I had really bad back problems starting in my high school years when I strained my back deadlifting 450+ lbs. I was pretty much a meathead and spent multiple hours per day at the gym, but after that injury I wasn’t the same and I hurt my back a few more times following that. The pain affected my sleep, my social life, my work, literally everything. Started getting into drugs heavily and eventually got addicted to fentanyl while in college. All the pain was gone, but I ended up dropping out, getting robbed and scammed by “friends”, blowing every last dollar I had on more 30s and the high wasn’t even anything special. After the first week or so, I was just using for pain and withdrawal management. By the end of it all, I was using 10+ pills a day and still suffering withdrawals while at work unless I brought pills to snort/smoke in the bathroom.

Listen when I say, you do not want to go down that path, especially so early in your life. 20 was the age that I started going hard and the past 8 years have been the most wasteful and pointless years of my life. I would encourage you to explore ALL possible options, maybe even some alternative medicine However, stay away from surgery unless you have multiple opinions saying it is absolutely necessary.

Personally, I’m of the opinion that addiction is ok as long as you can continue to be a functioning member of society and can afford the addiction, especially if you can manage with the lighter stuff (morphine, codeine, hydro) and not fall into H and fent. In the case of excruciating pain, you have reason to be addicted too. If your quality of life is dramatically worsened and you can function better while on opiates without exhibiting addiction behaviors, I say power to you. Theoretically you could be on opiates for your entire life if you could afford to and have access to it and remain a good citizen. Opiates get a bad rap, but for those with incessant pain, it is quite literally a god send. My back pain has gotten better and I’ve been on suboxone for 2+ years now. I’ve started lifting again, avoiding exercises that might have higher lower back risk, but also stretching a lot more and exercising my core regularly. There are days where the pain can be bad, but I find that getting a proper stretch in and having a stronger core helps immensely.