Hi Brian,
I can definitely sympathize with you on the state of your problem discs. I was also in a situation where my problem disc was very dark on the MRI with what looked like a rupture centrally, but the disc height hadn't really decreased at all yet. Despite the ok disc height, the herniation was a huge pain in the back (haha).
I think what Allison may have also been asking was if you had a discogram at all. My surgeon's office had me go through one because my MRI hinted at potentially 2 major problem discs with 2 that were bulging ever so slightly. Turned out that the main pain generator was only my L5/S1. The L4/L5 disc was fairly dark in my MRI and had a small tear, but they preferred to not operate on it unless they absolutely had to. So far, I think I'd have to agree with them on utilizing the ADR to preserve what was still ok in the above disc.
It's likely that you may go through such a diagnostic when you go to that spine pain clinic. My primary care doc never thought to send me for any such thing but then again I'm not surprised as he was well... not the greatest.
Good luck in your research. I'm sure you'll get plenty of good feedback from the group here.
~Sara