Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have lumbo-sacral central stenosis, L-3-4-5, S-1. Left side. I've had 3 different procedures with a Pain management Physician. I find they have not lasted. I'm now noticing the sciatica on the left side radiating down my
left leg has become debilitating. I can barely walk, or go up or down stairs.
I don't know if it is a combination of back pain, stenosis and muscle pain
or strictly just the sciatica, but the pain has become really bad.
Does anyone else suffer from these symptoms? What do you do to help
relieve your discomfort?
When my dad was alive he suffered with this for years, The only releif he found was going to a chiropractor twice a week, combined with massage therapy, and unfortunatley he got addicted to pain pills. I would try a chriopractor and massage therapy. Most Chiropractors have licensed massage therapists in their office, I know ours does, actually it's our Dr's. wife who does it. My dad also had an operation on his herniated discs. Not to veer off topic but the disc pain and sciatica were the least of his problems when we found out he had cancer
My son ruptured a disk in a snowboarding mishap....his sciatic pain was debillitating. Finally, after 2 years, he saw a pain management doctor who did a theraputic epidural. They use some sort of x-ray visualisation while injecting the medication...it's NOT like a cortisone shot, where they stick you and hope they hit the right spot. The first treatment made a HUGE difference...after 6 months, he had it done again, and has had only fleeting moments of discomfort since.
The injection allowed the sciatic nerve to 'calm down'...and allowed it to stop sending acute pain messages!
He'll live with the ruptured disk, but doesn't have to live with the pain and leg numbness!
Do get help...the sciatic nerve can cause numbness in the leg, and eventually, can cause incontinence! No one needs that!
I've been dealing with a scorching case of sciatica on my left side. A 10 day Prednisone taper combined with aggressive stretching has worked wonders at lessening the discomfort.
My son ruptured a disk in a snowboarding mishap....his sciatic pain was debillitating. Finally, after 2 years, he saw a pain management doctor who did a theraputic epidural. They use some sort of x-ray visualisation while injecting the medication...it's NOT like a cortisone shot, where they stick you and hope they hit the right spot. The first treatment made a HUGE difference...after 6 months, he had it done again, and has had only fleeting moments of discomfort since.
The injection allowed the sciatic nerve to 'calm down'...and allowed it to stop sending acute pain messages!
He'll live with the ruptured disk, but doesn't have to live with the pain and leg numbness!
Do get help...the sciatic nerve can cause numbness in the leg, and eventually, can cause incontinence! No one needs that!
I was referred to a Pain management Physician by my Orthopedic Physician.
I've had 3 sessions with the pain management physician - the first with a 'numbing" agent, the second was a "ablation" procedure, and the third was a corticosteroid injection. I have no relief as of this date.
I am hesitate to return for additional Pain management sessions.
The expense of each session, i.e., my co-insurance amounts were very high for each procedure, infact, I'm still paying off the balances not only to the Pain Management physician, but also to the Anesthesiologist who assisted, and the Endoscopy center where the procedures took place. Right now I am just not in a position to acquire more debt, being unemployed, with no unemployment, no savings, and no way to pay bills.
I have been having to take Baclofen and Percocet to give me some relief.
Problem with that is, I am out of commission after I take these medications.
If you have Stenosis, that is a very different issue. But for simple sciatica from disc issues, I got my miracle cure from Physical Therapy. I've now been symptom-free for two years, after physical therapy strengthened the supporting small muscles around the lower back. I got no other treatment, I went straight to PT. It took about 8 weeks of sessions twice a week, and simple home exercises, which I don't even need to do anymore.
I don't know it is related, but I also started sleeping on the floor, with nothing for padding but a folded blanket. I'll never sleep on a mattress again.
About 20 years ago I had similar issues. I cured my naturally by exercise at the gym. They helped me and told me what machines to do and not to do. The Doctor told me that I shouldn't work and quit my job, but I never did. He sent me to surgeon and told me I would need surgery, but the surgeon didn't think so. With the exercises at the gym and the classes, I worked my way back to doing high impact aerobics. The best exercise class of all is the stretch classes which really help me a lot to this day. I'm about to leave for that class now followed by a weight class.
My sciatica condition has been steadily / noticeably improving.
It got really critical this winter and i finally realized that i needed to see someone ... that i needed some help.
I have been icing, sitting as little as possible, doing some specific exercises (core strengthening and others) and hiking a lot.
What i learned after seeing a couple of different people is that the "source" of the sciatica that i'm dealing with is not in my spine.
The first person that i saw was a physical therapist who was just assuming that it was a spinal issue and so gave me a series of exercises that not only weren't helping but actually making things worse.
Then i saw someone else (not a p.t.) as i felt instinctively that something wasn't right (for me) about the p.t.'s approach.
I'm dealing with what's called Piriformis Syndrome.
CAUSE:
"It's caused by a hyper-tonic piriformis muscle, often caused by excessive sitting, such as during a car trip or desk work; by SIJ dysfunction; or by overuse resulting from pelvic obliquity that leads to weakness of the G. medius of the ipsilateral side (the piriformis will overwork, try to substitute as an abductor).
In approximately 10% of the population, the sciatic nerve travels though the piriformis muscle, which causes a predisposition to sciatica when the muscle is in a sustained contraction. In the other 90%, the sciatic nerves travels under the muscle and is vulnerable to sciatic irritation if the muscle is short and tight.
SYMPTOMS: Pain occurs in the middle of the butock, and an achy pain can radiate down the posterior thigh but rarely past the knee.
(in my case, the pain sometimes does go past the knee)
Icing has been extremely helpful.
Someone mentioned using heat but that's not necessarily the right approach and can be just the wrong thing to do.
Finding alternatives to sitting has been a challenge but well worth it.
Stretching is the worst thing that i could doing at this time. I can't explain why (it was explained to me but it went right over my head) but though it gives temporarily relief it actually ultimately exacerbates the condition at this point.
Hiking has been extremely helpful. And i use a belt when i walk (Sacroiliac : SI Belt : Sciatica : Side Back Pain : Hip Pain Relief : Low Back Pain : Chronic Back Pain : Maternity Belt : Serola Biomechanics, Inc.) and when i hike.
It has been very helpful and i can walk and hike without any pain.
I make sure that my posture is always straight and true and that i'm never bending at the waste when in motion, ie; walking, hiking, doing dishes, etc..
Walking is great but hiking is even more helpful. It's my understanding that hiking is so helpful for this condition because it's insisting that the glute muscles fire when they need to fire and relax when they need to relax ... or something like that.
So what i have learned about my condition may be relevant and helpful to the o.p. or others.
When I first started getting that precursor pinch in the piriformis region, I would take a hot bath & do the priformis stretch or yoga sciatic stretch.
Now that stretch is part of my daily stretching routine & has kept problems at bay.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
