cronic neck pain and white matter on the brain

--Neck surgery in 2004 (level3, 5-7).
--Doctor inserted a titanium plate secured with, what other docs have called, "creative" cages between the vertebrae.  
--Following the surgery I had a lot of arm pain.  
--Shoulder surgery in 2006 helped to mitigate the arm pain--but not completely.  
--Since then my neck pain has increased--although in a different way than before the surgery.  
--Now have chronic pain that is affecting my ability to work as well as my personal and social life.  

A neurologist suggested that I have an MRI to see if anything was pressing on my occipital lobe.  It showed areas of white matter on my brain.  They did not adequately explain what this meant. Have had 2 MRI's on my neck since my surgery that showed it had healed.  Now having headaches, sometimes-extreme pain and pressure radiating from my jaw and brain stem region, down the left side of my neck into my shoulder.  Sometimes difficult to swallow. Have a hard "lump" that forms on the left side of my neck in back of my lower ear--gets smaller if I massage it, but does not go away.  The muscles on the left side of my neck are tense and hard, almost like they are atrophying. I have to push and massage them to keep mobility in my neck (which has deteriorated to nearly zero on left side). Have some face pain that may be due to the tension in my neck.  Pain makes my spacey and exhausted.  Often, the only way I can get anything done is to take pain medication--which ironically--wakes me up.  Sleep is very impaired.  I have restless leg syndrome that often affects my daily activities (I take marapex at night for it).

I’m trying to get a handle on what I’m dealing with so that I can stop going from doctor to doctor looking for an answer other than just masking the pain as it increases and the situation gets worse. Could it be that their specialization is keeping them from seeing the bigger picture and diagnosing me correctly? Can you shed some light on what I might be dealing with?

[Nassim Abi Chahine, MD]

your surgery is fine. Continue your life

[etuddenham]

I appreciate your answer, but it did not address my question.  Perhaps there is nothing more that can bew said, but my issue is really the increasing pain that is leading me toward disability and an end to my career if I can't get it under control.  I know that the surgery is fine, since the MRIs have indicated that.  I will certainly continue my life, but the quality of my life is significantly impared (no more social life for me at this point).  The irony is that I have always had a high tolerance for pain, so as it continually increases and effects every area of my life, I am becoming more and more concerned that something not shown on the MRIs is really the problem.