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Ditto, chiropractor or acupuncture or both should be tried before resorting to drugs or surgery. Try laying on your back and bringing your knees one at a time up to your chest. Relax and breath deep and slow at the same time. Do this a few times a day and especially when you wake and are still in bed. This should help a little bit right away while you wait for an appointment with a specialist. If you happen to be over weight, that could be contributing to the problem also. Another thing that sometimes helps is to sleep on your side with a small pillow between your knees.
I had that at one point; but it only happened when I drove one vehicle! I put a little throw pillow on the seat under me and TA-DA! No more pain! I think it was caused more by the way the seat "hugged" my butt and hips than using the accelerator. To me, that particular car seat just seemed to run right along the sciatic nerve path and I'm sure that that was the cause of the pain. We got rid of that car and I've had no more problems since then.
Ditto, chiropractor or acupuncture or both should be tried before resorting to drugs or surgery. Try laying on your back and bringing your knees one at a time up to your chest. Relax and breath deep and slow at the same time. Do this a few times a day and especially when you wake and are still in bed. This should help a little bit right away while you wait for an appointment with a specialist. If you happen to be over weight, that could be contributing to the problem also. Another thing that sometimes helps is to sleep on your side with a small pillow between your knees.
ditto..........
Remember to seek to fix the cause, not just the symptoms.........
I had this problem and I'm in my early thirties. I went to a doctor, a chiro, a physical therapist and then an anesthesiologist (I hope I spelled that right). I was on disability for 3 months because I couldn't sit at the office for extended periods of time.
After all this, the last one (that I can't spell) gave me a shot in my back that blocked the pain. 6 days later, I had no pain. It seemed like magic. 2 years later, I gained 10 pounds and the pain came back. I immediately cut down on my food intake and hit the gym, lost 5 lbs in 2 weeks and the pain went away. I kept it up and now I'm down 30 lbs and I'm addicted to the gym.
In my situation the bottom two disks had deteriorated and the doctors said it was degenerative disk disease and a lot of muscle inflamation in the area causing pressure on the nerves that were leading down to my legs. Once I lost the weight, it helped reduce the pressure that was on the nerves. The doctors didn't think that being over-weight was the cause, but obviously, losing weight helps counteract the pressure that the inflamed muscles puts on the nerves and it also keeps the muscles in better shape when you exercise, so they aren't inflamed and causing trouble in the area.
Bottom line... these folks practice medicine... so keep going until you find someone that helps you find an answer for your body's problem.
I have some ruptured and degenerated discs also - AND the sciatica (I am not a large person, weight less than 100 lbs.) - I REALLY need to keep up w/the stretches that I got print outs from the therapist, or I am one hurting puppy. Don't want shots or drugs, I will try exercise, etc. foremost.
Well I'm back. Had my back surgery Aug 14th and yesterday they removed my staples (small) 21 of them in a 6 in incision. Mostly good news and a little bad news. Pain/numbness in right thigh..gone; Pain/numbness in right calf..gone; Pain/numbness in right foot left for 2-3 days and has slowly returned with sporadic pain and continued numbness. Not 100% good but am able to walk with more weight on the whole leg without total dependence of the cane. On the overall, would consider a 80% increase in usage which is better then 0% 2 yrs ago. It has been only two weeks since surgery and will allow more time for the nerves to regenerate. My surgery was in the Lumbar L3,L4,L5 region. Has been a positive point for me and suggest anyone needing same procedure to go ahead. Best to all. Steve
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