Question
I was in a car wreck 6 years ago broke my C2 i wore a neck brace for i say 8 weeks never had insurance and couldnt work and to this day still cant do hardly anything cause of the pain will put me to bed for 2 or 3 days even riding to dr which is 60 miles one way. I finaly got insurance in Nov of 2014 got a family dr and started trying to get answers been a long and hard task still no relief in pain.I went got mri and cat scan went to a orthopedic and spine specialist he looked at my mri said my neck healed back abnormal and showed me the bone that dropped down a bit he ask me why dr didnt operate on me and why he didnt put a halo on me I cant answer them questions he then said physical therapy that made thing worse he sent me two pain dr for meds and about shots in neck dr said no about shots in neck did give me Vicodin 5 3 times a day tizanidine hcl 4mg twice a day i also take alot of other med from family dr which pain dr knows about mobic twice a day gabapentin 300mg 3 times a day zoloft 2 times a day metformin 1000mg 2 times a day glipizide 10mg twice a day lisinopril 40mg 1 a day.alot of med tried giving me steroids but makes sugar go crazy the meds help as long as i dont over do it but i picked up a 20 pound of dog food just other day was in bed for 2 days hurting bad. My spine dr put on report that not only neck healed back abnormal,c2 cervical fracture (hcc),displacement and degeneration of cervical intervertebral disc,herniated nucleus pulposis cervical,cervical radiculopathy chronic.I picked up a bag of dog food it was a 20 pound bag but couldnt hardly move for 2 days. I signed up for disability but was denied said i was able to work. What do you thank will i be able to work is there anything that i can do to help me feel better sometimes i thank i be better off dead but i cant give up trying to raise a 14 year old daughter by myself and its hard with no income and not fair to my 65 year old mother that helps us survive I dont know what to do any suggestion would be appreciated.

Answer
Let me start by saying that I am terribly sorry about your condition(s); it's tough enough to raise a teenager without pain!~

I will tell you that the window of opportunity for using the car insurance to pay for your care has unfortunately passed, and we/ you need to deal with the present situation. The drugs you take for symptom relief won't solve any problems on their own.

The key in this situation is to ask whether the disc, the herniated one, is causing your problems.  If it is, then there is hope for you in the form a traction unit.  These can be very inexpensive, simply a bag of water, some pulleys and a harness.  If that works, you can move on to better if more expensive options.

If it is indeed the bone that is causing the problems, I'm afraid an orthopedic solution is in order, as you cannot reshape the bones on your own.  

The first step you need to take is to call the ortho you spoke to, and ask them that pointed question:  Is the pain I'm experiencing due to the disc, or the bone?  They may waffle on the answer, but lean one way or the other.  Typically traction is a non invasive way to treat this, and if it works, you may actually reform / remodel the disc, which could leave you symptom free forever (mostly).

Feel free to follow up with me on this... I'll hold your hand for a while if you like!