Pain in the butt - Can't sit down

Wasn't sure which one of you to reply to as it sends that there are quite a few of us with a pain in the a@@. I describe it like it feels as if I were sitting on a boulder. But it hurts whether sitting, lying down, standing or walking. And wrapped around the hip into the pelvis. An ortho diagnosed a hamstring tear, which was confirmed by an MRI. A cortisone shot was administered, such helped for 4 days.

For reference, I am a 68-year-old woman who has had 14 ortho surgeries so I did not tear this doing extreme sports! 🙂

A second opinion confirmed hamstring tear but suspected there was also a spine component, which was confirmed by MRI. After a 4-level laminectomy on "as bad a spine as the neurosurgeon had seen", the surgical pain and subsequent god awful nerve pain in my legs masked the hamstring issue.

However, 7 months later the initial "sitting on a rock" pain is back, but now is bilateral. And more back pain than pre-surgery.

The surgeon shrugs his shoulder, PM doc tells me I'm stupid for having had the surgery and there's nothing he can (or is it will?) do. MAYO won't see me with out-of- network insurance.

Can anyone else provide clarity or have any viable suggestions for us?

Sometimes I think you are better off going to see a witch doctor than some of these "medical specialists'. After an orthopedic surgeon told me that there was nothing to be done about my pain, and I should just learn to live with it, I decided right then and there that I had to become my own best advocate. Don't just accept some guy's opinion/diagnosis because he has a lot of letters after his name. They are just human and make mistakes. Just read all the stuff going on in people's lives in this blog.

I agree with you on this. I was having a sitting problem and a Doctor told me to try a tailbone pillow to sit on. The one one I bought was a simple one with a donut hole, you know they make different try. A different one might work for you.

I was on the Cymbalta for 2 months. I did not have trouble coming off of it, some trouble on it. I was on the Lyrica for 8 months.
I am currently on a low dose of Cymbalta, 30mg for 4 months. My doctor wants to raise it to the 60 mg. I am not on Lyrica. I wanted to try to fix the nerve pain but am headed towards medication as well. The pain levels get way beyond my tolerance at times. I am going to the pain management group.

I've been having the painful sitting issue for over 7 years. Like you, I have been to every imaginable specialist. Nothing. Sitting is very painful. Standing has become more painful. The only time I have minimal pain is when I am lying down. Fortunately, I get decent sleep. The only crazy thing is this: if I sleep with both feet under the blankets, there is a good chance that my right big toe will begin to feel like a hot spike is being driven into it. If I sleep with my right foot sticking out from under the covers, it never happens. Now, has anyone else experienced such a crazy thing? This just started within the last year.

The toe issue may be gout. I had that at one time. I removed any dark colored soda, and any type of organ meat [hotdogs, sausage, etc. ] from my diet. I began drinking about 3 oz of Tart Cherry juice daily. This absolutely stopped that hot, sharp pain in my toes. No more gout for me!!

Thanks. I had the toe checked out by foot doc... x-rays, uric acid, etc. No indication of gout. Pretty sure it's related to my back issues. In fact I can feel some "electrical tingling" in the ball of my foot as I write. Another mystery for the ages.

I had a pudendal nerve block - terrible pain for the first couple of weeks, then pain went to a lower level. Unfortunately still more painful than before I had the block. Where do you go for treatment?
I went to pain doc at Mayo.

@maddiemae, @heisenberg34
I am so sorry for all your pain. Only people who have had severe pain, whatever the cause, can understand. I really am helped by Lyrica and Cymbalta but since I’ve gotten my spinal cord stimulator I hope to get off them. I started with Cymbalta and it is very difficult to reduce. You have to reduce it very, very slowly or go through hard withdrawal pain. But I am doing it. I really have been helped by my spinal cord stimulator but it’s a long process getting started and a lot of people don’t seem to realize this or don’t have good technical followup support. You have to work with a tech rep and go slow, waiting 48 hours before evaluating each change of settings. But it has helped me a lot and might help you too.