Hi, wish I could stay in bed! The pain around my ankle is driving me nuts! It just keeps gnawing away night & day. No matter how much medication I take, it just won't go and still have the numbness in my toes! I am due back to my GP on monday, not that I expect anything will change? I really need to get back to work, it is the company's busiest time of the year, but as I sit at a computer for 8 hours a day, that is not going to help me and I don't know if I could sit there for that length of time. I feel this is really messing up my life at the moment!
July/August 3 years ago I ignored the fact that I was finding it difficult to roll over in the pain (won't ever make that mistake again!!) and by 1st September I had full blown sciatica. As described by everyone it was the worst pain I ever experienced - it paralised me with fear. Unfortunately I went to the wrong practitioners at the beginning and instead of getting better I got worse and then the "rollercoaster of fear of pain" took control of my mind. Living in fear of the initial pain is the consequence of not getting on top of the pain. So 3 years later this is what I have worked out .... 1. you must find out why you got the sciatica in the first place ... it is the result of muscle imbalances caused by something and you must find out what that something is. Otherwise you are treating the symptom and not the cause. 2. find the best pratictioner to rule out Sacroiliac Joint ... my problem turned out to be a sacroiliac joint problem caused by a fall on my bum 11 years ago which I recovered from very quickly. But if I were to look back it was since then I was having mild periodic back problems easily resolved with physical therapy. 3. if Sacroiliac Joint find someone who really knows what they are doing with it (80 years ago all practitioners knew scaroiliac joint but it went out of vogue as surgery took over - think about that one!). 4. then find the best physical therapist you can who actually works on your muscles (not giving you a few exercises) - I mean massaging the muscles and finding those trigger points in your body and working through them. 5. Get to know your own trigger points and get someone at home to rub them to release the spasms. In particuarly put the elbows into piriformis into the bum. You will be amazed that once you do this regularly you release the spasm in the bum area. Locate it gently and get the elbow into the belly of the pirifromis first - it will pain but count to 10 slowly and it will start easing (you may be sweating but it will ease out slowly and gradually) - from the belly then get the person to move the elbow franctionally and as you feel another pain get them to hold the elbow there for the count. As you do this and go back to the belly you will find the pain is less and less. From that night keep it up regularly so that you are keeping the piriformis relaxed - when this little muscle spasms it graps the sciatic nerve and this can be causing the numbess, spasms, cramps etc. 5. If you are in bad place mentally about this sciatica say this mantra over and over (don't be surprised if the tears come if you have been battling this alone for a long time). This ................... This ................... is not personal This ................... is not personal This ................... is not personal And I am willing to experience it. In the gap put what the pain is eg This pain in my bum - when you get release from that work the mantra again and change it to the where the next pain is. Cracked I know but it does work (do it the minute you are thinking of your pain - what you are doing is getting the brain to switch away from the pain and concentrate on something else. What happens to people in long term pain is that the brain does not allow them to experience any pain and therefore our pain threshold goes way down. This exercise brings your baseline brain pain back up - it may never go back to where it was but will come back up a good bit). 6. When you have an episode of pain coming on always have your "back coctail" ready. These tablets should be agreed by doctor: Bearable Pain (Panadol and Nurofen (no need for plus) Spasm Pain - get onto the cocktail for 1 night and it should ease it for next day (going to bed - 2 panadol, 2 neurofen and .25mg valium). Yes take this and it will release spasms and should be back to bearable pain relief next day. Don't delay taking the "back cocktail" as the delays is what causing the long term pain. I just wish I knew this from the beginning - some quack told me to take no pain relief as it would make me worse. This was the worse possible advice to take!! 7. Finally in the last 6 months I have found the best natural healer for residual nerve pain which is what you suffer from after a serious bout of pain. Calcium and magnesium. Take 2 magnesium tablets going to bed - it will knock you out like a sleeping tablet. Magnesium relaxes the whole nervous system. HOWEVER taking magenisum on its own is a no no so make sure you have the calcium supplement during the day too. Your good natural healthstore will explain this to you. Best of luck from someone who is managing her back better. Now don't get me wrong - I will never have the back I did have so therefore I refuse to hoover or carry heavy bags. And when I do carry a bag I carry it in centre gravity. Ruth
I have now progressed in my sciatica attack to the point where the numbness is slowly going in my toes etc, I have been experiencing bouts of tingling pins & needles which I take means my foot is waking up? I have now seen an osteopath who has diagnosed the sciatica as being a problem with a disc, (waiting on a MRI scan), and slight arthritis in my hip. The pain is minimal now until I stand after sitting which makes me limp on one side of my hip and pain still in lower back but bearable. My osteopath is also sending me to the local community hospital to join a programme they run with physio and a full gym along with a personal trainer of course!
I am having the scan after an xray showed up wear & tear damage and until then I do not know how bad it really is?
I have today gone back to work for an hour and half a day building up weekly to full time eventually in 6 weeks or so.
The one thing I do not want is to get back to how I felt just a few weeks ago! I do not think Icould ever stick that intense pain for that long ever again. Time will hopefully heal my back, heres hoping anyway.
Hi, I too have aging damage, wear & tear to the lower back. Just waiting for a MRI scan to see how bad it actually is?
Is this seperate to the really bad sciatica I have had for the past 8 weeks? or is it connected?
I am going on a physio/exercise programme at a local community hospital and am now seeing an osteopath.
Hi...I woke two weeks ago with the most excruciating muscle spasms on the left side from buttocks down to my foot. I was ambulanced to the ER as there was no possibility of me standing let alone bending to get in the car! I was at my local ER for 6 hours. Aside from the drip I initially received to lesson the pain I was prescribed Vicodin and Valium. Sent home with its sciatic...deal with it. Needless to say vicodin and valium are a bad combination and didnt truly ease any pain. Went to another ER in next town 2 days later and was told it was Potassium level low. They did however give me a ct scan as I told them history of MS. Sent home with diagnosis of myalgia and to rehydrate myself with lots of fluids. As I still could not walk or move without excrutiating pain I made an appt. at a specialist for Neurology. Initial report is sciatic...with the icy/numbness of my left foot. I was sent for an MRi that I get the results for tomorrow. It has gotten better to a degree, I can walk and sit up...look a little awkward as I walk because I can't always feel where I am stepping. I just was wondering if there is any relief to the numbness? I can understand and deal with the muscle spasm pain and tightness. There is no back pain whatsoever...although at this point I think I would rather that than the icy bite of the foot. Sleep is also much better, Aleeve has become a new bedtime snack. It's nice to hear my symptoms are the same as others at it it so hard to describe to those who say "Well you look fine to me." I may look fine but my left foot feels like it has had an overdose of novicain!
Hi.. you have come a long way in 2 weeks. Here where I live, it takes ages to get an MRI scan. I am still waiting for an appointment some 8 weeks after the sciatica first started. My foot is also numb and has been for the past 8 weeks or so. The numbness is easing but I still wake in the night with cramp in it which my osteopath says is the sciatica doing it. I have read that the numbess has stayed with others for up to and even over a year! I am being told that I have wear & tear damage to my disc/s and until I get this MRI scan, we do not know how bad it is?
I can now walk around after a course of acupuncture but my back is still hurting when sitting and I struggle when I first get up from my hip.
Hope yours gets better soon, I think it is just a matter of giving it time, meanwhile, my life is in ruins!! I know how it feels. Sympathy to you! x
Hi there....sounds exactly like the pain i had. I can say that the numbness in my shin has now gone but my left big toe and one next to that are still numb and getting spasms. I still have some ache in my left buttock and down the thigh with certain movements...but its bearable. I am hoping since the numbness in my shin went away the numb toes will go away in time also. I wish you all the best and hope you start feeling better soon.
Results are in...torn, herniated disc causing the sciatic nerve to frenzy. Physical therapy 3x a week for a month, The pain has lessened some...not enough to get a full nights rest. I an up every hour or two when my body finally senses that it is in a bad position. The numbness in the left foot seems to alter depending on how I am positioned which leads me to believe once sciatic calms down I will get the feeling back. It no longer feels a "cold" as it did and it seems the side and heel are the numbest now. It seems if I stand too long my heel gets very sore and I have to hobble. Nevertheless I try to believe there will be some relief soon, although I have had a few emotional moments when I have just had enough and want to rest but can't. God b
less us all to recovery!!
Im glad atleast you finally know what had caused this. Its a good sign to that when you can rest the numbness and pain eases. I hope your therapy goes well and you can get back to normal.
Thank you! It does make a big difference to have an answer as to what and why. No one likes the unknowing.knock on wood the therapy goes well, a good night's sleep is well overdue.
There are some really good videos on UTube for nerve exercises, it has helped me a lot. Stretches has been very good for me.
I agree! If it weren't for stretches I would probably still be laid up pretty good. I am mobile now which is a definate plus and back to work (yeah), but the numbness in the left foot is still there. Very bothersome!!!!
this forum has been very helpful. It is interesting that it is my left foot too that is bothering me. I have been walking a lot and it seems like I am getting faster in walking. Mine has been almost 5 weeks and as one our team member said it may take 10 weeks. I can sleep fine but the cramping in the feet is very bothersome. I am not taking any medication now.
my son hurt his sciatic nerve and was in alot of pain he lived in some apt ments which had pools .everyday after work he would go out for two hours and just float in the cold water taking presser off the spine he claims it took the pain away and it healed . but it took awhile
I agree the forum is great! It has been about 4 weeks for me..the walking also has improved.I notice however it seems the left leg tends to feel "swollen" after I get done with a day a work. No cramps but that asleep with out the tingles feeling in the foot still there! :( Im afraid it will be hard to differentiate the feeling of muscle strain to nerve strain .