In 2006, I had a pretty much identical MRI of my back also showing a ruptured disk ... I think it was the L-5. It was horribly painful and took months to get better. Are you getting the 4 am "electrical shocks" in your legs? I hated that. I had a consultation with a neurosurgeon and he said to wait for . . . I think it was 8 or 10 weeks to see if there's any improvement. Back surgery is one of those "the cure can be worse than the disease" sort of things so he wanted to hold off to give my back a chance to heal on its own.

I can offer some encouragement though. It took more than 6 months before I could move normally but since then I've had no more troubles. My back is great now and I'm very active. Heck my back is fine even after doing some seriously "back un-friendly" activities. For example, last winter I spent 5 hours in a cramped attic moving a hose around to blow in insulation. The tallest point in the attic was 4' 2" so I couldn't stand up and I had to keep my feet on the 24 oc rafters so I wouldn't go through the drywall ceiling. I contorted myself into some awkward positions to do a good job with the hose but afterwards the only thing hurting was my shoulders & arms from holding the hose up & my legs were cramped up a little. My back came through it A-OK.

When my disk ruptured, I didn't do the serious pain meds because they just make me vomit and vomiting certainly doesn't help back pain. I think what helped was that I kept moving (walking instead of jogging) even though it hurt. From previous back problems, I've learned that staying still & immobile feels like the right thing to do but it often just makes the back more stiff and weaker.