Hello everyone, it seems after many years in the military, poor genetics, and lifting are finally catching up to me. I apologize but this is going to be long because I am a thoroughly detailed person.

It all started in 2009. My lower back hurt all of the time. I drank soda so I assumed I had kidney stones. The pain would come and go so I attributed that to my diet getting better or worse due to kidney stone inducing drink intake. Well as I am having an appendectomy done in September of 2012 my doctor tells me that I do not have any kidney stones at all but I have a bulged disc between my L4-L5. He also says the disc has signs of degeneration but could not tell me how much. From there, the last two years have been hell with the back pain progressing to a point to nearly constant.

As of a few weeks ago the pain has gotten to the point to where more than 10mins in my car will kill me. I have bucket seats and the lumbar support sucks. Sitting in any chair with proper posture kills me also. It usually aches for an hour or two after I do either of those activities. The interesting part is, I have never had a problem in the gym or after the gym until a couple of days ago. I did abs of all things and the next day my back was killing me. I attribute the increase in pain from having it not being treated, possibly utilizing a gym routine that could put further stress on my back, possibly further degeneration of the disc, and the fact that I have been continuing to gain weight from multiple cycles.

I am a combat veteran who was wounded overseas and am getting disability for a few injuries that do not affect me at all anymore, other than PTSD. So luckily, the VA pays for everything. The problem is I am waiting to get an appointment for them to look at my back and if you know anything about the VA, it could be any time between now and the Summer.

So here is the purpose of this thread. I have done extensive research on the nature of my injury but cannot find CREDIBLE information otherwise, but I trust you gentlemen/ladies and your experiences more than I trust WebMD and Bodybuilding.com to be honest. I would like to know from those of you who have had similar experiences, is this something I am going to live with or do you think surgery is an option for someone who likes to lift big things? Just looking for your opinions on my options there. But more importantly, I would like to know what exercises you people think I should avoid and which ones I should live by considering my issue?

Thank you all very much for the information. I have not spent much time in the injury board so if I missed most of the answers in a prior post in my searches then I apologize for the redundancy.