Unfortunately once you get to a certain point medicine abandons you. Or at least they did me. In 1991 I blew two discs in my lower back. The docs just thought it was soft tissue. I told them many times it was worse. My GP eventually sent me to a Psychiatrist. She believed it was all in my head and put me on tricyclic antidepressants. The pain continued and got worse.. I went back to my GP and told her I was not leaving her office until I had a referral for an MRI. She finally gave in. Then a few days latter I received a call from her telling me I needed specialized treatement as i had very serious back problems.. That was 10 years after the initial injury.. I'll make this short. My back from my sacrum to my neck was so bad that a top surgeon in California told me I am not a surgical candidate. They sent me to pain clinics for spinal injections, psycal theraphy and every other treatment known to me. In the end I was a medication patient only. The a few high profile patients abused opiates and it became front page news. The response from congress was restrict such meds, that for some are the only thing left for any quality of life, The pain clinic I went to kicked over 200 patients to the curb. A 30 day supply, no titration off them, no medical supervision , nothing. 3 patients I know of killed themselves, more went to the streets for illegal drugs, several died from fentanyl laced heroin, still others became alcoholics... While their doctors told them to meditate the pain away. There is no metaphysical solution to a structural problem..period. It can assist but it cannot alleviate it. Medicine and politics merged and because of this , people who have no other answers must do what they must.. Pain is one the strongest motivators ..and when traditional medicine abandons people they are left to fend for themselves. Family and friends get weary of the complaining. They get weary of those that try to self medicate because they have no other answers and no further help.. My sipnal problems remain untreated ever since the government decided to restrict the one thing that gave some quality of life.. So, sorry to tell you by that is the cold hard truth...