@clippertwo
It sounds like you have spinal stenosis with neurogenic claudication like me. It can cause pain/numbness/weakness in lower back, hips, buttocks and legs. It is worse when walking and standing and improves some when sitting.

I hear you about being ignored when dealing with pain and poor quality of life. You do become desperate for relief. I had decompression and fusion surgery in August 2024 on L3-L5 and still dealing with back/hip/buttock nerve pain and weakness. I was told it takes a year to fully heal from surgery but I would expect more improvement by now.

Have you had spinal injections or used pain patches/creams to help with pain? They helped some but now need better pain management than I am getting. PT hasn’t really been too helpful but I do try to do some of the exercises at home. I may try a different PT location and may need more advanced pain management because I am really limited in functioning daily. I am a single parent of a teen son and really struggling at the age of 55 (what will it be like when I am 65, 75 ?!).

I don’t blame you for going to the ER when you are in excruciating pain, especially when not receiving timely care by your current providers. They should be prioritizing you to get care sooner.