Did you see a Neurologist or nEUROSURGEON?? You should have seen a Neurosurgeon NOT a Neurologist.

Your symptoms are NOT anxiety. There is enough here to tell that you DO have pain, especially since at least 3 levels, the discs are impinging on the nerve roots, and in at least a couple of places, they're impinging on the SPINAL CORD!!! There are other reasons for pain noted too. This "neurologist" evidently doesn't deal with spinal patients very often.
This is why I say you should have seen a Neurosurgeon. They deal very often with spinal patients & with spine surgery.

You may want your doctor to re-refer you to a Neurosurggeon -- your doctor should have known better as to where to send you. Get another referral and go to the correct doctor. But PLEASE -- DO not JUMP INTO SURGERY.

Surgery will NOT ease your pain. Surgery is not for pain. Surgery is ONLY for mechanical problems. Most of the tiime you will come out of surgery with the same pain or worse. Also, the levels above and below the surgery sites will fail eventually because they have to take on more of the load, so that just means more surgery. We call that the "Domino Effect." Doctors rarely tell you about this. Recently, studies showed that people who had spinal fusion/surgery had the same outcome as people who had only physical therapy!!!

Before you opt for surgery you MUST try every siingle conservative methods they have -- that includes the spinal cord stimulator!! Do every single thing that a pain clinic can offer you before undergoing surgery!!! Surgery should be a last resort!!! Never go under the knife until you've tried everything. You are never the same after surgery and you surely can't "undo" it. You can't do the same things anymore, you can't move the same way, you can't move as fast anymore, you can't twist & turn for a long time, you can't lift, you can't vacuum or rake, there are loads of things you just can't do anymore or at least for a long time. So think long and hard before having surgery. I've had 2 open surgeries but that was years ago before the internet -- I wasn't able to research like you can now. I wish I had NEVER had surgery as now I'm disabled because of it. I had to stop working at 44 yrs of age. I'm now 63. It's been very difficult.

Best of luck and God bless. Take care. Hugs, Lee