Cervical Radiculopathy for the past 3 years, what helped you?

Hi everyone! First time posting on this sub :) A bit of a TLDR, I (25F), started getting shoulder pains 3 years ago a bit out of nowhere (was a student at the time, didn't do any kind of sport), got MRIs done late 2024 in my shoulders, got misdiagnosed with Frozen Shoulder and Bursitis for a whole year (and did PT for it which was useless), got tired after a while because I didn't see any improvement and decided to check if it maybe came from somewhere else, got an appointment with a back surgeon I'd gone to in 2021 because of a herniated disk in L4-L5 (which i got surgery for) and he told me given my symptoms it was Cervical Radiculopathy, and had around 30% of my cervical disks missing which was what was causing the pain.

Following that appoitment I started getting PT in May of 2026, which I know isn't all that long, but while I feel like the pain has lessened a little, it's still bad most of the times and I'm getting tired and honestly a little depressed. I can't fully lift my arms above my head, sitting for a long time also hurts, walking around also hurts, but its not bad enough that I require surgery according to the surgeon I saw. It's not debilitating (not the kind of pain I had with my previous herniated disk), but I still stop myself from doing certain things because I know by the end of the day I'll be in pain.

Anyway, all this to say, for those who have had the same issues, has there been things that really helped you beyond PT? I'm also currently unemployed so most of my days are spent sitting down at a desk, and the longer it goes one the more scared I get of the moment I'll eventually have a job and be in pain all the time. Thank you!

Also took a wide array of pain killers (paracetamol to ketoprofen) which only worked with high dosage.