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Wheels
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 1160
Location: Needham, MA6/19/13 8:26 AM |
Sciatica
I have what is believed is a form of sciatica, and it is the most painful thing I have had to endure for the past several weeks. Only pain in my life that was worse was when my Aorta tore open and that was a 20 on a scale of 1-10. We are in the upper 8's for this and it is almost constant.
I am at PT/Doc, stretching and I am now being told it could be 8 weeks before it heals or we need to do something else. I sit on an ice pack all day and eat Ibuprofen every 4 h. Walking is fine, it is the sitting and transition from sitting to standing.
Sucks.
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19200
Location: PDX6/19/13 8:38 AM |
eeesh, sorry to hear that. I have had a bout here and there myself. Mostly when I used to fly off a motocross bike and land wrong[er].
Wishing you a full and speedy recovery!
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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6935
Location: Maine6/19/13 9:00 AM |
Good luck
Sounds crappy indeed, I haven't had that so I can't offer any pointers. Maybe you'll wake up one morning and it's gone. Maybe Rick and Pete can come over and wait on you. Hope it abates shortly.
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19200
Location: PDX6/19/13 9:09 AM |
FWIW, when my pinched femoral nerve was most symptomatic I was sitting funky in attempts to lessen the discomfort. Which mostly manifested in my tail bone and hips hurting. But not while I was sitting, after I got up. Although the movie theater seat cause it to be a real problem for some reason. A lot of the pain and discomfort I experienced was in fact from trying to keep the pain in the hip and nerve by sitting sideways in the car and that kind of thing. Which caused collateral pain as bad as the femoral pain.
My thigh is actually still numb 7 months later, but little radiating pain anymore. Cycling THANK GOD never aggravated/exacerbated symptoms. I am lucky this occurred over the winter, and I have got so used to not feeling the surface of my thigh I don;t much notice.
I hope your bout is a lot less of a window in time and pain that mine was!
I am only off the daily NSAID 3x3day in the last 3 weeks. I hope my liver does not fall out...
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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield6/19/13 4:01 PM |
Wheels, Any precipitating event? Weight lifting, extended idle time in a recliner? Moving to a new house? Too many "make up miles" leaning over a road bike?
Pain? I'll agree. At one point early on I literally broke into a drenching cold sweat when I tried to stand up.
Yoga, core exercises
Link to Mayo Clinic Fitness area.
Look into an anti-inflammatory diet, go vegan for a while, no sugar if you can stand it.
There is strong evidence that often lower back pain (sciatica starts there) can be linked to emotional stress. I recall a symposium at U Wash that cited studies of lower back MRIs with no apparent damage or stenosis but the patient presented with sciatica, and vice versa, bad damage with no symptoms. Sometimes it's bad marriage, bad job, bad back. Marriage ends, new job, better back.
If it comes down to surgery today's everyday procedures are so far ahead of 'turn of the century' state of the art in terms of how invasive and how much scar tissue is created. Still, see 3 surgeons and after each one gives a diagnosis, ask about the other surgeons to root out the eager one. The surgeon's community is small, they won't be direct talking about each other but they'll be honest. IMO surgery's still the last resort no matter how advanced.
Best wishes.
Sparky: The feeling will come back. I think when you first reported it someone mentioned motor comes back before sensory. My experience jibes with that axiom.
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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2635
Location: Canberra, Australia6/19/13 4:31 PM |
I had a bad bout of sciatica about half a dozen years ago. I made myself up a harness based on something my old yoga teacher used to put up at her classes, and I hang upside down for several minutes first thing each morning. It keeps the sciatica under control without needing any drugs:
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19200
Location: PDX6/19/13 5:11 PM |
Nick 'Pain' Payne hanging about. ;)
That looks useful actually.
I got Elaine one of those inversion things to hang upside down. Nick's method would probably be better as she said it hurt her hip/leg joint. This would not be the case with Nicks method...
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KerryIrons
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 3255
Location: Midland, MI6/19/13 6:54 PM |
Hammer time?
Nick,
MC Hammer called. He wants his pants back.
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Matthew Currie
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 803
Location: Vermont6/19/13 7:36 PM |
Others are addressing the actual sciatica, and I will just mention that if you have not yet done so, have a deep critical look at your car seats if you drive any long distances. Both my wife and I have gotten sciatica from certain car seats, and not from others. We often drive long distances, and it's the seats that largely determine what car we get these days. It's not just whether the seats feel good or are well made. The best long distance car I ever had was an old Scout with seats that would make a tractor blush. I can go for ten hours in a Jeep or a Ford Focus, and hobble after ten minutes in a Toyota Matrix.
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mag7
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 888
Location: Lake James, NC6/19/13 7:36 PM |
Hopefully not a disc herniation or rupture.
Advil did not touch my nerve pain, ask your doc about a script for diclofenac.
My dose was 75mg twice a day.
Ask him to schedule a MRI and if that is positive, find a good neuro doc and he may order a CT Myleogram once they pinpoint the exact area of impingement.
Then you will know what you are dealing with and if a endoscopic procedure can be done to fix it, you will hug your neuro doc.
I am six months out after having a four level lumbar laminectomy and just finished a 23 mile ride with no lower back pain, so hang in there, you can be fixed.
I also had a vertical sleeve gasterectomy (so long life as a super clydesdale) on May 15th but that is another story.
Good luck.
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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield6/19/13 10:29 PM |
Car seats made me remember, if it's your left leg, and you drive a clutch, that might be the problem. Drive for years with no problem, then one day something changes.
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19200
Location: PDX6/19/13 11:39 PM |
"drive a clutch, that might be the problem"
That is what the Doc first thought caused my nerve issue. The car I was given to drive @ work was a stick and I had not had one for 5 years or so. But it turned out it was the seat belt. The Del Sol does no seem to aggravate it thankfully.
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sandiway
Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Posts: 4902
Location: back in Tucson6/20/13 1:15 AM |
chiropractor
I had sciatica briefly back around 2000. My spine was poorly aligned and muscles in the lower back and hamstrings were overly tight. It flared up sitting in my POS car during driving.
But the amazing thing is, in certain positions, it would go away. And when a good chiropractor re-aligned me properly, the problem disappeared.
YMMV,
Sandiway
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Wheels
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 1160
Location: Needham, MA6/20/13 6:47 AM |
Making Progress
So after about 2 weeks of PT,stretching and strength building, pain has now subsided to a 5 or 6 and is less frequent. If I stay mobile it is not really noticed, only when I transition from sitting, after sitting for 5+min and in my car.
I do have a bulged disc, at least in 2004, but I am told it can't be too bad as I have complete sensation in all areas of my foot only very intermittent bouts of pain. This time I think it is more an aggravated sciatic nerve in the buttocks area that gets pressed on while sitting.
2 out the 3 cars we own are manual/standard trannies and my wife typically drives the autotranny one. I'd rather drive a MT anyway. And my issues are with the leadfoot, not the clutch leg.
I don't wish this injury on anyone.
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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6935
Location: Maine6/20/13 8:32 AM |
Got it
Sell the M3 to Hardy or Hausner. Rick needs a change from that sweet Taurus wagon...
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Wheels
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 1160
Location: Needham, MA6/20/13 9:09 AM |
Dan, your WAY behind the times.
I guess the snow has just melted in Maine and you've awaken from your hibernation.
Hardy: Drives a FUGLY Orange Honda Fit now and he moved out of his house and lives in it down by the river. Both statements are true, the car is FUGLY and he moved next to the Charles River away from Town Center.
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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6935
Location: Maine6/20/13 9:26 AM |
Well
I knew he moved, but the new car doesn't sound like much of an improvement.
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rickhardy
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 1492
Location: Needham outside of Boston - the hub of the universe6/20/13 9:28 AM |
Dan So you now know
the reason why for my Wheels voodo doll..... those pins seem to be working extremely well maybe time to stick another in since he seems to be getting better :)
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19200
Location: PDX6/20/13 9:38 AM |
LOL
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