Sciatica
- Thread starter Blue2010
- Start date
I had mine taken out when I was like 5 . .
Hope you feel better.
Hope you feel better.
Sounds like some weekly show on SyFy.
Do you do your exercises for it? That helps some. You can also do ten minutes of heat then ten minutes of ice packs. I had problems with it when I worked at the hospital moving patients around and to and from the stretcher and I thought I'd die! It really does suck ass!
Nah...makes it worse. Only thing that has helped me is the steroid injection...but thanks to our awesome health system, the wait to get one is usually 3 weeks. You have to see your regular doctor, who tells you have exactly what you already knew you had...he shoots over his "report" (which is a one pager saying to the next specialist what you already told said specialist you need to have done)...then said specialist reviews the report with other specialists...then you get put in a waiting line to get this done. It's friggin 5 minute procedure!
When I had this the first time, I literally tried physical therapy for 6 months, which accomplished absolutely nothing, and that one five minute procedure...the pain was gone instantly. I was so pissed and relieved at the same time.
If you guys have never had this -- you're blessed. All I can say. I would rather have cancer (kidding, I think).
Yes, I feel your pain with the healthcare mess. It has screwed me more ways than you can imagine. It is very painful indeed. I'll pray for you.
I have heard that caffeine and lack of sleep can make symptoms worse.
Doubt that's true tho.
LOLOL I thought the same thing when I read the title. And then I tried to rhyme with it and I thought of..
Just making my rounds now...if I have ever offended any of you fine folks on here, I am deeply sorry. lol. Please forgive me! 
Wound up getting an emergency appointment with the spine specialist (sparing you the details, but when you've been athletic your entire life, being in a position of not even being able to sit up, stand up, or even move at all...literally immobile)...that's a pretty scary feeling. Got the spinal injection, bunch of meds, but the doc said if I didn't have that done, the next step would have been back surgery in the near future.
I will never criticize Coack K for this again. I was wrong. (PS - the loses still should belong to him)
Wound up getting an emergency appointment with the spine specialist (sparing you the details, but when you've been athletic your entire life, being in a position of not even being able to sit up, stand up, or even move at all...literally immobile)...that's a pretty scary feeling. Got the spinal injection, bunch of meds, but the doc said if I didn't have that done, the next step would have been back surgery in the near future.
I will never criticize Coack K for this again. I was wrong. (PS - the loses still should belong to him)
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If you end up eventually needing surgery, make sure to get second opinions and explore all options. I generally have a very high opinion of the hospital here, but the doctors here wanted my dad to have open-back surgery five years ago for spinal stenosis in combination with other back issues. They were going to fuse discs, which transfers the stress to the next disc and starts a domino effect of needing additional fusions periodically. In my experience most people are never the same after that starts.
Dad found a facility in Florida that did a minimally invasive, arthroscopic laser surgery. He could hardly walk going down there, and got pushed through the airport in a wheelchair. The day after the surgery he was walking laps around the parking lot of his hotel. After five pain-free years, he just had the other side of his spine done (which they had planned to do at the time of the original surgery, but decided it wasn't necessary yet at that time). Hopefully he can continue to avoid the fusions and more invasive procedures as long as possible. But he would never have known about the other option if he hadn't researched it on his own.
Dad found a facility in Florida that did a minimally invasive, arthroscopic laser surgery. He could hardly walk going down there, and got pushed through the airport in a wheelchair. The day after the surgery he was walking laps around the parking lot of his hotel. After five pain-free years, he just had the other side of his spine done (which they had planned to do at the time of the original surgery, but decided it wasn't necessary yet at that time). Hopefully he can continue to avoid the fusions and more invasive procedures as long as possible. But he would never have known about the other option if he hadn't researched it on his own.
Julez,
Thanks for the info -- any chance of getting the name of that facility? I agree surgery is an absolute last resort. I would like to avoid it at all cost. The specialist I saw yesterday agreed, but said if it came to surgery, it would be cutting out a portion of the disc itself to stop it from pressing on the sciatic nerve, but he said it is possible the disc grow back and does the same thing again.
No problem, I should know anyway, I was just drawing a blank. There were actually two different ones for the two procedures (due to insurance shenanigans). Bonati was the first and Laser Spine Institute was the second.
The Laser Spine Institute advertises all the damn time here, which is crazy to me because they don't even have a location in GA.
Don't wait too long to do something, you can get permanent nerve damage. Happened to my wife and a good friend of mine as well.
Wow, not one like? Y'all clearly don't watch The League and thus clearly aren't worthy of my friendship.LOLOL I thought the same thing when I read the title. And then I tried to rhyme with it and I thought of..
Oh yeah, I've heard of that. He said "watch" so I was thinking it was some ongoing TV show. Anyway, that movie looked like trash, so I didn't bother.THN is a big Sean Connery guy:
So, I spent all weekend completely immobile. Once I got the spinal injection, this went downhill fast. Apparently the response time for the shot is 3-5 days...for anyone who has never had this, consider yourself extremely lucky and fortunate. It is absolutely brutal. Imagine every time you stand up, your leg completely locks up with the worst cramp you can imagine...and you immediately fall back to the floor. The only "relief" is laying on the floor with your entire leg just throbbing...and this is 24 hours every day until you fix this. Physical Therapy is recommended so long as there's no pain...if in pain and trying PT, you're only making it worse. Ice and Heat are useless. You're only option is (1) get the steroid injection ASAP...hoping they do it properly and get the nerve correctly...then waiting it out for it to take effect...or (2) going the surgery route, which is also not a sure bet of success.
Finally this morning, I just couldn't take it anymore and convinced the doctor to give me the strongest shit humanly possible.
If I never post again, you'll know that jumping off the bridge was deemed a better option.
PS - Sciatic Nerve -- Go F*ck Yourself.
THN is a big Sean Connery guy:
There are no words.
Geez man, I didn't know you were in this bad a shape when I made a joke earlier.
Is there anything I can do to help out on the home front while you're under these super-pain-killers, you know, just until you're up and running on your own again . . ?
Lemme know . .
It's all good, Billy. I don't take offense to any of that stuff, man.
Hell, I'm just laying the foundation here to start a GoFundMe campaign and get some of that Cae$h!
I've done a ton of research on this, and apparently nerve damage from what I've got is extremely rare. I'm not really worried about that, in all honesty. I would love to know how to prevent it though. I have a pretty active lifestyle, and there's no way to know what, or when, this flares up...the symptoms gradually appear days later and it takes a few weeks to progress to the point it did with me this time.
I ruptured a disc 12 years ago and was pretty much bedridden until I had surgery. Felt like a toothache from my butt down to my left foot. I literally did not sleep one minute for the week prior to my surgery, started hallucinating from lack of sleep. I had surgery and it helped tremendously, gave me my life back. I still have occasional pain and numbness in my calf and foot. I've had 3 knee surgeries but nothing compared to the pain associated with hurting my back. I feel for you.
I know surgery is a last resort and that they've made advances in treatment since I had mine. But it enabled me to keep working. Good luck. I'll say a prayer for you.
I know surgery is a last resort and that they've made advances in treatment since I had mine. But it enabled me to keep working. Good luck. I'll say a prayer for you.
Sorry to hear how bad this is. I've had sciatic flares but nothing like what you're describing. I'll keep praying for you. It sounds horrible.
Sorry to hear how bad this is. I've had sciatic flares but nothing like what you're describing. I'll keep praying for you. It sounds horrible.
Thanks - I try not to air dirty laundry on here, but I just needed a sounding board, so thanks for "listening." It sucks when you literally cannot move, but yet I have a fulltime job and a company, and the world doesn't stop -- things just pile up. And then you have two young kids who need to eat, need to get to school and back, etc. It's so easy for the doctor to say "you need to rest and relax" when he doesn't have "life" at home / work that still needs to happen.
Thanks guys...I'll try to stop complaining. If anyone gets this, I genuinely feel for you.
Hope you feel better soon, and I hope you find a more permanent remedy for the issue. Sounds terrible.
I totally understand. I was a single mom with a deadbeat parent who wouldn't ever help at all.
It's hard to do but keep seeing yourself back in good health and strong again. The power our minds have is amazing but difficult to master. Hugs.
Much appreciation again...I'll get there. Just really needed a sounding board, and as you could imagine...my wife has had to pick up a ton of the slack so that's really not a good avenue at the moment for me venting about "my problems." Doesn't end well.
Even Internet friends can offer a shoulder to lean on sometimes, Blue. You can almost bet that someone in your "extended Carolina family" has been through something similar. Hang in there.
Blue, have you had an MRI? I had problems like yours 2 years ago. Found out I had a tumor called a Schwannoma that was causing my issues. I got instant relief after surgery. In fact, I was bird hunting again 2 weeks later.
