Sciatica

@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?

Did your surgery go well and get rid of sciatic pain and other pain issues? I have had 3 back surgeries and still have same issues. Doctors did not suspect a cervical issue for many years. A new opinion got me a possible answer why none of surgeries or steroid shots help. I have severe issues at c5 c6 c7 compression. Could be Funicular or tract pain causing all my problems. Scheduled for 2 level ACDF in May. Hope this is it and I can get back to a normal life without constant pain over 10 years.

@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.

@jds54
I am in my mid 50s and can relate with your story. I was misdiagnosed for so long and not treated for cervical degenerative myelopathy which caused many symptoms at/below my C5-C6 level. I had ACDF surgery in 2022 and it helped relieve some symptoms. I also had lumbar surgery L3-L5 in 2024. I am having ACDF on C6-C7 due to new herniated disc hopefully in May, too.

Besides pain, do you have numbness and weakness in arms/hands/legs/feet and do you have any bladder/bowel control issues? Do you notice handwriting changes or do you drop things often?

@jds54
I also meant to ask if you had been to a neurologist for EMG/nerve conduction studies of your upper and lower limbs? What did it show? Do you have cervical spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease/disc bulges or herniations, bone spurs/osteophytes, and does it show compression/flattening of your spinal cord/signal changes?

I have been dealing with pain down my left leg for 4 months. I had 2 epidural injections in my back on 1/6/25. I had another shot in my piriformis muscle on 2/4/25 and another shot in my back on 3/4/25. between January and March, I was given 2 separate oral steroid packs. No one here in Savannah can tell me what the problem or my next step is. I had an appointment with the pain center at Mayo 2 weeks ago and they referred me to more x-rays and another MRI April 21 and see a Neurosurgeon on 22. I am in a lot of pain and hardly walk. With 2 weeks to go what can I expect. Just counting the days down. I have no back pain.

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.

Yes I had a EMG/nerve conduction studies of your upper and lower limb with Mayo back in 2021 because of numbness in the same left leg and left arm. My left thumb is still numb 4 years later.

@jds54
I am in my mid 50s and can relate with your story. I was misdiagnosed for so long and not treated for cervical degenerative myelopathy which caused many symptoms at/below my C5-C6 level. I had ACDF surgery in 2022 and it helped relieve some symptoms. I also had lumbar surgery L3-L5 in 2024. I am having ACDF on C6-C7 due to new herniated disc hopefully in May, too.

Besides pain, do you have numbness and weakness in arms/hands/legs/feet and do you have any bladder/bowel control issues? Do you notice handwriting changes or do you drop things often?

My symptoms where always back burning pain along with left sciatic nerve pain when sitting. My lower extremity issues are aching limbs with burning sensation at bottom of feet bilaterally,
I have had L1/l2, L3/L4 and L4/l5 laminectomies because of spinal stenosis.
Doctors thought my walking issues where caused by the lower levels. Non of the surgeries resolved what appeared to be neurogenic claudication due to stenosis.
Last surgery was l4/l5 in 2021 and things have gotten worse. I do notice bladder issues when my pain levels spike especially when I have a bad night sleeping.
The cervical issues uncovered make sense to me at this point.
I really never had much upper extremity issues but did notice in last year or so Burning in my neck which I can correlate to getting worse in lower extremity problems.
After my l3/l4 surgery in 2016 didn't do much the neurosurgeon sent me for a thoracic MRI. The radiologist made note of seeing issue at the C6/C7 and recommended Cervical MRI. He never ordered it. If he had done so the c5/c6 would have been shown that shows the worse level of cervical compression.
Another opinion in December got me the cervical MRI.
I lost 9 years in finding out cervical cord issues may have been main problem all along.
Hopefully the ACDF improves my symptoms but regardless it is so bad that it needs to be done.