Tore a disc about 5 years ago, I still get pain in my lower left back and tingling in my legs sometimes. Some pieces of advice I can give you:
1. Get a good, solid mattress. It's amazing how much better my back feels when it's properly aligned at night. Might not seem like a big deal, but trust me, it is. Didn't believe it myself until I finally got a new mattress, what a difference.
2. Speaking of sleeping, keep a pillow between your legs when you sleep. Just keeps the back straighter. May seem weird at first, but I'm so used to it now that it throws me off when I'm crashing at someone's house and can't do it.
3. Stay in shape. I notice usually when my back starts flaring up is when I'm really busy and haven't had time to work out for awhile. When people's backs start hurting I think they make the mistake of trying to rest it all the time. What you need to be doing is strengthening it. Whenever I get bad flare-ups, I'll wait a couple days for it to subside a bit, then I'll hit the gym for an easy workout. It really helps.
4. Finally, keep up with your rehab exercises!! They'll prob give you some type of light rehab, like the nightly stretching exercises they gave me. Don't do what stupid Sainters did and stop with the stretches as soon as your back feels better. Keep up with them! If you do them properly while you're healing you can actually make it stronger than it ever was. But I got lazy as soon as the pain went away, so now its still a weak spot on my back.
I'm sure a bulging disc is different from a torn one, but these 4 strategies have really helped me keep the pain minimized over the years.
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