I think it varies by person. I've had it for about 15 years now and it was the result of a surgery. The first year was absolute hell and walking definitely made it worse, I also found that the sensation of my pants leg rubbing on the nerve or (anything touching my leg) would make the pain worse. My neurologist gave me Lidocaine patches which helped with that (the non-generic ones but they are very expensive). My leg always hurts but now I find it's worse if I've been sitting for long periods of time. It's also worse if I fall asleep on my back although I discovered through trial and error, that if I wrapped a large ACE bandage around my thigh at night and sleep on my side, it helps the pain a little. I tried many different medications and finally found some relief with Lyrica.
I couldn't sleep because of the pain and actually fell asleep while driving and crashed my car. It was a literal wake-up call for me and forced me to find help. I encourage you to talk to your EL doc and see what works for you. In my case my pain level is at about a steady 5 or 6 now w/ some occasional spikes into 10 or 11. But considering that in the beginning it was at a constant agonizing 15 I'll take a 5 or 6 any day. Good luck. I wish you the best.