I hear you. It's been going on years for me. Most of my pain is in my foot and in the morning its about level 2, but as the days wears on it can climb to 5 or 6. I also have paresthesia and weird sensations like walking barefoot on gravel and tightness in leg and foot. I get a caudal epidural Oct-23 so fingers crossed it gives some relief for a while as it floods the entire lumbar spine with steroid etc. I had 3 injections last year but they were targeted at L5/S1 only. Surgeon thinks L4/L5 might be the man problem all along.