What kind of doctor are you seeing? Your need a SPINE SPECIALIST.

I had a slipped disc in my neck causing numbness & pain in my arm. Saw an ortho who took an x-ray and immediately referred me to an ortho who specializes in spinal surgery. The MRI showed disc problems, but DID NOT show the disc impaled in the spinal column OR the massive amounts of arthritis in my neck. MRI's are NOT foolproof. The doc operated primarily because my symptoms were so bad. He was aghast to find the mess in my neck (surgery took a lot longer) because THE MRI DID NOT SHOW THESE PROBLEMS.

If you can't ride without pred, it needs to be fixed. Period. You can't take steroids forever. And you should not have to compromise the quality of your life.