What is the best course of treatment? i'm 24, female, no prior neck injury i was involved in a rear-end car accident two weeks ago. we were hit at high speed while we were stopped at a light. 24 hours after the initial er visit (discharged for whiplash),

Wow. : Wow. I'm sorry to hear of your injury, and understand how what appears to be conflicting opinions make you a little nuts, especially when you're in pain (and numbness). It's not "right" versus "wrong" here, though. Your gp seems to be looking to treat you conservatively with steroids, probably in an effort to shrink any swelling in the discs which are pressing up on nerves, which is causing the pain and numbness. Surgery on cervical discs isn't something you rush into, at least not without exhausting all conservative measures first. I would certainly let your gp know of any side effects the Prednisone is causing. You may also want to try a course of acupuncture, which works particularly well for this sort of thing. If you continue to show no improvement, by all means, get the mri. You may also want to consider a steroid injection into the disc (sounds worse than it is). Whiplash can be an exasperating problem, and it may take a number of treatment modalities to get you relief. Good luck.

Soma (carisoprodol) : Soma or carisoprodol, is used to relax skeletal muscle. It can also cause sedation (sleepiness), which may be unwanted. When Carisoprodol is broken down by the liver, a portion of it is turned into another active drug, meprobamate, which might be habit-forming. Although Meprobamate is a schedule IV controlled substance in the U.S., in europe its use is being reviewed for suspension.

I : I share dr fox'es dismay at your problem. While conservative treatment in general is often a good idea, you should probably not have physical therapy until you have the mri. The compressed disc by itself may be irrelevant, but something is causing your symptoms by pressing on nerve roots or nerves going to your arm, and the best way to visualize what is doing so and exactly where is by mri. You risk further damage with physical therapy if you have certain types of injury. If after the MRI is done there is no fracture, no disc herniation into the space where the nerve roots run, etc, and it is determined it is safe to do physical therapy, then you should try that first. Spine surgery is certainly safe and effective for many problems when done by epxerienced surgeons (i prefer neurosurgeons, especially in the neck) but it is not to be entered into casually, and unless there is a clear anatomic abnormality which must be surgically corrected a course of steroids and physical therapy could be the best thing for you.