of the nerves passing through that area are necessary for life support by servicing the heart and lungs. With C1 & C2, if there is laxity of discs allowing vertebrae to slip and shift, it raises the risk of damaging the spinal cord if the vertebrae can shift and contact the cord. It's possible to have bone spurs inside the central canal that can contact the spinal cord. (I did at my C5/C6 level which was surgically fused to resolve this.) According to my physical therapist, be careful about the qualifications of who you allow to work on those levels and what they do because damage to the spinal cord there (with everything going to the rest of the body through that passage) can be very serious or fatal if a mistake is made.

I'm not saying this to scare you, but you need to understand your condition and find a surgeon who is honest about the risks if you were to have a traffic accident in your current condition, and also what would likely happen in time if this condition was not treated. It's a physical problem when there is some compression or pressure on your spinal cord or nerves. C1 & C2 need a real expert to evaluate and treat. If you remember the spine trauma that happened to actor, Christopher Reeve, because of a horse accident, he was on a ventilator and confined to a multi function wheelchair, having lost the use of his arms and legs and body. He was dependent on the ventilator because he could not breathe on his own. He did through therapy acquire some ability to breathe for short periods of time on his own, but that was not normal functioning. Lung health depends on being able to properly move the lungs to inflate and release them which helps them clear phlegm. If phlegm gets stuck, it may lead to respiratory infections. Reeve died from pneumonia several years later.

I know your diagnosis might have come as a shock. No one wants to go through spine surgery. I remember how scared I was, but I knew that with compression of my spinal cord, there was no way out except surgery, and ignoring it would just lead to disability. I reasoned that it was good to have a choice to avoid disability by having surgery, and I worked to get myself onboard with this important decision. Pain management and ablations to kill off nerves don't address the structural problem that exists and generally it gets worse over time. A collapsing disc keeps on collapsing, and the bone spurs that form at the end plates may start to fuse together on their own. The disc will have lost height which also narrows down the space between vertebrae where the nerves exit the spine. You probably know how long it took for your symptoms to develop from when this first started to get a sense of how fast it can progress.

Is there anything I can answer for you? My surgery was at Mayo with an excellent surgeon, and I learned a lot along the way before I found him. It was the best decision I could have made. My parents were in wheelchairs, and I didn't want that to be my life too.

HSS hospital in New York? They have a great reputation for spine surgery. Just saying…