Medical Test Done

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Sometimes I think a group of sadists studied medicine just so they could invent these medical tests and inflict pain on others. Today I had the test done to determine if I have carpal tunnel. I do; however, the doctor said it appears to be mild and shouldn't require surgery. Thank God for that! The problem is the test hurt my arm as bad as, if not worse than, any pain from the carpal tunnel has caused. The EMG stimulates the nerves in the hand, wrist, and arm (he went as far up my arm as my bicep) by using electrical shocks. They last a millisecond, but dang do they cause pain afterwards!!! The only unfortunate thing about the carpal tunnel is it is most prominent in my dominant hand. That's what led me to seek an answer to begin with: I was dropping things. To ensure it wasn't something serious (a friend chastised me when I said this "isn't serious" by saying, "I don't know who would say chronic pain isn't serious," to which I replied, "What I mean by 'serious' is something like a tumor, MS, or some other life-threatening or life-altering neuromuscular disease") they scheduled this test and an MRI. The latter showed the spinal stenosis in my neck. Yes, those things aren't nice, and I promise you the pain can be pretty extreme on bad days; however, as they say, it sure beats the alternative. I go back to neurosurgery next week to see what the course of action is. Most of the medical sites I've checked say the "normal" treatment for mild cases is to avoid activities that would aggravate it (such as typing....I do data processing at work, so I may get an unplanned vacation for a couple of weeks), physical therapy, maybe a cortisone shot (it also mentions NSAIDs, but I can't take them because they aggravate my asthma). Thankfully, in this day surgery is seen as a last resort instead of the first option. (An example: my brother is seven years older than I am. He was a child in the era where tonsil removal was as common as losing the baby teeth; however, by the time I came along that surgery was being re-examined, and as a result I still have my tonsils.) The medical news today was encouraging. Now, if my arm would just stop hurting from the test....