My situation is a little different. I have a bulging disc at L4-L5. For a few years, I could control the pain with PT, lidocaine patches, icing, and pain relievers like Diclofenac, then Meloxicam. The diclofenac topical cream or CBD cream would often work. But then I started getting severe bilateral shin pain, not related to exercise, but sometimes related to exercise if I took long strides. It felt like my lower legs were breaking. I also had pain on the lateral muscles on both sides. One day a Nurse Practitioner whipped out a reference card for Dermatomes and said, "That's caused by something in L4-L5." I had been diagnosed with a "slightly" bulging disc years before, but the doctors who saw the MRIs said it wasn't something to worry about. Well, either it had progressed, or an MRI lying down with my legs bent wasn't going to show what was happening when I was standing or sitting.

When I had an episode that wasn't responding to 5 days of lidocaine patches and 1000 mg of Tylenol, I saw my primary care doctor. She said, "I want you to try gabapentin." I wasn't too happy with the side effect profile, but after the first dose of 300 mg, the pain disappeared. Unfortunately, at that dose I had severe dizziness that only improved to moderate dizziness after a week. She changed the prescription to 100 mg 3x/day and I'm now trying to find that sweet spot of pain relief and low dosage.

I don't know if you've tried gabapentin already. It's not a drug to take without seriously considering the side effects. Also, one develops a physical tolerance rather quickly, which means that if you want to stop it, you have to taper off. But, after reading about peoples' experiences with surgery, I'm glad I am trying it. I might be able to hold off surgery with it. I do worry about nerve damage, so I'm having physical therapy now to strengthen my core muscles to try to help prevent further bulging.