My mother, age 70, is a nurse, and has been suffering from sciatica since midsummer. She pinched a nerve in her back due to heavy lifting in the backyard, and has been suffering from pain down her left leg and hip since. It was once so bad she went to the hospital, and after that, a spine specialist. The night after she got a corticosteroid injection in her back, she had a panic attack. After it ended, she was pretty good for about two months. Then she got another panic attack, one so severe she was unable to work that day, and the pain started up again. She hated the panic attack so much, she vowed never to get another shot. The final straw arrived last Sunday, when she went with her sister to move my grandmother (who fell and broke her hip last month) out of her apartment. Now, the pain is back, even worse than before.
She can't take much in the way of medicines, as she reacts badly to most, but she currently takes one Aleve every 8 hours. She also puts essential oils she drips into her lotion and lathers on her leg, which seem to help. In the morning and at night are when its worst; despite my pleas not to, she did a lot of walking around and moving during this past week (she had taken a vacation), and is currently laying on the only comfortable position she's found, on the floor, in intense pain that just will not quit. Ice makes it worse, and heat is not touching it much either. As her daughter, this kills me to watch, and she told me again tonight she WILL NOT get another injection. She insists on going back to work (as a busy nurse for a demanding physician), and is going to physical therapy tomorrow. She is also getting a TENS unit to use at home. Her spine doctor laid down the law: in two months, if she's not better, they will discuss surgery with a back surgeon, which will lay her up for three weeks at the least.
I'm cleaning the house, doing dishes, cooking meals, doing what I can to make her do as little as possible so she can rest, as is my father. But I can't stand seeing her in such pain. Is there anything else she can do to help her pain? And is there anything more I can do for her? I feel utterly helpless.