Thanks for your help, sharing your experience and providing helpful and informative information, supernova_krose.

Thanks for the website links. I found them very good.

I am currently receiving one thing for my conservative care which is physiotherapy and they said that they do things like electronic massages and/or acupuncture if normal physiotherapy exercises don't relieve the pain. I am doing some prescribed exercises at home every day and on my follow up appointment the physiotherapist said she'd get me in for some hydro therapy where I do some exercises in the water. They haven't given me an epidural yet but my G.P has requested that a spinal surgeon see me so I will ask him when I see him, not sure when I'll be seeing him though.

Thanks for the link to the website called Chirogeek. I found this to be very engaging reading and lots of different things are also covered. I have heard of sciatic-like symptoms from chemicals that get released from the damaged disc when it bursts irritating the nerves, causing pain even though the MRI doesn't show trapped nerves. I wonder if there's other investigative things I could have done to find out more as they don't seem very sure at the hospital I'm at as to why I'm getting pain. They have said to me that because the degenerated disc is slightly higher L2/L3 than where my pain is coming from (L4/L5 and below) that this disc isn't what is causing my pain and they can't explain what is causing pain or why I'm getting back pain. I have heard of referred pain which they don't seem to have heard of at the hospital where I'm going at the moment.

The hospital I'm at can't effectively treat my problem so I may have to go somewhere else too that does. IDET sounds interesting and I'll look into hospitals that offer this treatment.

Thanks once again for your continued, helpful and informative advice, I really appreciate it in these times of confusion that I'm currently in.