You can get a doppler study to test blood flow in your arm. 
Your symptoms are very different from mine. 
I was  wondering though if one factor comes from release of metallic particles over time with the movement of the artificial disk, causing some kind of poisoning--I forgot what this is called but it happens with hip prostheses.  My disk is metal-on-metal stainless steel 
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
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