Over the past 30+ years, I average an episode every 18 months. I’m currently in my 9th week of recovery from my latest episode and mostly past the crippling pain and now into that constant mild/medium pain and range of motion limitation that seems to never get better and lingers for months.

Of my nearly 2-dozen lifetime episodes, a solid 2/3 of them washed me over with such sudden and intense pain that I entered an hours long state of shock accompanied by cognitive disability and short term memory loss. I don’t think I’ve ever actually blacked out, but I expect everyone responds differently.

I am not a doctor and am not qualified to diagnose your specific issue, but if you are suffering from herneated lower disc (my problem), then a mass of inner disc material is breaching your outer disc and putting direct pressure on a major nerve bundle…triggering the most intense pain imaginable.

My standard recovery is to immediately get a perscription for a round of Prednisone (powerful steroid) to quickly reduce inflamation and immediately get on a perscription for muscle relaxers.

Long term, when you are not injured or recovering, you can work on core strength and posture which is supposed to make episodes less frequent.

There’s also surgery option: three main types available. The most modern and least invasive is the micro-discectomy. My doctor (and all my previous doctors) always try to talk me out of the surgery for numerous reasons.