Sciatica nightmare

Hi Joy and welcome. Most Americans, including me, still love our neighbors to the North.

I'm so sorry for all you're going through. (Although it's good you didn't get cauda equina syndrome. I had that over 15 years ago when my sciatic pain started. It's a serious complication from lumbar spine trouble, and can be very inconvenient. In my case it happened once, lasted about 4 to 6 weeks, and then resoved.

But I have had other bouts of sciatica, although nothing as bad as you describe.

IMO, the best thing you can do is ice your lower back (never use heat on the back) and make sure you get enough lumbar support when sitting or driving. It also helps to lay on the floor and put your feel up on a couch or chair to relieve pressure on the spine.

What is your surgeon's long-term plan? What did the MRI reveal? I wish you all the best and hope to hear from you again.

Joe

@joy75 I can't imagine why ANYONE would not be welcome on this website. I am angered, frustrated, and just generally perplexed by all these stories of people being in severe, chronic pain not being able to get appropriate scripts for their pain. The story of the 96.5 year old gentleman who could not get any narcotic pain pils so he could live out his few remaining days in somewhat of a comfortable state really sent me over the edge.
It's a shame that the ER doc could not give you larger, refillable scripts for oxycodone. I know that everyone so scared these days of narcotic pain pills. Stories of people turning into addicts from overuse filled the airways a few years ago. These people were the exception, not the rule. I took oxycodone for a month or so after my back surgery back in 2017. It was very effective at limiting my pain. But, gee, golly whiz! I didn't become an addict. I am now also experiencing severe chronic pain and cannot convince my pain management doc to put me back on it. I truly hope you can find an empatheic doc who can help you find an answer to your pain.

I am so sorry you are dealing with this. You are so young. Is there a chance of surgery. I had L4/5 decompression age 65 and had several years pain free.

@joy75 , I'm so sorry for all you're going through. I hope you will get on that long waiting list to see the pain management doctor. As quickly as time passes it will be your turn before you know it.

joy75, I am so sorry. I have had 'bouts of sciatica in my life and it is so painful. I can't imagine how much
pain you have been in.

Years ago when I worked in the medical field, Flexeril (prescription muscle relaxant) & Tylenol were given and moist heat was put on the backside and rest. I still do this if I get a flare up and it has worked for me every time.

Praying for you and I am so sorry you have battled this for so long. Blessings & Prayers...

I also have sciatica. I also have severe lower back pain. I have to be very careful how I bend or twist or the sciatica will flair up. Have you tried a back brace? You have a pinched nerve there and you gotta do something to get it released. Maybe doing the yoga pose where you get on knees and elbows and stretch as far forward as you can with arms on the floor. I also use a heating pad when it's very bad. It may sound crazy but I've also stood and slightly did the twist. There's a nerve that runs through the groin area called the piriformis muscle. It can get caught there too. I've folded many a heating pad and jammed it in that area and believe it or not it helps some. I've also laid on sofa with something under my knees to separate and take pressure off lower back. I also kept a little booklet and wrote down every day my pain level, what I did to relieve pain, if possible like soaking in tub of hot water, what I was able to physically do, how it hurt when I went to the bathroom etc. I took it with me to doctor and asked them to scan that in my chart. I know it hurts to move but that's all you can do but do it very gently and slowly and the nerve will slowly release. It put me in the bed for a week once and my boyfriend called a non emergency service to take me to orthopedic office and gave me a shot. I had not been able to sit or stand for 7 days but after that shot I sat up on that stretcher and the nurse said "don't you get down from there" I said "I'm not, I haven't been in a vertical position for 7 days and I just want to sit upright". I walked out of that doctors office. Got another shot in 30 days and he prescribed some potent muscle relaxers and hydrocodone. If you have the MRI's and scans that prove you're in that much pain it's crazy to have to wait that long. I'd be calling EMS once a week until I finally got some relief. I saw a chiropractor right when I started having issues, mine was from sitting on 5 gallon bucket bending over pulling weeds from a garden we were making and all the repetitive bending separated the lumbar spine enough and wore the disc's enough that it got ahold of the nerve, and my back felt really good for about 3 days then the pain came back. I wish I had better answers for you. I have to wear a back brace still because when I stand in one place too long my thighs get so numb I couldn't feel a hot poker touch them. I can't stand and cook like I used to. I cook a little at the time. The back brace presses in on my lower abdomen and changes things there. I've asked my pain management doctor at what point do we do something? I don't want to wake up one morning and not be able to get out of bed because I can't feel my legs. I'm 67, not active either. I have a treadmill I got years ago and use it sometimes. I have neuropathy in feet and hands but it's really hard to know if it's from my back and pinched nerve in neck from doing hair for over 20 years or a result of chemotherapy after 12 treatments for cancer. Had my last one yesterday and I'm gonna need more. Got morphine for bone pain that's going to last about a week after this Udenyca shot goes off this afternoon. I could also stand to lose about 30 pounds too which may help a lot but my oncologist has advised me this is not the time for a diet change. Can you make some calls or go to primary care doctor to maybe see someone to get a shot in your back? Seems like they might would do that at the hospital. I really hope you get some relief of some kind soon. I know exactly how you feel. 🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️

Good morning (I hope). I really feel for you as I have also suffered with sciatica for quite a while. Like you, at times, it was on both sides at the same time. Just diabolical! I was so much at my wits’ end that I stupidly spent thousands of dollars at this scammy clinic that had just opened ) and since closed!) that said it could help me. It was quite true when I was on their stretching table, but THE EFFECT DID NOT LAST. I then saw this advertisement for a decompression belt to relieve sciatica. I did not know if this was a scam or not, but I needed relief! All I had to lose was the cost of the belt. Turns out it was one of the BEST purchases I have EVER made. It is even useful if you have lower back pain, and not always sciatica. If I remember right at first I wore it pretty constantly during the day for about two weeks and that got things under control. The belt comes with a pump that allows you to expand the width. After that, I started putting it on (without the pump) first thing in the morning for an hour or two. It just FEELS SO GOOD! I still have the very occasional mild flare-up that disappears nearly immediately.
I don’t know if there are other brands on the market, but I purchased Dr Ho’s decompression belt, the one with the red round sticker on it ( the one with the blue sticker is more expensive and is for upper back pain also). It costs $104. at Walmart’s here in Canada. I really hope you try this belt as IT WORKS!
Good luck to you!

Francine

Hello Joy.

Have you tried Tramadol? (UK name).

I know exactly how you feel having went through years of utter hell with sciatica. I had to resign from my last job due to it. I've tried too many drugs to mention none of which helped at all because my doctors were reluctant to prescribe opioids or synthetic opioids, so I'll keep this short without getting into the saga of my own experience.

The only thing that eventually worked for me was Tramadol. It was total relief, amazing.
I found my dose for pain loss was initially 2x 50mg capsules around 6 hours appart which can be increased if needs be.

They can make you feel a bit "woozy" when you first take them but that only lasted a couple of days and was replaced by a warm relaxed feeling and total pain relief.

I'm sad to say I built up a high tolerance during a sciatica bout of almost a year and no longer take it hoping the efficacy returns one day.

I currently take Zomorph for an undiagnosed chronic abdominal tenderness and pain problem (perhaps some form of fibromyalgia) I picked up last year so taking that helps with the sciatica as a side bonus. It's not total relief because of my opioid tolerance via the Tramadol but helps turn the pain volume down.

Good luck.

@joy75 I am sorry but it DOES seem like your cauda equina is being compressed! I had the same thing. (exactly the same from your description!) Was ALSO TOLD BY A NEUROSURGEON HE COULDN'T DO A THING. (What a jerk and he ended up being the head of a dept at the biggest teaching university in the U.S.. after 20 years). You need to see an ORTHOPEDIC surgeon, with current MRI in hand. But honestly, they will do a simple xray in their office so don't worry if your MRI is older than one year. I had FOUR different opinions. By the time I walked into my prince charming surgeon, it took a blink of an eye for me to say DO IT (the surgery). My vertebra had actually fused ITSELF together when the disc fell out over 20 years. I had the SAME debilitation in my legs. The nerves were permanently damaged by the time I found prince charming surgeon. Everything you described is your Cauda Equina being SQUISHED to their demise. I am THRILLED with my lumbar surgery every day of every week of every month of every year since 2018. GET ANOTHER OPINION from a good orthopedic school! (did I say I had FOUR?!) Private doctors were terrible, I found. One said I had nothing but a sprained back, the other wanted to completely fuse me from neck to tailbone! DON'T STOP reaching out. It sounds like you are being ran through the hamster wheel. I know. My orthopedic work is done at UCSD.

@joy75
You're more than welcome and you worry about you, not us. You have enough on your plate.

I used to suffer Cluster Headache for 20 years and I'd never even met anyone similar that could understand what I was going through. I still get them but nowhere near as frequent.

I joined a start-up support forum around 2005. It was such a great comfort to speak to other people from around the world and compare experiences, treatments or just even have a laugh together. It's since developed into an full blown international awareness organisation.

* Getting the right doctor IS half the battle.

I live in Scotland and over the years the pressure on the NHS means we no longer have a family doctor at our local clinic. Every time I attend it's somebody different.
I've had the odd good one and some very, very bad ones that won't listen at all even to the point of being rude that just brush you off to an infuriating degree.

Try to see somebody else if you can as it doesn't seem your doc is taking you seriously and is an obstical to you. I've been there and just got lucky.
Don't give up, keep hammering away at them and you may get your way, if anything just for them to shut you up. Better still get somebody else until you find a decent one. Even formally complain.

Why should you live a crappy lifestyle in needless agony because of them? You having paid into a healthcare system your whole life then be fobbed off when you're desperate for help. It's ridiculous.

Hang in there and best wishes.