Sorry to sound negative. It was meant more so for people to realize that they have to learn how to live with the pain. Not trying to be a doom-monger here. My hip has been screwed up since I was about eight months pregnant and sometimes it hurts so bad that I can't walk. Life is what it is at the moment though and as much as it sucks, I have to just suck it up at times and carry on. Chinese is an inspiration because he he hurts so horribly every single day of his life, but he still gets his butt out of bed and goes to work. He's a programmer and sitting all day really kills his back. I just run him a super hot bath every night and he takes his meds.

That's about all a person can do in their situation. Many people will major back problems also suffer from degrees of depression. There is hope for DDD, though. Researchers have come out with an awesome artificial disc in the past few years. After I finish college then all of our money problems will no longer exist and he's going to get the artificial disc implanted. Hopefully by the time we are financially able, it will be a common place procedure. I can not F'n wait.

Once again, I am sorry for sounding negative. I was in a negative mood at the time of the post so I'm sure that influenced my answer.