Queen, sorry your DH is being unsympathetic. Yes, perhaps he does deserve a quick dose of back pain, just to give him some idea of what you're coping with day to day. Though I honestly don't think a brief, acute episode can give much insight into chronic pain & the effects - psychological as well as physical.
And yes, as Tough says, it's them, not you. I stopped as much med. as I possibly could before my first appointment with the neurosurgeon - I wanted to see for myself, as well as for him to see, just what it would be like if I wasn't rattling with drugs every day. I'm glad I did it - I was coping most days with the drugs, but it stopped me from minimising the symptoms. And I was physically stiffer & less flexible, & getting more pain at an earlier point with things like the leg raise test - so it may have been helpful for the consultant.
He spent most of the time explaining the MRI, though. Said you've got a prolapse, it's impinging on this nerve root here (& poss. at left), & these are the options. Your surgeon will be assessing you for surgery, Queen, & although there's no way you should have had to struggle like this to get an MRI & a referral, you're here now: & you SHOULD get treated properly.
Can't tell you anything positive about NHS physio - my experience was shite. Should say, though, after all the negative things I've been saying about injections, that I was talking to someone I know yesterday who had apparently had a prolapse years ago & did find a steroid injection helpful. She says it gave her 9 months of almost complete pain relief! Then symptoms came back mildly, the second one did nothing, but she gradually recovered even at that stage (her kids were getting older & she thinks less lifting & bending, more resting, helped). So maybe I shouldn't dismiss nerve root injections across the board - though I wouldn't have another.
Oh, & yes, I think you are treated better privately, sadly. DH had an umbilical hernia operated on a few years ago, on the NHS but in a private hospital (under Choose & Book) & the difference in terms of actual patient care, conditions, waiting times etc. compared with, say, my son's NHS tonsillectomy & adenoidectomy, were staggering. But the surgeon in the private hospital worked for the NHS too, & at the end of the day now you're at this point it's the surgical skills of your surgeon that are the most important thing.
I do think earlier treatment & diagnosis of back pain is dire on the NHS, though. I get that most people recover by themselves & that it's not cost-effective to send everyone for MRIs, but when there's leg pain involved & it's not improving within 6 weeks or so it should be investigated further.