David,
I'm not up to date with your meds. Have they tried a 40mg Prednisone dose pack? Or Prednisone at all? If not ask them. I would also ask for some Xanax to calm things down. The pain will cause every muscle in your body to tighten up making EVERYTHING worse than it has to be. What I found worked for me when I was in a similar state were these things:
Higher doses of Prednisone, usually a dose pack starting with 40mg to knock down the flare- reduces inflamation-pain- hence reducing muscle spasm, reducing anxiety, reducing depression.
.5mg Xanax every four hours for a couple of days then ween off, hence reducing muscle spasm, reducing anxiety.
Alternative to Xanax (don't do at same time, one or the other), though a different animal, would be Zanaflex (muscle relaxant that works on muscles of the spine.
Very light neck traction to help with the nerve compression. "Light" neck/shoulder massage from somebody every few hours. Heat at this time usually aggravates things by bringing more inflamation. Don't do heat or cold.
Then the grand poobaa if none of those helped, would be an injection of 50mg Demerol with 25mg Visterol every six hours for a couple days then ween off in two days. Demerol is a pain killer and the Visterol is a anti-nausea anti histamine that keeps you from getting nauseous from the Demerol and helps you sleep even better. Morphine kinda wired me out. I could never fully sleep while on it. Demerol/Visterol knocked me out.
Goal here is to get out of the pain cycle as soon as possible. Sounds like you are in a major flare in your neck. I know exactly what you are going through. I had all the head/face/eye/ear pain and nausea from all the pain. I'd brown out if I bent over.
Just another thought, have you had a complete blood count done to make sure nothing else may be happening. Liver functions etc?
Just some thoughts David. I hope something here will help you out.
