I had surgery for this because mine had worn away my sacrum till it was paper thin. Before this I had mine drained at least 4 times. I had a laminectomy and a plate put in L5 -S1. The plate has since broke and the screws are not where they were placed originally. I suffer from chronic pain and am on Percocet 4x a day plus Cymbalta because I now have neuropathy. My advice to you is don't get the surgery unless you absolutely have to. See a pain management doctor and go from there.