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Any sciatica sufferers on here?

I had an accident at 17 that l caused
paralysis of my brachial plexus (left arm
and shoulder). Through years of over
compensation and sitting in office chairs
for thousands of hours, I have three different
diagnosis of back pain. Spondylitis,
psoriatic arthritis, and sciatica. When my
back suffers from an episode it takes 3
days of immobility with a small pillow
supporting my lower back and hip area. I'm
literally stuck on the couch having to piss
in a jar. I'd been to many docs and
chiropractors over the years seeking relief.
None of their techniques were able to relieve
the pain. Steroid shots, pain killers, physical
therapy.
Staying almost absolutely immobile has/does
work for me. Just takes time for the nerve to
calm down.
 
it has brought me to tears multiple times so far. Chiropractor says my tailbone was twisted and laid on the nerve… muscles where the pain has been have been convulsing/twitching last few days..
I had something similar this very week. I had a minor oral surgery last week....but I was knocked out completely for various reasons. The day after I had that, I started having trouble sleeping. The worst was Sunday night....I was in absolute agony all night in bed.....couldn't sleep at all....barely 2 hours of almost sleep. I was in tears at one point it was so painful. My wife rubbed some Voltaren Gel into my back, which helped for a while....but still it was agony to lie down.

The following night I got back on the pills....took a couple of extra strength prescription tablets....slept like a baby. It has since worn off, so I wonder if it was brought on by my anaesthetic. Definitely in the sciatic area.....haven't had that pain for a long time. Not since I popped a disc when I was 20.
 
At the moment I use the exercises in this book, plus a tilt table. Before that, I was on opioids and weekly chiro appointments to keep it under control, .... but even then it continued to get worse until an epidural shot smacked it down. The pain was at a level I didn't even know existed.

Between the book exercises and the table, I have not had opioids in two and a half years and I am back to mostly normal activity. The book was lent to me by my brother-in-law who is a physical therapists. He swears by it. It's really simple stuff in the book ... but it seems to work.

My issue is an extra 6th lumbar vertebrae not fully formed joint between L5 and L6. Been that way for all my life, but I guess it it took advancing decrepitude to bring it to the forefront. I'm told that spinal fusion (not a good solution) is in the cards if I cannot control it through exercise and care.... so I am pretty committed to the book exercises and my tilt table. So far, so good.

"What a drag it is, getting oo-oo-old"

Good luck.
I had my C6-C7 fused. Was that or kill myself. I had a severe spinal stenosis and morphine meant nothing. I could not put my right arm down and after the surgery I was no longer in pain. Took 7 mos to fully heal and I still have most of my range in motion. Was going to say that was my best surgery choice but my heart transplant probably was a better one as I am still here….
 
I had an accident at 17 that l caused
paralysis of my brachial plexus (left arm
and shoulder). Through years of over
compensation and sitting in office chairs
for thousands of hours, I have three different
diagnosis of back pain. Spondylitis,
psoriatic arthritis, and sciatica. When my
back suffers from an episode it takes 3
days of immobility with a small pillow
supporting my lower back and hip area. I'm
literally stuck on the couch having to piss
in a jar. I'd been to many docs and
chiropractors over the years seeking relief.
None of their techniques were able to relieve
the pain. Steroid shots, pain killers, physical
therapy.
Staying almost absolutely immobile has/does
work for me. Just takes time for the nerve to
calm down.
Yup nerves get aggravated and inflamed and when that happens the worst thing is what a lot of people do….go to a chiropractor or try to stretch it out. Just makes the nerve more pissed off lol Glad you found what semi works for you.
 
Any of youz have an inguinal hernia?

Yes both sides, first was lapro repair with mesh and it has been near flawless.
The second was open surgery, with mesh and it has sucked and is failing. You only get one shot at lapro repair, all future hernias are open surgery due to scar tissue. Open repair is a sob the first week or so, get up and walk every 4 hours, TRUST ME ON THAT!! Everyone is different, if you actually work a manual labor job you will need mesh. I would recommend you get a hernia brace the pushes right on the tear before you have it fixed, and wear it anytime you lift anything before and after, it is wise to get one that has a pad on both sides. I wear one anytime I work. Between 2 hernias and sciatica, and a rotator cuff that needs work about the only time nothing hurts is when I am on a creeper under a car or laying in bed, at least my tool still works, another potential problem with hernias. For sciatica exercise and stretches works for me and knowing that when it comes on back off work a little. Doctor Jo sciatica on u-tube are the ones that helped me. Wear a knee brace to start if you are way out of shape

You have to do your stretches every day until it settles down, and never skip them. I still work 14 hour days so life is not over, laying around is worse than just going out and doing something long term for me.
 
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I've had bouts for over 40 years. Born with spina biffida and an incomplete rib/spine junction on L4 my nerves get pinched off and I lose my legs... kurplunk. Only thing that has ever helped is to just get up and push though it. Being under this building when I was 18 hasn't helped one ioda either...
View attachment 1262196
Dadsbee.
It's amazing you made it thru the falling
building syndrome. Kinda like me hitting
a tree at 70mph on a snowmobile.
It takes monumental strength to carry on
with just the menial tasks of everyday
living. We learn to adapt and adjust. My
hats off to you.
 
After driving my toyota tacoma for a week of 40 mile drives back and forth to work my leg was killing me. So I started researching Toyota seat issues and low and behold lots of people my height have sciatic never pain when driving those trucks due to the seat sitting too low in the front. It got so bad one day I literally stood in the driveway and cried. I could not move I had to get my daughter to help me get in the house. Then it was like 4 weeks of laying down and relaxing and taking lots of pain meds. But my god that was some excruciating pain. Finally I bought these seat jackers they sell for the front 2 bolts on my seats. No more issues.
My neighbor needed me to drive his Toyota pickup in for some work, I was off in the daytime so I could do that for him. That thing killed me to drive it. So I believe they have lots of problems. Made for short small oriental people to sit in them.
 
Just wondered if any others have had it..
VERY common malady, more than you'd think...
I've been exactly where you describe with it too, the result of a couple injuries (and subsequent destruction)
of the L4-L5 discs - classic pinched nerves, FLAMES rolling down over my hip and down the outside of the right
leg. Leg stops doing what you tell it to do and there's a sort of gross, sickly component to the FIRE.
This does not "heal" - ever.
My gig in those days was a lot of miles in pickups and lots of walking of facilities, so I was pretty much pooched...
and yes, sleep became a rare commodity.

Prognosis?
- 60% chance that surgery would help - along with a healthy chance somebody could also boo-boo,
too - and that's not where you want someone making a boo-boo. I passed...

- Let me preface this one by the disclaimer "DO NOT DO WHAT I DO"... ok, having hard some exposure
to chiropractics decades before (for another effed up part of my spine, up top) and once I saw the scans of
what was wrong this time, I decided (desperately?) to give it a whirl again.
The idea was to get some pressure off the nerves by getting the bones back into some manner of alignment
where they'd stay (they still don't to this day) and therefore also relax muscles around them.
This does work for me (still does), but it's me doing the "manipulating". Not only am I the one "in here"
and can feel how much is too much or not enough - but I don't want anyone else the least bit responsible
for if something goes wonky during an "adjustment".
I'm not gonna hang that around anyone elses' neck...

- Last item in this hit parade is Gabapentin. Usually used for folks with shingles to lessen nerve damage/pain,
but in my case it does what I need it to do to put out that FIRE.
I never take it as often as I'm supposed to, but I know about how much is enough and thank the Lord, that
has never increased over the years.

Lastly, sleep is still mostly achieved in a chair more than in a bed - that's just part and parcel of it.
A couple hours a night in bed, up at o-dark-thirty (before 2am), a nap in the chair during the day
(usually involuntary) and that's it. Chronic sleep deprivation, but I live with it.
All of the above routines observed, I'm pretty functional most days despite the damage never being
repaired - and never will in all likelihood.

So - does anyone else suffer from sciatica? According to which source you cite, over half the population
will get some form of chronic lower back pain - and of those, at least 15% will get full blown sciatica.
Old people = old cars
**** tears up, sooner or later :)

Oh, Painkillers? NEVER. Militant about that one, have been known to rip IV's
out of my arm in the hospital when I find out they're giving them to me....
The "best" this body will ever get is aspirin, Advil, something like that.
That's not bragging - as a hypersensitive, I feel ALL the pain ALL the time -
it's just proof of how much I FEAR prescription painkillers.
Too many good people have been taken out by them. So addicting...
 
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Any of youz have an inguinal hernia?
Yep, repaired the "old school" way back in the 80's (no mesh - just your innards stretched across and
stitched - AWFUL painful for a month or so!).

Also just had another hernia repaired over Thanksgiving, right under my belly button (patch this time).
I told stories on here about that surgery - suffice to say, none of that nursing staff will EVER forget me. :)

Third "hernia" repair wasn't naturally caused, but as a result of the kidney cancer robotic surgery that saved
my life back 11 years ago - they move ALL your innards to the other side when they go through the front
like that, so some piecemeal patching and mending has to be done afterwards as they put it all back....
Suffice to say, my chitlins ain't where they started life, none of 'em - but as my surgeon told me after
one of them: "Welcome to the new you. None of it will be like before - but it'll work. Sort of...."
Funny guy, that doc...
 
I got retired at 60 with a 15mm bulge on my L3L4 which they finally got to shrink after the 6th bilateral injection. But by then the stenosis in the L3L4 and L5S1 had worsened and now at 74 the right hip has a double tear which locks it up. I take a ton of Gabapentin like 3400 mg a day. If I don’t then within a week I’m back in a wheel chair. But it doesn’t make me loopy.
 
I got retired at 60 with a 15mm bulge on my L3L4 which they finally got to shrink after the 6th bilateral injection. But by then the stenosis in the L3L4 and L5S1 had worsened and now at 74 the right hip has a double tear which locks it up. I take a ton of Gabapentin like 3400 mg a day. If I don’t then within a week I’m back in a wheel chair. But it doesn’t make me loopy.
Agreed. Here in TN they actually "control" Gaba like it's a narcotic or something....which it isn't.
Apparently, the pill-crushers of society have discovered that if you ingest like half a bottle or something,
you see Elvis??
I've been on a script for them for like 15 years now. No highs, no Elvis sightings.
Experimenting with dosages of all these things that keeps me upright, I found 600mg a day (half-half morning
and night) is enough to take the edge off the fire; the rest of the pain I "eat".
I'm supposed to take double that - but I hold that "in reserve" for the day they become less effective.
 
I’m in the group. There are many that have it much worse than I do! At times, if I move just right I can go down in a heap! Fortunately, that has only happened once. I’m a quick learner! But it sucks for sure and I wish all you other sufferers the best!
 
My lower back is a mess from an accident 37 yrs ago that resulted in my lower right leg being 2cm short and crooked. I have herniated L5/S1, L5/L4 and L4/L3 discs, stenosis, spondyliosis, scoliosis, etc, etc. Sciatica is one of the issues that flairs from time to time. I find rest, stretching and muscle relaxers to be effective treatments. Longer term, core strengthening exercises also help.

My back pain is chronic and varies depending on my activity. I've tried pain pills, but they don't do much and I don't like how they make me feel so I just deal with it and take an occasional Aleve when the dull aching pain gets too much. Thankfully, I haven't had a major sciatica episode in several years, but it is very debilitating when it hits.

Good luck and hope you feel better soon.
 
I crushed the right side sciatic nerve working on my car5.5 years ago. I have never in my life had such excruciating pain coupled with the feeling that my leg was on fire from my hip to my toes. I was on oxy and muscle relaxants for 6 months while the nerve damage ran its course. At the time I was working as an FAA repair station inspector, so I couldn' t take the oxy while working. I lost all control over my right leg, but I maintained the ability to stand....walking was horribly painful and probably looked pretty horrible too. Between chiroprators and physical therapy I trained new nerves to function, thereby slowly relearning how to walk. It was a year and a half before I could walk short distances normally. Just in late january of this year I started jogging again. It has been a long road to recovery.

I completely understand your pain. The advice on TENS unit and a good chiropractor ( not a heating pad attendant) will make a lot of difference in getting the agony to subside and allow you to move comfortably again.
 
Had it off and on for a few years because of a bulged lumbar disc. My chiropractor worked it out and it has been good the last few years.
 
I’m in the club too. Had a L4/L5 decompression about 6 weeks ago. Some improvement but they say it can take 2 or 3 months for nerve inflammation to reverse. Hoping it’s not just excuses.
 
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After going to the chiropractor and Dr route I purchased an inversion table and it appears to have taken care of the problem
 
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