Spinal surgery?

I actually had the same condition about 2 years ago and finally decided to try the surgery after being more or less constantly in pain for about a year and a half. I tried everything to avoid the surgery because I was afraid just like you. I saw different doctors and tried whatever method they proposed to escape surgery. Physiotherapy, massage, infusions using muscle relaxing medication, hot baths - you name it, I've been there. The infusions worked by far the best for me but had a real draw back: all my muscles were quite relaxed and for the duration of the medication working I wasn't really able to do anything but lie in my bed. Relatively painfree though, so at least then I got some painfree sleep. Physiotherapy and massages mostly intensified my pain for some weird reason. Hot baths or a heating blanket in my back worked ok for the time I used them - as soon as I was out of the bath or turned off the blanket, the pain would return. In the end I felt like you: I thought I woudln't be able to stand the pain much longer. Worse, the pain killers started to loose their effectivness and I had a permanently upset stomach due to all those pills. The worse my pain and condition became, the more often I started researching my condition (by the way, it is called 'herniated disk') on the internet. I learned about what caused my pain and looked up different methods of recovery. One page I found really useful during my research was this one:

http://www.joimax.com/en/patients/herniated_disc.php

They offered well explained summaries of the conditions and of the methods used in spiral surgery. I began to understand that spinal surgery has undergone a great change in recent years and that the new techniques are actually quite safe. However, I was still torn. Up until now I had only seen local orthopedists and I decided to go one step further. I researched clinics with good reputation in my vicinity and went to several of them for medical counseling. I had the doctors at each clinic explain to me what type of surgery they would perform and asked them about the techniques involved. Mind you, I did not understand all of it, I am by no means related in any way to the topic of medical treatments, but often they did explain in quite easy words. I was told that if the pain doesn't improve after half a year of starting alternative treatments surgery would actually be the best way to ensure recovery. A herniated disc can apparently not always be healed without surgery.

In the end I decided on a clinic about 200km from my hometown. They had a very good reputation and the doctor seemed very knowledgeable. What can I say? Everything went well. The surgery was completed in about an hour and only local anaesthetics were used. A few hours after the surgery I was already allowed to walk around again, though it was another 6 weeks until I was allowed to carry heavier things again. The best thing was that the pain was subsiding almost immediately after the surgery. Yes, there was still a bit of a pain in the beginning but within a week I was finally completely free of pain.

This has been 6 months ago. I didn't have any trouble with my back since then. To prevent it from happening again I went to physiotherapy and also train my back at home with the methods learned there. I know spinal surgery does sound scary (as does any surgery to be honest) but I do not regret it at all.

Try to find a clinic and doctor who are specialized in this field and whom you feel you can trust. I am sure you won't regret it. All the best to you!