Hi Mike,
I hope it settles down for you soon. The change of work should help that.
Mine went 3 years ago and the mri scan shows number 3 disc to have prolapsed onto my spine and I must have bent down whilst lifting something heavy which nipped the disc and cut it in two so I have half of it resting on my spinal chord causing me some lovely sciatica. The specialist told me that the disc on my spine should disintegrate in time. They didn't want to operate as it could have made things worse.
The physio gave me some palate exercises to do which brought me on leaps and bounds (figuratively speaking).
As for exercise, the only one I'm ok with is cycling.