Are you seeing a Pain Management Doctor? Did you do any Physical Therapy? Have they offered to do Spinal Injections?
If you are not on medication you need to ask about pain mgmt. I'm not saying narcotics necessarily but things like Gabapentin and muscle relaxers can have a huge impact on quality of life. PT could really help you. Traction has helped some with my discs and my PT does deep muscle massage which helps my upper back "unlock". I have done 6 injections and 4 of those have been very successful in reducing my pain levels.
I am so sorry you are in so much pain.
I have some what the same problems you do and it happened the same way. A year ago the 26th of this month i was rear-ended in stopped traffic also. i have a protruding disc, hernitaed disc, and an annular tear in one of my disc in my thoracic spine. Im also about to start school and i am also worried about carring books around and the pain it will cause. im also about your age im 21. i saw my pcp and that didnt help much saw an ortho dr. and they put me on pain patches. Ive had epidural injections, nerve blocks, and a radiofrequency never ablation. Now we are looking at a possible spinal fusion. Alot of ppl say that the epidurals work great they didnt do anything for me but you can try them and see how they work for you.