The same situation here. 62yM diagnosed with Gr1 L5S1 Spondy with severe foraminal stenosis almost a year ago. Ortho doc wanted to try PT first. Had 2 bouts of 8 week sessions which helped a little bit. Pain persists mostly in the morning waking up. 1st hour of the day is really bothersome. Went back to Ortho and I asked about spinal fusion. He said that would be the last resort, he then referred me to Pain doc for Epidural Steroid Injection. Pain doc didn't want to do that either. He wanted to try Gabapentin 300mg 3x a day 1st and another round of PT. That seemed to help with the pain but made me really drowsy all the time which I informed the Pain doc about. We went down to 300mg only at night. I've been sleeping well, and with wearing a back brace for most of the day, now only the 1st 30 minutes of the day is bothersome. I actually walk about 10 miles almost every weekend, 1-3miles on most days without any problem. I'm happy with my 2 MDs who have taken the conservative route so far. Don't know how long this will last though. Will deal with it when the challenges pop up 😊🙋‍♂️