tough is one of my oldest lovely friends who guided me through the absolute hell of medical professionals. So many threads from me, crying, unable to move, desperate for help in convincing docs it was not 'muscular' or ligament pain. if not for tough and a few others (denial and some others who dip in and out here) right at the very beginning of all this, almost three years ago to the day now, I have no idea where I would be right now. I had NO idea for example that we have the power to walk into a GP surgery and ask for what we want (and to be fair, I had no idea what that was without MNers who have already experienced it guiding me), for example 'i want to see a neurosurgeon'. it doesn't always mean we get what we ask for, but we don't have to rely on the hcp around us to do the 'best for us', we can work that out ourselves and ask for it. Sometimes, we don't have to, sometimes we have hcp around us who have the experience and understanding to guide us effectively, but sometimes/often we don't, so we need to take that on ourselves.
And that's why this thread is amazing. I had 4/5/6 threads or more with all the advice in these threads, from amazing, supportive and caring people. This thread brings on that together, gives us the confidence to know we don't have to just take the painkillers, and drag ourselves through the rest of our lives, desperately clinging on to some vague hope of normality. For lots of us, especially those who might dip in with early problems, this thread can make the difference between recovery and not. Many, many people have back pain in their lives, and for most it is temporary - for those people, this thread can help them through the acute phases and onto the next steps of strengthening core and recovery. For those of us that are not that fortunate, we can help others, and get support when we need it.
Ooooh, an outpouring of affection 
tough I took the advice of people here and of my GP and I sought a second opinion, , and chose to go to Mr S in Queen's Square. My GP was delighted with my choice, said Queen's Square was fab. This decision was made because my local surgeon pretty much gave up on me and neither I nor my GP were happy with his decision, or felt it correct, who performed the last disctectomy, telling me that there were changes that were likely causing pain, but that he didn't think fusion at this stage would be better than pain management. He wouldn't go into detail of what was wrong, so I arranged to meet with him. He was bloody rude and said the same thing, surgery would not help me, but would not tell me what was wrong, or what treatment would help. He said it was not his area of specialism, go somewhere else.
My pain management doctor also saw the MRI that the surgeon saw, and was very 'oh, err, well, err, i think it will be good to get the surgeon to clarify that he doesn't think surgery will help...' after initially telling me (before seeing the scans) that it was probably all neuropathic pain, as he had already spoken to the surgeon. He then viewed the scans with me and changed tack!
So, following this, and an injection, and ever increasing pain, I saw Mr S in mid October in London (stayed with the lovely m who fussed over me and made feel very welcome). He had my scans up on the screen when I walked in, we had a conversation about how I came to be there, and he talked me through the scans. He showed me a 'healthy' disc. He then showed me two vertebral levels where the nerves are being compressed on exit from the spinal cord, by bone and thickened ligament, on one side. It was Really Fucking Obvious, based on the scan from April, that the local surgeon saw, that the nerves where not flowing as they should on either side, but compressed properly on the right side, at TWO levels. He told me I was more disabled than I needed to be, did some tests on reflexes and whatnot, and then recommended double level laminectomy and decompression. There are disc bulges at both levels, more so at L4/L5, possible that they were bulging more since the April scan, he will address that when in there if necessary. He booked me in for 7th January there and then, surgery to be performed by him, in Queen's Square.
That's not really 'brief' is it 