Any sciatica sufferers on here?

[66383]

Hell yes I've had it 3 times but my chiro always straightens me up. No meds ever.

 

[QuickBpBp]

Thanks to all who replied and reached out to me. Last night was the first night I slept in 9 days and it was thanks to the gabapentin. I have an appt tomorrow with an Ortho guy and will go from there. Hopefully I can find something out soon.. bigdad you should elaborate on what happened with you and that building! Hopefully this will all be a bad memory soon..

 

[black64]

I mess mine up slipping on snow, had to have physical therapy and they message the area and applied Wet heavy heated towels to the area and that helped me a lot.

 

[dadsbee]

bigdad you should elaborate on what happened with you and that building! Hopefully this will all be a bad memory soon..

It fell on me Brett.. lol... I was under that pile of bricks with a floor joist in front of my chest and another behind my back. I was talking face to face with my buddy when it started coming down, he yelled "feet don't fail me know" and went one way and I managed to turn 90* before I was pinned, otherwise I'd have taken a joist and tons of brick on each shoulder. Next thing I heard was "I don't even know his parents phone number"! and I yelled back don't give up on me yet! My work helmet was in 100 pieces, my buddy actually ran over and put an arm under each joist and probably lifted over a ton to slide me out. Ambulance put a bandage on my arm, never took me to the hospital and then the foreman came along slapped 500 bucks in my hand and told us all to get off the street and pointed at the tavern on the corner!

 

[QuickBpBp]

It fell on me Brett.. lol... I was under that pile of bricks with a floor joist in front of my chest and another behind my back. I was talking face to face with my buddy when it started coming down, he yelled "feet don't fail me know" and went one way and I managed to turn 90* before I was pinned, otherwise I'd have taken a joist and tons of brick on each shoulder. Next thing I heard was "I don't even know his parents phone number"! and I yelled back don't give up on me yet! My work helmet was in 100 pieces, my buddy actually ran over and put an arm under each joist and probably lifted over a ton to slide me out. Ambulance put a bandage on my arm, never took me to the hospital and then the foreman came along slapped 500 bucks in my hand and told us all to get off the street and pointed at the tavern on the corner!

Amazing story. Glad you are still here. My faith tells me and I believe when it’s not your time it’s simply NOT your time.

 

[dadsbee]

BTW Brett, back to the subject at hand. Have you had a good dump lately??? Mine back acts up the most when I'm backed up... somehow that adds pressure to the nerves.

 

[xs-ivv]

Sciatica is kicking my ***. Been 9 days crawling around and laying on my back. I would not wish this on anyone. Feels like someone is tearing the muscle off my *** to my ankle. Today I got put on different meds. Hopefully they work as I am only sleeping a few hours a night. Just wondered if any others have had it..

I have dealt with sciatica 3 times so far in my life. It is a miserable way to live. My first 2 times were treated with following doctors advice, pain meds, phsio, exercises etc. Eventually that road led to microdiscectomy surgery. The 3rd time I got it I purchased an inversion table and after using it for 3 days the pain was almost gone. Inversion is not for everyone and you should probably check with your doc before getting one.

 

[QuickBpBp]

BTW Brett, back to the subject at hand. Have you had a good dump lately??? Mine back acts up the most when I'm backed up... somehow that adds pressure to the nerves.

I was normal.. before all this. A week of meds messed me up but now back to normal. Believe me if I could **** this away I would! Quote of the day right there!

 

[BrianS]

Amazing the amount of folks that have back issues. Like most of you I am in the same boat I wont go into boring details but I will say I have a whole binder full of MRI's and pain management records. Like many guys that grew up in the country I bucked hay when I was a teenager and then 40+ years of construction of which most of it was hanging iron pretty much wasted my back. Not to mention I had a steel beam dropped on my shoulder when I was in my 30's which took multiple surgeries to repair. Here is what I have done and what has helped.

Gabapentin 300-600mg daily-this actually helps (900mg will solve any PE issues you might have also)
Acupuncture-Seemed to take the edge off IF you can find someone who knows what they are doing
Chiropractor-Been seeing the same guy for 25 years works miracles but like someone mentioned it never seems to last before I am out again.
TEN's machine-Works awesome just put the patches on and kick back, best $30 I ever spent
Pain management-I get 2 epidurals on both sides of L1-L2/L2-L3 every 6-8 months, keeps the sciatica pain in control.
Not a big fan of pain killers like Norco so I opted for Meloxicam when I need it otherwise I just deal with it.
Inversion tables never helped me for some reason
A good massage therapist helps as well (not the one on the corner with the red light out front either, lol)
Hot Tub-this helps take the edge off sometimes. We have a local "hot tubs" by the hour place the wife and I go to occasionally. Sounds a little sketch I know but they are outside, clean and well done.

Seeing your family doctor is fine but I would suggest a good Pain Management Dr, mine was the biggest help to me. I have talked with a surgeon a few times but for every one person I have met that did surgery and benefited from it I have met four that regretted it so I have opted not to do the steel rod/fuse disc together surgery until I have to crawl into the surgeons office.

 

[Budnicks]

When I was much younger, I went in for a sore lower back
& I had a dr. tell me I had sciatica
(albeit it was Kaiser 'the TacoBell' of hospitals & care/insurance)
from sitting on a fat wallet & from driving all the time,
sitting in traffic or driving in that same position, sitting on the "fat wallet",
day after day, going between job sites or 'to & from the airport' etc.

It was putting pressure on a nerve...

Never did get any meds or do anything radical
just quit carrying a fat wallet, did some stretches & hanging
it seemed to subside 99.9%

fortunately
I don't/won't have to drive 60k miles a year now
& my wallet is considerably thinner now too
not driving as much or racing in an 'unsuspended altered/FC chassis racecar'
that cured both problems, I have no more fat wallet (FJB)

that was 17+ years ago, I'm all healed now
I do still have the 2 discs/3 vertebrae that are problems,
between my shoulders (from a bad wreck in 1981-ish)
the pain is usually in my neck at the base of the skull (strange)
but haven't had any flare-ups for a long, long time now...

No laying on cold concrete & when I do any type of heavy work
I pace myself better, lift with my legs, try to limit leaning over fenders
(jack the car up & put it on jack-stands, so I can stand up straighter)

I'm still a stubborn SOB too

mine seems trivial, compared to most of the cases on here

----------------------------------------------------------------------

**

I was normal.. before all this. A week of meds messed me up but now back to normal. Believe me if I could **** this away I would! Quote of the day right there!

**Now my 85 y/o dad has just been going thru a bout of back pain,
from Stenosis (I/He didn't know he even had it)
they also contributed a lot of it too
"supposedly this 1 time case, a big part of it was not eating right,
drinking way, way too much booze, & not drinking enough water
getting all clogged up from all the 'other multiple meds' he's on"
(he had a quadruple bypass & valve replacement a few years back)
It was aiding/contributing to it was,
his bladder was full, his prostate slowing the flow, he was retaining water
his kidneys working overtime & his liver is taxed, all putting pressure
on the spine...
(much of it was from his diet while on the road)

He was on a 3 week RV trip 270+ miles 5 hrs away too
he woke up to go pee, at like 3:00 am his last day before he was coming home
& he had excruciating back pain, called 911 got picked up by an ambulance
& taken to the local ER...
He's 'so far', has been a week in the ER, then the hospital
& 2+ weeks in a senior rehab/care center, for multiple problems
been doing a bunch of rehab...
Supposed to be released Sat. the 2nd...
I have to take a buddy down, drive the truck & trailer, & dad back home...

So yes the diet & his internal organs 'were contributing to the stenosis'
that is now/this time 'nerve pain' (his 1st signs of it)
he's probably had it, 'for quite some time', it doesn't happen overnight
he's old & worn out, didn't eat right for a few weeks recently etc.
"it all contributed & it just aggravated it"

add something else to the list of ailments

It was a new one, on me...

 

[Cranky]

Hope you can get things on the mend soon. My back hurts way too much and the bone popper didn't do it any favors....

 

[Mike67]

Wish you the best, I haven't had it that bad, it was my hip flexor causing the issue, couldn't stand up straight for a few days. Wife told me I'd have to piss sitting down, I leaned my head against the wall behind the toilet to piss for 3 days, I won that battle. Again get better soon.

I used to get it bad 2x a yr. It was always when the weather would change from winter to spring or fall to winter. I could almost set my watch by it. Gett that little tingle right at the beltline and it didnt matter if I took a week off and did nothing. It would hit when I reached for a soda and would take me to my knees, from then on spent the next week on my stomach, would take an hour to get to knees to go to the bathroom and god help ya if you sneezed or coughed.
When I move from Houston to Austin it never bothered me again ,even in Co and Ga. As soon as I came back to Houston it hit again. Only thing I could tie back to it was the humidity.
I hope you get some relief, it sux!!!

 

[wahya]

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.

Over 10 years ago, my doc sent me to neurologist due to worsening back pain and neuropathy. After many tests, the neuron says I have spinal stenosis and degenerative disks. After 2 years, I told my doctor that I was about ready to go to Mayo Clinic or something. He says to give the neurologist another try. After more tests, he says well there's good news and bad news. Bad news is you have MS, good news is you're getting it at your age. Like it doesn't matter that much, cause you're going to die soon anyway.
That gabapentin is a strange drug I'm taking 1200 mg, trying to hold off on taking more, even though doc said he has patients taking 3400.

 

[Dennis H]

Got epidurals for years. About 10 over 10 years. They stopped working.
Saw Dr. Rustamzadeh in San Jose. Rust ahmza day. Out patient surgery fixed me. Should have never suffered for years. Crawled on the floor, couldn’t work or wipe my ***. Didn’t sleep for 5 weeks. Was thinking about…thought it was curtains. Think of a wire passing through the firewall and chafing. That’s what the nerve was doing. As soon as I woke up, I knew it was solved. Dr. Rustamzadeh walks on water. Thank God for modern medicine.

 

[440 4 speed]

I used to get it bad 2x a yr. It was always when the weather would change from winter to spring or fall to winter. I could almost set my watch by it. Gett that little tingle right at the beltline and it didnt matter if I took a week off and did nothing. It would hit when I reached for a soda and would take me to my knees, from then on spent the next week on my stomach, would take an hour to get to knees to go to the bathroom and god help ya if you sneezed or coughed.
When I move from Houston to Austin it never bothered me again ,even in Co and Ga. As soon as I came back to Houston it hit again. Only thing I could tie back to it was the humidity.
I hope you get some relief, it sux!!!

Sounds like arthritis, barometric pressure and humidity are a factor.
My aunt and uncle lived on Vancouver Island British Columbia. They would come for a visit, sometimes she walked with two canes when she arrived. After a couple of weeks she would start to walk without a cane.
Can tell when we are having a pressure drop quite often.

 

[BrianS]

Got epidurals for years. About 10 over 10 years. They stopped working.
Saw Dr. Rustamzadeh in San Jose. Rust ahmza day. Out patient surgery fixed me. Should have never suffered for years. Crawled on the floor, couldn’t work or wipe my ***. Didn’t sleep for 5 weeks. Was thinking about…thought it was curtains. Think of a wire passing through the firewall and chafing. That’s what the nerve was doing. As soon as I woke up, I knew it was solved. Dr. Rustamzadeh walks on water. Thank God for modern medicine.

Dennis what exactly did he do? I have talked to a couple of surgeons and never really got a warm fuzzy from either one. The answer for both was the same, fuse some discs together, open up the vertebrae around the nerve opening and add pins/rods to support the vertebrae. The epidurals would last almost a year when I first started getting them but now I am down to six months and it takes 4 shots rather than 2 like it used to. Really not a fan of surgery but might not have a choice at some point.

 

[Mike67]

Sounds like arthritis, barometric pressure and humidity are a factor.
My aunt and uncle lived on Vancouver Island British Columbia. They would come for a visit, sometimes she walked with two canes when she arrived. After a couple of weeks she would start to walk without a cane.
Can tell when we are having a pressure drop quite often.

No, not arthritis, I had a gang box full of tools fall off the back of a 1 ton flatbed truck I tried to stop and keep it from landing on a guy working the lift gate when I was 17 and jammed my back. Years of chiropractors then suddenly it stopped, didn't have 1 issue for 15 yrs, until I came back to Houston. Been lucky it has sense settled down for the last 10 and hasn't locked up.

 

[Tinker67]

I was normal.. before all this. A week of meds messed me up but now back to normal. Believe me if I could **** this away I would! Quote of the day right there!

I have'nt had the unfortunate experiences of allot of the folks here have had. But I have had it act up, and agree about the pain. Do you by chance carry a wallet in your hip pocket? If you do ,move it . Doctor advice to me years ago, suprisingly it worked within a week. Good luck

 

[Dennis H]

Dennis what exactly did he do? I have talked to a couple of surgeons and never really got a warm fuzzy from either one. The answer for both was the same, fuse some discs together, open up the vertebrae around the nerve opening and add pins/rods to support the vertebrae. The epidurals would last almost a year when I first started getting them but now I am down to six months and it takes 4 shots rather than 2 like it used to. Really not a fan of surgery but might not have a choice at some point.

Not sure exactly, but thought he honed out the passage and realigned the nerve. Wish I had done it years earlier. Amazing relief. It was consuming my life. Get opinions or see my Doctor.

 

[Moms68]

Thought I had sciatica for years of going to a chiropractor. Finally went to an orthopedic doc who diagnosed me with a bad hip joint. It was almost bone on bone and pinching the nerve that goes down the leg. Replaced the hip and the pain went away immediately.