Left Sciatica/spinal stenosis

I had epidural injections of Kenalog40 and it helped immensely

in reply to @cindymattern I am sorry the pain meds do not help; I use Norco which is helpful, and I also have this tube shaped trigger point 'thing' that I use on the floor to ease the pain and cramping you described. I lay on my back and roll back and forth, even rolling my calves over it when I get the leg cramps. It has been a tremendous help and it came from amazon and is called TRIGGERPOINT. Foam Roller Density Level Scale. You can check it out on tptherapy.com for further information. I used it on the carpet until I bought a yoga mat, and it is now part of my daily pain relief routine, and it has been more helpful to me than any drug, prescription or natural, although the arnica pellets I started taking are also helpful, much more that the pain killers. Mine is blue but it comes in other colors and it has very good instructions for use. At one point I was on neurontin, and while it was a great drug, it is a bad drug per one of my clinicians, especially if taken long term. Just saying. If it works for others, great; but for me it really did cause suicidal tendencies, and I found myself making elaborate plans to do myself in, until I confessed to my PCP what was happening, at which point he told me to discontinue using, and I was very glad to get off of that drug. I try to take as few drugs as possible, and admittedly, probably take less than prescribed because "it is just one more thing," and if the natural stuff works, all the better. Have you tried taking magnesium at bedtime for the cramping or adding some potassium to your diet. These work for me, and during a recent awful stay with my sister, I told her to start taking it for the same reason, and she 'admitted' that it did work. I wish you well and I hope you will visit the site about the roller thing, as it has been a lifesaver for me. And you can use it in all kinds of creative ways to relieve pain while stretching your muscles at the same time. I also have a trigger point ball, which is a hard ball advertised to help people with neuropathy in their feet, but I use it while leaning up against the wall, rolling my back up and down to relieve the 'kinks.' The ball was $7 on Amazon and while it is advertised for feet, it has many uses per my physical therapist. While I have had many epidural injections, I felt they were expensive and a short term fix. However, trigger point injections to my cervical spine and trapezius area have been fantastic in terms of helping to relax those 'trigger points." Not a lot of steroids as the injection mostly has lidocaine as a base. You may have to see a pain specialist,and given your symptoms, it might be worth getting a referral even if you have to wait a while to be seen. Best of luck, I hope this helps.

A low of antidepressant medication can help with pain also

I tried Cymbalta and it constipated me something terrible, I was on the lowest possible dose. I also cannot do any of the others because SSRI's constipate and that is already an issue with me. Not sure about Lyrica.

in reply to @cindymattern I am sorry the pain meds do not help; I use Norco which is helpful, and I also have this tube shaped trigger point 'thing' that I use on the floor to ease the pain and cramping you described. I lay on my back and roll back and forth, even rolling my calves over it when I get the leg cramps. It has been a tremendous help and it came from amazon and is called TRIGGERPOINT. Foam Roller Density Level Scale. You can check it out on tptherapy.com for further information. I used it on the carpet until I bought a yoga mat, and it is now part of my daily pain relief routine, and it has been more helpful to me than any drug, prescription or natural, although the arnica pellets I started taking are also helpful, much more that the pain killers. Mine is blue but it comes in other colors and it has very good instructions for use. At one point I was on neurontin, and while it was a great drug, it is a bad drug per one of my clinicians, especially if taken long term. Just saying. If it works for others, great; but for me it really did cause suicidal tendencies, and I found myself making elaborate plans to do myself in, until I confessed to my PCP what was happening, at which point he told me to discontinue using, and I was very glad to get off of that drug. I try to take as few drugs as possible, and admittedly, probably take less than prescribed because "it is just one more thing," and if the natural stuff works, all the better. Have you tried taking magnesium at bedtime for the cramping or adding some potassium to your diet. These work for me, and during a recent awful stay with my sister, I told her to start taking it for the same reason, and she 'admitted' that it did work. I wish you well and I hope you will visit the site about the roller thing, as it has been a lifesaver for me. And you can use it in all kinds of creative ways to relieve pain while stretching your muscles at the same time. I also have a trigger point ball, which is a hard ball advertised to help people with neuropathy in their feet, but I use it while leaning up against the wall, rolling my back up and down to relieve the 'kinks.' The ball was $7 on Amazon and while it is advertised for feet, it has many uses per my physical therapist. While I have had many epidural injections, I felt they were expensive and a short term fix. However, trigger point injections to my cervical spine and trapezius area have been fantastic in terms of helping to relax those 'trigger points." Not a lot of steroids as the injection mostly has lidocaine as a base. You may have to see a pain specialist,and given your symptoms, it might be worth getting a referral even if you have to wait a while to be seen. Best of luck, I hope this helps.

If the medication works great and you get pain relief look into using mirlax to counteract the constipation .. it's a powder and I put it in my coffee every morning. It really works for me.