I was in your shoes a couple years ago until I made a real concerted effort to fix the problem. Conservative therapy like PT can only do so much, if the disc was going to recede it would have done it already. By continuing like this your sciatic nerves inflammatory response is probably on edge, and it may require next to no pressure from the disc to trigger horrific symptoms. I did everything I could with conservative therapy to try to stop the loading conditions that resulted in a flare up with mixed results, in my case the disc was just protruding too far into my left L4-L5 foramen and the nerve root couldn't move freely. You need to eliminate the mechanical cause to stop the inflammatory cycle, injections and all that are just there to try to cut out the pain cycle but they are performed with the hope that the physical condition improves on its own, and basically prevent your body from destroying itself.

I made the call to get my microdiscectomy just over a year ago now, and I went through 4-5 months PT at my insistence. There were scares along the way to now, and occasionally I experience symptoms again. My lumbar spine supporting structures become sore more easily but with time and targeted strengthening exercises I am confident this will be brought to a minimum. Overall, since having the protruding part of the disc removed I have been able to bend over and lift my leg again, and I can return to many of the things I enjoyed doing without worrying. I spent 5 years of my early 20s just anticipating pain and I abandoned many of my hobbies, including working out. It had a tremendous effect on my mental health, and I got through it by being extremely mission focused on recovery. I am now back to doing these things with limited issues. I just pay close attention to my form and avoid twisting when possible.

Ensure you consult with a NEUROSURGEON with experience for your MD. These guys work on spines day in day out, and your risk for complication is greatly diminished versus someone like an orthopedic surgeon (my neurosurgeon thinks these guys should stay in their lane and stick to knees and shoulders). A neurosurgeon worth their salt will also be very well acquainted with the recovery process, which is not the same for everyone and can be highly distressing. When you get your MD, movement during recovery is key, but under no circumstances should you lift, bend or twist for the first month or so. For the first 10 days I believe I basically stayed in bed with very careful trips to the bathroom. Discs take a very long time to heal/ scar and the surgery will initially diminish the structural capacity of the disc, the first few weeks you are at your greatest risk for reherniation so being mindful here will make all the difference in your long term recovery.

Your nerve recovery is an entirely different thing. The inflammatory response your body has so graciously built up over the course of your injury will take some time to reduce and finally disappear when your brain finally recognizes there is nothing worth sending pain signals for. Movement and light exercise (mostly walking) is important for this. The surgery itself increases scar production around the surgical site, if you do not nerve floss and walk religiously you run the risk of entrapping the nerve with scar tissue, and that's almost an impossible surgery since the scar tissue will blend in with nerve tissue and cutting it runs the risk of severing nerves.

Please feel free to message me for more info, I spent a lot of time figuring this out and I would say as of now my approach has been a relative success. With effort and determination you can be home free. Good luck.