@builderthad Welcome to Connect. Sciatic pain is awful. Did you have an injury to your back or neck? I am glad you will be evaluated by a neurosurgeon. I read a story about a young swimmer who had trouble walking because his lower spine was slipping. I am a cervical spine surgery patient. My issue was spinal cord compression in my neck, and that did cause sciatic pain, and actually pain all over my body. You may want to ask that question and see if they can image your entire spine. If they are just looking at the lumbar spine, a cervical problem could be missed.

Would you please check in and let me know how your elevation goes, and what recommendations you will have?

@builderthad
What triggered your pain 4 months ago? Did you get initial X-rays and MRI before they did your injections? How did they know where to do the injections? Did you see a neurologist and have EMG/nerve conduction studies done of your lower limbs? Did you do any physical therapy or massage to release/relax muscles? Did you ever see a chiropractor ?

Even though you don’t have back pain, you could have a disc bulge/pinched nerve root/nerve that is radiating pain signals down your leg.

There are times that cervical spine (neck) issues can affect your legs/lower body, too.

Im no expert, but Do You have internet? Try YouTube. There is a ton of helpful information about the complications of Lumbar issues, the Remedies, surgeries, therapies, injections, ect. I am preparing to seek injections myself, but dont know who to go to for these. I reside further north from Your area. Best of luck.

Thanks for your input. The last surgeon who did my L4/L5 laminectomy in 2021 ordered a Lumbar and thoracic MRI together in September 2024 only for the possibility to trial a SCS. I was totally against the trial because I felt something else was going on. Thats why I reached out to new doctor. I met with his PA who noticed the C6/ C7 on top of thoracic MRI showed same problems as MRI in 2016 except the Radiologist failed to point out that problem this time and she caught it. Within 4 days I had the cervical MRI and showed all of my cervical issues.
I always get a CD of images after scan.
I was shocked to see the images I was seeing.
Over these years of pain I have become adept at reading images and spinal cord is only being compressed at the cervical area now. The 3 back surgeries corrected any spinal stenosis issues. There is some foraminal stenosis at L3/L4 which a couple of Transforaminal epidurals did confirm local irritation but does not relieve the lower extremity bilateral symmetrical leg heavy leg feeling and feet issues. I recently repeated SI joint injections which had no effect,
I can only suspect that it is actually cord compression which effects everything below my cervical problems which is Funicular or Tract pain.
I actually had to suggest to pain management doctors where to try injections because they seemed clueless at times. Healthcare in this country is not in a good place. Everything is about how many patients to see in a day with little effort to help people and listen to issues.
Hopefully I have found a doctor that has listened and this ACDF works out,

I had fusion L2-S1. Emergency. No back pain. Nerve pain especially at night. Then it went beyond excruciating nerve pain to no pain but weakness. Difficulty walking. I had no clue something was wrong with my back of all things. I arrived at the ER on a Friday in lousy shape. The neurosurgeon performed surgery first thing Monday. No dainty sissy shopping for the perfect doctor. Elective surgery. Nope. The neurosurgeon and his staff were fantastic. So 10 pedicle screws. This winter my right foot began feeling cold. Pain from my buttock to my foot
I went back to the same neurosurgeon. Two pedicle screws showed lucency and there was bone spur squishing the nerve. But this time I was much stronger. Elective but not quite. Those nerves were compressed. And it went well. He rechecked the torque on every screw. And inserted a new spacer plus two long long pedicle screws into my sacrum. He pushed me to get my bone density checked. I see an endocrinologist who is a female Indian version of Columbo. I wouldn't call it failed back surgery. The neurosurgeon studied the structure of my back. Considered my age 67, female.and while active I'm thin. Sometimes you just get lucky. Funny because I found some hospital papers from ten years ago. I sustained a subdural hematoma. He was listed as the responsible neurosurgeon had I required brain surgery. I didn't. But it's easy to forget that neurosurgeons do some very important work.
But I never had back pain
The second time I understood more about our nerves.

Does new drug called journavx help with sciatica?

Check with your Dr to see if an inversion table would be appropriate for your condition. The pain in your leg comes from the sciatic nerve making contact with disc between the lumbar vertebrae. The disc makes contact with the nerve and the brain interprets it as pain. Using the inversion table creates traction that separates the vertebrae enough for the disc to pull back from contacting the nerve. This works for many sciatic pain sufferers. But you need to check with your doctor first.
If he says you can try it go on fb marketplace. People are selling them cheap once they’re finished with them.
I’ve used it for years to deal with occasional recurring pain.

Thanks for that. It’s the first time I’ve heard that. It seems to be the first course of action treating disc issues contacting the spinal cord.
But that is of course following diagnostic imaging.

So sorry to hear this. When my sciatic issues started, my trip to the hospital triggered pain meds annd immediate CAT scanning and X-rays. With the resulting information they got me into traction. I’ve used traction to manage any recurring sciatica

Just got back from the Mayo in Jacksonville Florida. I am going to have the TILF procedure done. Setting up the schedule now. I guess it was worst than I thought. I guess I need to start a new conversation. They gave me a pretty good explanation of how i was going to be performed.