herniated disc club

My husband did something kind of amazing. He rounded up three people who have gone through this and put them in touch with me. I talked to three different people all of whom had had this situation and they told me about how they dealt with it, nonsurgically. I talked to a photographer who had pretty much the same symptoms and severity of herniation. It took him a year and a half to recover but he did it. It boiled down to physical therapy and lots of core training. He was in excruciating pain for a good eight months but he just kept pushing on.
I talked to a woman who lives nearby. She gave me all her contacts for various services. She said that there’s part of this that is psychological. Not that the pain isn’t real, but that I’m attached to it in some way and that I need to change that attachment. I think for me I want sympathy. I really want people to tell me I’m going to be alright. But telling me that isn’t as important as me knowing it in my own mind. Knowing that while I have a tough road ahead and I don’t know how long that road is, I am going to be okay.
I went to the gym and swam for half an hour. I did not get in the whirlpool of urinary tract infections. I just swam and then I went home. I stopped taking the Effexor. I was having hallucinations. Flashing lights. My hands were trembling. I had an increase in anxiety. I don’t think I’m going to take an antidepressant. They just don’t agree with me.
I have physical therapy tomorrow. I should know more tomorrow than I know today.