I have four in my lower back, for years now, I sometimes have a hard time walking as pain seems to wrap around the front when it is at it's worse. I had one in my neck, and after falling at work and slamming my head into the ground (head broke my fall in Feb) I now have two in my neck and horrible neck/shoulder pain. I altered my life style to accomodate the degenerative disc problems but you can only alter it to a point.
I am sorry to hear about your pain and problems, try as hard as you can to keep going on with it.