Anyone have sciatica or sciatic nerve problems?

[My Peanuts]

I'm having some pretty bad back pain caused from sciatica, which is caused by the sciatica nerve that starts in the lower back and runs down the leg. I went to the doctor on Friday he gave me a shot of cortisone in my back. It did nothing. I got a friggin shot in my spine that did nothing! Anyway, yesterday my doctor prescribed Darvocet pain killers/muscle relaxers which make me feel high. I'm sitting here at work and something that usually takes an hour is taking me all day because of these pills. Does anyone have sciatic problems? Any advice for me or stretches I can do to help this? The pain is pretty bad.

[anna_66]

I'm sorry to hear the pain your having, I can't believe that your doctor just prescribed painkillers.
Mine strongly urged me to have physical therapy. Costly yes, but I did learn a lot of exercises to help my back out.
I thought maybe I still had my papers with them on it, but of course I can't find them:o
But I did find this website (http://www.spine-health.com/topics/conserv/sciaex/sciaex01.html) which looks to have the ones I had done. There is a lot of exercises, I was doing about 20 min of exercise 3x's/day but it honestly helped.
Hope you can get some relief.
{{{HUGS}}}
Anna

[kuhio98]

About 15 years ago, I had horrible, horrible sciatica pain. I could NOT get into a position that didn't hurt. What worked for me was a T.E.N.S. unit. I used it for several months (the last time was in the early 90's) and I've never had the problem again. You wear the unit clipped onto your belt and stick the pads up and down your back and leg. You control how strong the electric pulse is. It scrambles the pain receptors and makes life liveable again (without the drugs). I'm including some links I found on the web. Good luck! Lisa

http://www.medcareservice.com/
http://www.masters.com.au/what_TENS.htm
http://www.spine-health.com/topics/conserv/overview/physical/physical02.html
http://backbenimble.com/new/pages/tensunit/?cont=1

[moosmom]

I have problems of Sciatica from working as a paramedic for 20 years and lifting heavy stretchers AND people down flights of stairs.

There is no pain like it. I have tiny fractures in my spine. Everytime my sciatic nerve gets imflammed, it rubs against my spine and I'm in agony. I take Naproxen for it. It's like a toothache and no matter what position you try, nothing relieves it.

I don't wish that on my worst enemy.

[My Peanuts]

I'm sorry to hear the pain your having, I can't believe that your doctor just prescribed painkillers.
Anna


I just went to my GP. He thinks it will go away on its own, but my mom and I already decided that if in a few days it's not much better I'm going to a specialist. I thought I was too young for this(I'm 24), but I read online that people younger than me can have it too. I'm still in pain, but I'm going to wait a little while. Thanks for the advise :)

[My Peanuts]

Thanks everyone!

[caseysmom]

Last February we rented a house at the beach, casey ran in with dirty feet so I picked her up and carried all 45 pounds of her about 20 feet. I had sciatic agony for 3 to 4 months, there were times when I just had to sit down, I couldn't even stand. It finally went away, I just babied it and took motrin.

[Samantha Puppy]

I have a lipoma tumor that presses on my sciatic nerve, so I'm in constant pain. The back of my right leg and my right foot (top and bottom) are 100% numb 100% of the time. After 15+ years of dealing with it, I've become accustomed to it. I usually just wince whenever I get a really bad pain and ignore the rest.

I hope yours isn't chronic and that your doctor can help you get rid of it soon!! It's one of the most painful things I've ever had to deal with so I definitely sympathize.

[sirrahbed]

OUCH! :( Yes I do have bouts with sciatica and it really is a terrible pain - I think because you can't massage it or soothe it. Mine lasts several days and I start stretching right away - with two stretches that I learned at Physical Therapy. It really does help me so I hope I can describe them for you...

Lay on back (bed or floor) and bend knees. Bring the ankle of the side with sciatica up and put that ankle on the other knee....knee on sore side pointing away from your body.

(1) with your hands - press down on the knee of the painful side to stretch that hip. It probably will hurt a bit.

(2) now take that same bent knee of the afflicted side and while pushing the ankle against the good knee, bring the bent knee to the side opposite the pain and stretch it towards the floor. You use your hands for this one, too. This will cause your waist to twist...try to bring that knee as close to the floor as you need to get a good stretch.

The first stretch loosens up the hip area and helps you do the second stretch. That second stretch will pull at the butt muscle and this one really feels good - as if it releases that nerve a little.

I will do several of these stretches many time throughout the day. Sometimes the sciatica never really builds up to that painful stage - if I get to the stretches at the first twinge.

Hope this helps!! Probably best to ask the doc if it is OK to do these ;)

Oh yes and I also have a medication - Neurontin - and this helps both the Sciatica and a bulging cervical disc. I take it every night.

[joycenalex]

how are you doing? i do the stretches faithfully and they help, sometimes they help more then others. regards, joyce

[new mom to a veiled]

I had it with both of my pregnancy's..........so no meds!!!! I went for physio, it made it much worse for the 1st week, but stick with it. It was better within a couple of weeks..........

[My Peanuts]

I'm still in pain. It's been over a week. I've had this before but it never lasted more than one day. I'm still on the pain killers, which I found out are not muscle relaxers (know nothing about this stuff). Anyway, my mom wants me to go see a specialist, but my doctor told me this might take a while. It's only been 8 days since this started. This morning when I was laying in bed I thought it was better, but when I got up it was bad again. I have a new development too. If I touch my chin to my chest I get a shock down my entire back, down my leg and to my foot. I think I need to see a neurologist.

[K9karen]

Definitely go to a neurologist. I've been plagued with back and hip problems since my teens. When the bursitis in my hips acts up, it flares up the sciatica. After my back surgery, the sciatica was awful. The surgeon gave me a steroid dose pack to reduce the swelling and it helped. But just the other day, it acted up again. Before surgery, I practically lived in physical therapy. It's the only thing that helped, but it took a while. When you're in pain, your gait changes and that also flares it up. Ice packs may help until then, and bed rest. Shots do nothing. The sciatica may be caused from something more serious since it's inflammation of a nerve. There's pressure on it. I'm sorry I don't mean to sound negative. But I believe that a week in agony is a week too much. My neurologist helped me the most through difficult times.

[My Peanuts]

I had an MRI and x-rays on Tuesday and I' waiting for the results. The pain is letting up at times, but Sunday was the worst day.