hi, thank you for providing the brief History of you. As mentioned in the history by you that you are having cervical disc degenerative disease I will be more concerned as the levels mentioned by you are painful and you are right on your part that the pain is excruciating. Since the pain killers are not possible due to various factors of which you have not mentioned I will advice you to undergo physical therapy. As you are 54 , you may have degenerative changes in the body as this might be leading to weakness of muscles and also reducing the inter vertebral space. By the reduction in the inter vertebral disc space there will be compression on the disc which is a jelly substance in the inter vertebral disc to provide act as a shock absorber. Also when muscles fail to hold the vertebral body in place the pressure applied to disc may in turn compress the exiting nerve roots and leads to pain and weakness. As in my clinical practice such patients with high level of disc injuries we refer to physical therapy and MRI. With physical therapy like therapeutic ultrasound therapy and TENS therapy the pain can be controlled for a limited period of time and in that duration strenthening the muscle groups of the neck is important. Also, the therapist can provide manual traction and release the pressure from nerves to provide good relief. Most cases in my practice respond well to physical therapy . Regards Jay Indravadan Patel