I had that. You DO heal. (Though it may come back.)
Twice, winter 2018-19 and again in 2019-20. Lasted a month or three each time, pain was excruciating. Didn't help to know that it was a "phantom pain", nothing actually wrong with the place that was "hurting", just with the signals from it because of the nerves getting squeezed. Mine was between two of the vertebrae in the upper part of the spine, so the pain was in the shoulders and arms, mostly the right side. For a few weeks, especially the first time, I couldn't sleep lying down; had to drape myself in a weird position on the couch, hugging the back rest.
Talking to doctors and looking at X-rays, I learned that it doesn't quite work as I had imagined: I thought the shell of the disk ruptures, the liquid within it leaks out and it deflates, and the vertebrae rub on each other and squeeze the nerves. Turns out this stuff is a lot more resilient than I thought: Just a small rupture in the shell means the goo inside -- which is much thicker than I thought, near-solid -- bulges out and that bulge of goo is what impinges on the nerve. The disc mostly holds its shape and keeps the vertebrae apart. As the rupture heals, the leaked-out goo is slurped back in or gets cut off and dissolved, dunno which.
Your brain does a lot of re-routing on the receiving end of those nerves (presumably to restore some semblance of function, but apparently also with the effect of sparing you some of the pain). Some (much?) of that is permanent; I still have a constant tingling in my right thumb and some in the side of the arm leading down to it. My right arm and hand feels cold -- apparently not just to me, but to the touch of others -- pretty much all the time. The thumb is useless for tapping on the phone, so apparently its surface capacitance has been permanently altered.
But all that is piss in the ocean compared to the acute pain, so I'm not complaining (much).
And, as I said, I had that three winters ago, again two winters ago, but not these last two years. So it can go away. (Hmm, been having a bit of an ache in the neck and upper shoulders this last week...?) In some severe cases they do apparently consider surgery, but mostly there's nothing for it but to wait for it to go away on its own.
Talking to doctors and looking at X-rays, I learned that it doesn't quite work as I had imagined: I thought the shell of the disk ruptures, the liquid within it leaks out and it deflates, and the vertebrae rub on each other and squeeze the nerves. Turns out this stuff is a lot more resilient than I thought: Just a small rupture in the shell means the goo inside -- which is much thicker than I thought, near-solid -- bulges out and that bulge of goo is what impinges on the nerve. The disc mostly holds its shape and keeps the vertebrae apart. As the rupture heals, the leaked-out goo is slurped back in or gets cut off and dissolved, dunno which.
Your brain does a lot of re-routing on the receiving end of those nerves (presumably to restore some semblance of function, but apparently also with the effect of sparing you some of the pain). Some (much?) of that is permanent; I still have a constant tingling in my right thumb and some in the side of the arm leading down to it. My right arm and hand feels cold -- apparently not just to me, but to the touch of others -- pretty much all the time. The thumb is useless for tapping on the phone, so apparently its surface capacitance has been permanently altered.
But all that is piss in the ocean compared to the acute pain, so I'm not complaining (much).
And, as I said, I had that three winters ago, again two winters ago, but not these last two years. So it can go away. (Hmm, been having a bit of an ache in the neck and upper shoulders this last week...?) In some severe cases they do apparently consider surgery, but mostly there's nothing for it but to wait for it to go away on its own.