I had lower back pain and sciatica type pain. My advice is first push your doc to get it imaged to rule out any deep physiological problems, but be wary. I had 2 bulging discs, which seem to have retreated. I had and still have narrowing passages in the vertebrae and collapsing discs, but that seems to be just part of aging and not a cause of this pain. Which was caused by - no one could tell me. I used a chiropractor and did yoga/stretching, building up to what I could handle (Cobra pose, Bird dog, Cat Cow, toe touching, hurdler's stretch, glute and hip cross leg stretches, hip raise from prone on back, planks). It took nearly 2 years to go from crippling pain to full relief (I was 67 when the worst of it hit). I can't tell you if it was the exercise or time. No drugs helped worth mentioning but I took a lot of ibuprofen before bed. Who knows if there was a placebo effect. BTW, long soaking hot baths help. I have 2 younger brothers who went through similar problems and the same kind of therapy. One is back to 100%, one still has some pain but is fully active (ski instructor, back packer). Get a good chair, don't skimp on the ergonomics. I got a lot of relief using a standing desk, which your company should pay for if you are a desk worker and you get an MD note. Lastly, make sure your bed and pillow are supportive. I found that one of those between the knees pillows helped me sleep longer and with less motion and pain.

Good luck!

One of the saddest things I heard in our animal shelter where we got our cat, was the pets who got turned over to the shelter because they didn't match the decor. This literally happens. BTW, whatever colors you choose, cat barf will not match.

If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too ut there will be no special hurry. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms

Especially -- The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places... Such a true thing, many are not stronger, just more or less broken. It's such a corrective to that nonsense that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

You might want to consider Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin or Teddy Roosevelt. All were writers who read prodigiously and widely and left behind massive libraries. Mortimer Adler, author of How to Read a Book (I highly recommend it) isn't well read now, but was a giant in his day and read probably more than even the other wide reading scholars of his day. Just a few to consider. I think of the history I read by so many authors and their bibliographies are mind blowing.

Also, it was part of the philosophy espoused by Dickens that permeates his work, that if people would just be kind to each other, treat each other with affection and justice, society would function decently. He never worked/advocated for structural reform despite his clear campaigning against the horrors of the age. He wanted social reformation by individual reform. See -A Christmas Carol.