Sciatica treatments
 

OK, been suffering from lower back pain and sciatica on and off for over 20 years but the sciatica has got really bad the last couple of weeks!

I am only getting by on Vicodin and Flexoril at night as otherwise I want to saw my leg off at the hip. I am looking at preventative measures as well as Acupunture, acupressure, epidural steroid shots, etc. Just NO surgery!!!!!

Any hints or tips from the medically educated/employed out there as well as folks who have/are suffering from this??

Its driving me nuts so any help is appreciated:thumbup:

You need eval with ortho. Probably aggressive physical therapy.
I use some natural stuff and got off the drugs to help the spasm.
Ice your lower back at the end of a hard day.
The stuff I use is at www.athleticwellness.com, onthe front page.
FLEXIBILITY>

although it wasn't a chronic issue, my wife's accupunture seemed to do the trick.

Wow! I want to try that.

I had the same problem about 5 years ago. Went to a chiropractor for about a year, and he gave me exercises to do. After a few months the pain went away, but I still do the exercises.

He explained that the problem is not the pain -- that is only the symptom. If you only look for solutions to get rid of the pain (i.e. accupunture), it will only get worse over time. You need to get some kind of theropy so that your vertebrae in your lower back move back into proper position. The sciatica pain is occuring because 2 vertebrae are too close to eachother and are rubbing together and pinching the sciatica nerve. If this condition is left untreated, it will eventually become irreversable.

Also can be Sciatic outlet occlusion.

I had an epidural steroid injection (2 actually) to reduce the inflammation, in conjunction with therapy.

The epidural results (the first one) were immediate. The second took a little longer, but worked well also.

It's an easy procedure. My doc knoocked me out for it. It seemed like it was over before it started.

Once the inflammation (and major pain) was relieved, it made therapy much more productive. I was in so much pain, therapy was useless at first.

Thanks for the info guys.

My neighbours an anesthesiologist and he is recommending the same as my physician - get an MRI before you do anything to assess the damage. My last physician in CA did an MRI 7 years ago and recommended an MRI every 5 years to track any changes but of course my wonderful PPO is looking for em to do PT. I did get them down from 8 weeks of PT to 4 but with my flight schedule its like trying to squeeze a quarter into a dime slot!

I am leaning towards the epidural at the moment but definitly want to explore all of the problem management options as well to minimize this wonderful problem as I get older.

I had an MRI first, to see how bad the damage was.

My back had hurt for awhile (only a couple months), then one day, the pain in my back, hip and leg was so bad that I couldn't move, and I had to take an ambulance ride to the hospital.

After that, I had the MRI. Then one epidural, PT, another epidural, and more PT.

A couple months later, it's much better, but I'm much more careful too.

One of my family member had sciatica pain in leg and back...tried several medicines but none worked....finally accupuncture treatment fixed it.

Not to be argumentative here, but just wanted to point out that there is no quick fix for this. There are surely some quick fixes that will mask the symptoms (pain), but in the long run if you want to be able to walk in 20 or 30 years, then you will have to do something about the underlying problem.

I am very friendly with my chiropractor as his office is in the same building as mine, and he tells me that the most common problem he sees is that people stop doing theropy as soon as the pain goes away. But the problem continues to get worse, and then in 2 or 3 more years they are back in his office again, this time in much worse condition.

Also, the theropy needed is not like very difficult theropy like you would need if you broke your ankle. The theropy I did was just some stretching exercises that took about 2 minutes, and I had to do it 4 times per day -- nothing very difficult or painful at all.

Thanks Eric,

I think it depends on the severity of the pain and where it is. Went to see the doc today and after she ran some tests apparently I have no feeling around my little toe area so its time for an MRI and the next steps. She did take me off the Vicodin and put me on something a little better non-narcotic bu can't remember the name.

Thanks for all the advice guys:thumbup: . I'll let you know what works!

I've got to agree with Eric. After having two back surgery's, I have gotten a good Chiropractor, go to water aerobics 3 times a week, and have been involved with pilates for a year. My second back surgery was three years ago. Stretching and exercises for my back have become a daily routine.

I probably wouldn't have needed the second back surgery, but doctors only fix the problem, they don't make good recommendations on how to avoid future problems. I might also suggest taking a tennis ball and rolling it against your back on a wall. Back problems are caused by muscles that are tight and are pulling on your spine. The spinal problems don't just happen by themselves. Just my 2 cents.....whatever works for ya'!

Hey IFly,

If you decide to go the Chiropractic route, drop me a PM and I'll be happy to find you one. I have excellent contacts all over the US as well as internationally, and I know of several great ones in your area. Just let me know if I can help!

Pete

I am on the same boat with you. 1. MRI, 2. Cortizon(Steroid) Injection using Epidural 3. Physical Therapy. 4. I've been on Mobid last 7 weeks, (I'll dye w/o this)
My pressed nerve causes phantom pain on my rt. calf and on my bad days consequently I limp pretty bad.

About accupucture I had two days ago, the Doc (who doesn't believe in surgery) had complete different explanations. He suggested me to take herbs he prescribes to take care of my weak lung that caused the chain reaction on my body, that way it will take care of the cause of the problem not the symptoms. I didn't buy them but after 40 min of needs in my body I felt lot better at least for next 36 hous.

I've been sleeping on hardwood floor last 3 weeks since it seems to help not because I am homeless. I suggest try what works for you and stick to you.
Best wishes.

Pete,

Thanks I may take you up on the offer.

Update is the Doc has finally got my PPO insurance to agree to an MRI as I did not realize I have very little feeling around my left foot little toe. She put me on Celebrex and Tramadol so I am off the Vicodin rollercoaster and it seems to be helping as I am comfortable now. Sure helps with my Aluminium tube flying experience:)

Again thanks for all the input guys at least I know a lot of other people are going through the same thing!

herniated disc here (L4-L5), did(and still do) the PT, chiro, exercises, see a phys trainer, but what eliminated the pain was Vioxx - I really hope they bring it back - it worked great for me - "Better living through chemistry" - I hope you find something that works for you

Give that stuff I posted earlier a try. Really stopped my spasm!:thumbup:

Gothcha covered. Here's how you do it. Find a motion sensor light about 20' up the outside of some apartment building. Get a ladder and set the angle of it very steeply. Turn on power to light. Climb ladder. Hold white wire in left hand, then grab black wire with your right hand. Get shocked, fall from ladder, shatter heels and ankles in the process, and....voila.....sciatica gone. Follow it up with a nasty surgery and 7 months flat on your ass.....oh, wait, you didn't want to have surgery......never mind. Worked for me, no more sciatica....:rolleyes:

Jon - I still have it some, but not too bad. I have permanent nerve damage to my ankle because the goo inside my disk burned the nerve that controls my ankle. I never did any of the holistic or alternative stuff because the tear on the MRI was clear as day.

Ifly - I have that numbness in my foot too. hopefully, once you have the MRI, you'll be able to see what the problem is. I found that as everyone had an opinion on what I should do, almost none of them were the same, and everyone's opinion was based upon a horror or success story from someone they know. A few people experience it themselves, and had some helpful insights.

At the end of the day, I found it came down to having a doctor I could trust, doing some research of my own, and discussing things with the doc to come up with what worked best for me. I suspect that's probably true in most cases.

I've done the electric shock therapy in my youth getting shocked by a MIL standard radar unit High energy output Klystron because some government contractor couldn't shield the wiring properly. 20KV knocked me out for about 30 minutes and I can't remember a thing! Unfortunatly it may have caused my sciatica as it threw me across the room, still got the scars on the back of my left hand, if it was on the inside I wouldn't be here to tell the tale!

Have to try the falling off the ladderpart maybe thats the golden trick part of the whole exercise:)