This is my first post in this forum. I hope this is in the right place. About 16 months ago while quickly moving a heavy object I had a sharp pain that ran from the base of the back of my skull to the middle of my shoulder. At the time I thought it was just a pulled muscle and so did the attending doctor. However the pain got worse, then came the headaches, and finally the uncontrolable shaking of the arm. The ortho specialist thought it may be a rotator cuff tear and an ultrasound was ordered. Not tear. During 2006 I had 3 months of physio (no improvement), 3 cortizone injections (no improvement), and 3 prednisone treatments (slight improvement at 30mg but no help once the dosage came down). Finally in January of this year new x-rays were ordered and my doctor told me it was a nerve root intrusion between c-3 and c-4, nothing to do with the shoulder at all. I am currently waiting to see a neurosurgeon, who will probably send me for an MRI (my family doctor is a general practitioner and MRI's have to be ordered by a specialist). Here's the problem. I live in Canada. Yeah, it's free but the wait lists are rediculous. Presently the wait time for a neurologist is 26-52 weeks and another 14 weeks for an MRI.

Right now I have constant pain (back of the neck and left shoulder - sometimes running down the whole length of the arm, headaches almost on a daily basis (usually in the morning lasting from a couple hours to 2-3 days, a very shakey left arm (noticing the right arm is starting to do it too sometimes), and very high blood pressure (used to be 120/88). I am currently on two medications for sleep (if I get 4-5 hours it's a very good night) and an anti-inflamatory. I wear a neck collar around the house and have a contour pillow. I am also applying ice packs about 5-6 time a day.

My question is... is there anything else I should be doing? I was also wondering about permenant damage. Is it true that the longer it is inflamed, the higher the risk of permenant damage? Any input would be greatly appreciated.