Well, I had surgery nine years ago and it made me worse, so my advice is affected by that. If I were you, and I wasn't sure about surgery, I would hold off. Instead, I would focus of things you can do to help with stress -- meditation, yoga, diaphragmatic breathing, other exercise if you can tolerate it.

I was unsure about surgery and I let myself get swept up in it because nothing else had worked. But surgery didn't work, either. It's a major surgery. If you can manage without it, I would try.

Good luck,
Kelly