Does anyone else get sciatic pain?

[farleyv]

So much good information.

I have a friend who swears by taking water exercise. There is a pool at my therapy place.

When I had the therapy, they used damp heat, electrical stim, exercises, and traction. I suppose I just didn't give it long enough and then didn't do the exercises. I am not a very disiplined person when it comes to my own health. So busy during the day, that I suddenly realize when I go to bed, oh I never did those exercises!

That seems to be the general concensus that exercises are the answer. I need to turn over a new leaf and be consistant. Ugh.

Thanks for the info.

 

[pookie-poo]

I have lower back pain due to SPONDYLOLISTHESIS. My job as a surgical assistant exacerbates the pain. I find that moving heavy patients, and holding abdominal wall retractors in awkward positions, for hours at a time, makes my pain nearly unbearable some days.

I can't take NSAIDs due to acute renal failure caused by NSAID use years ago. I have a TENS/MNES unit that I use for the pain, which gives some relief. I have done physical therapy and chiropractic treatments with varying success. Massage helps acutely, but doesn't control the pain for any length of time. I have had 3 series of facet blocks (steroid injections) in the last 3 years. The first set brought total relief of my pain for a year. The second set did absolutely nothing for the pain. The set that I had done a month ago brought some relief, but not complete. My neurosurgeon says that eventually I will need to have a spinal fusion with instrumentation done. I'm trying everything possible to put that off indefinitely......I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to continue working in the OR if I had PLIF surgery.

 

[Winchester]

I had a bad bout of sciatica several years ago, which lasted about 7 weeks or so. And I've told DH that he has my permission to just shoot me if it ever comes back because I refuse to go through that again. He had to help me put on my underwear for cryin' out loud! I couldn't do anything by myself.

We had to do some Christmas shopping and I could walk only a few steps before stopping to put my right leg up; the pain was that bad. I cooked by sitting on the kitchen counter because I couldn't stand. We went down to our kids house that year for Thanksgiving and I was down for the count; I couldn't even stand up long enough to help with dishes.

There was only one position that I could lie in bed in because everything else hurt so badly.

That was during my Fall from Hell. Everything that could happen did happen. It started in the fall with sciatica, went to my left knee (which put me on crutches for six weeks), continued with a wisdom tooth that decided to finally come through....into the roots of the adjacent tooth and both teeth had to be removed. Then I had one gall bladder attack after another and finally had the gall bladder removed. The whole thing, from start to finish, lasted about six months or so. I've always been fairly healthy, so it was an entirely new experience for me....and one that I hope I never have to live through again.

I couldn't exercise at the time, simply because the pain was excruciating and then I was on crutches, too. But I agree with those who say that exercise is the best thing you can do for yourself.