I went through this during the winter. Like you, one morning I just woke up with the pain... no trauma, no nothing. Interestingly, my doctor said that it usually happens this way. I started out with a pain that I could tolerate if I took 800 mg of ibuprofen every 4-6 hours but it progressed to completely unmanageable, resulting in visits to Urgent Care where I was prescribed a short course of Vicoden and Skelaxin > ER where they shot me up with Norflex and Demerol > my primary care NP who diagnosed a torn rotator cuff and sent me to physical therapy, saying that it's what an ortho would do anyway. I continued to commute 3 hours per day and worked most days through this time, only taking the narcotic in the evening when I got home from work. I was in pain during all other hours of the day.
After 5 sessions of physical therapy and spinal manipulation, I started having intermittent episodes of lost sensation and neuropathy in both arms and the pain in my neck/shoulder was worse than ever! I was no longer able to work.
A little over a month after the first symptoms I saw an orthopedic specialist who ordered Flexeril and Vicoden around the clock and I could tell you, almost to the minute, when the next dose was due, just from the pain. A week later I had the cervical MRI that showed herniation of the disc between C5-6 with spinal cord compression. Despite the medications, I was still in spasm and they almost weren't able to perform the MRI because of my uncontrollable movement while lying on the flat table.
I read everything I could find on herniated discs and heard anecdotes about unsuccessful surgeries. I was terrified that, if I had surgery I'd still be in pain or worse, paralyzed. My ortho was straightforward and acknowledged that surgery may not be successful. He advised me that we could wait another month and see if my body would absorb the exudate from the disc that was putting pressure on the cord or we could go forth with surgery. He stated that surgery on the cervical spine was usually quite successful as opposed to the lower back where the outcome is more uncertain. My main risk of failure would be if the bone graft didn't "take" due to my smoking.
To make this long missive short, I had the surgery about 10 weeks after the initial pain hit. When I woke up from the surgery, THE PAIN WAS GONE! Yes, I had minor post-operative pain and a little bit of difficulty swallowing but this was nothing when compared to the agony with which I'd been living for the previous 2-1/2 months. I was in a soft collar for the next 6 weeks to allow the bone graft to fuse. I was unable to drive due to the collar. My doctor was conservative and held up my release to return to work, mainly because he knew I commuted such a distance. I returned to work 10 weeks after my surgery.
Ordinarily I am a proponent of alternative therapies such as chiropractic or massage however if your pain becomes anything like mine was, you won't be able to tolerate even being touched. I felt worse after the physical therapy and manipulation than before. Once the numbness set in, I knew it was time for treatment.
I wish you well with this! Believe me, I know what you mean about needing to keep the cashflow and life was tough on 60% disability. Honestly, though, the pain became so excrutiating that I would have given my soul to the devil himself if he'd said he could make it stop. Fortunately, the surgeon didn't ask for my eternal soul....
