Sciatica and fibro... need suggestions

I have sacroiliitis which is very similar to sciatica. A muscle relaxer helped me a lot...that and ibuprofen with food. The pain was so intense that I had difficulty lifting my feet an inch to take a tiny step and I was walking with two canes. I had pain running down each leg and trying to get my legs into bed was unbelievable. Since the muscle relaxer has been added, and the ibuprofen, I'm back to walking just fine..just with mild pain that I had before the sacroiliitis...and getting in and out of bed is back to my normal too.

I hope you can see your doctor soon. These are unbelievably painful conditions.

Sherrine

Sciatica can be some of the worst pain...nerve pain, hurts! The first thing, I do is take a NSAID like ibuprofen or aleve to get the swelling around the nerve down to alleviate some of the pressure. I also take a muscle relaxer. In the past, I've gone through PT learning some exercises and eventually required a lumbar laminectomy...back surgery. Make sure you don't wait too long to get this treated. I played around with it for years and ended up with permanent nerve damage in the front of my right leg, from the knee down. Over ten years since my surgery and sciatica will rear it's ugly head on occasion. Resting during a flare and using a combination of cold packs first and using heat a day later helps me. Watch how you bend and avoid twisting your spine.

Good luck to you...there are pain meds that can also help if needed. Vicodin was helpful during the worst of it.

Hugs, Robin

I had to do physical therapy to get mine under control. Cold packs, muscle rubs, using my thigh muscles to stand and sit, percussion massager, trigger point therapy....and time.

Booklvr,

Oh dear me, yes....some of the worst pain I've ever had! I feel for you. 

Like Robin, I had to have a lumbar laminectomy and discectomy, almost 2 years ago.  The same spot that had been the bane of my existence for years suddenly went "POW!!" when I turned over in bed one morning (disc rupture.)  Six weeks and 2 steroid injections later, I had the surgery.

I have some permanent nerve damage, too - but it's NOTHING like the pain before.  I'm still on a low dose of Hydrocodone, and Gabapentin for the pain and nerve damage.  But I walk around normally...my legs, especially the left one, doesn't feel like it used to, but at least I'm mobile.

I would say ** be very careful, don't push it! ** - and I wouldn't go to a chiropractor, myself.  (I actually did, twice, the week before my disc ruptured, because that area was feeling particularly numb and out of whack.)  Try to get an MRI as soon as possible, so you know what you're dealing with.

I used an electric cart in stores for months...now only when I'm especially pooped or in pain - very rarely.

Good luck to you!

Debbie 

Worst worst pain ever !! Well sharpest ever .. have had several episodes..

pain med, muscle relaxers
ice plus heat packs.
(. I do NOT like ice so use ice only on THE spot w/ heat packs nearby ) plus physical therapy
Are what seemed to work best

Hoping the best for you - soonest !

Just my opinion, unlike most of the people here I am pro-Chiropractic, anti-Pain Meds. I don't mean Nsaids, Tylenol, even muscle relaxers in small amounts and definitely Physical Therapy if your insurance will cover it. I would also Strongly advise Gentle or Hatha Yoga, look it up, its good for fibro and all kinds of back pain from Sciatica to Scoliosis(that's what i have, as well as Spinal Stenosis and a malformed hip joint). I do not use narcotics and I would NEVER have back surgery unless my spine was actual BROKEN. I feel very strongly about this, but it is just my opinion, this is your journey and you have to do what's right for you. I wish you well and please Keep In Touch.

Currently I have sciatic pain intermittently. If I stay in one position, especially sitting, it gets aggravated. My sciatica pain is dominant to my left side. There was s time where I could not sit for more than five minutes without it my sciatica kicking in. What has helped me immensely is chiropractic work ( graston technique dry needdling & cupping.) I also get a massage once a month and do stretches at home for my piriformis. This past fall I had four cortisone injections in my lower back which have loosened up my lower back muscles tremendously. I live in Colorado state and my chiropractor is part of a phenomenal fibromyalgia clinic.

You need to find out what is causing your sciatica to flare up.

Hope this helps,

Keribethmable

P.S. I also use a Tens machine at least twice a day, if not more.

Keribethmable, may I ask what part of Colorado you live in? Both my daughter and I have FM, and I suspect my son also has it. I would have sent an email to you, but there was none listed on your account.

I have sciatica on both sides, and it is very painful! Sitting for a long time, especially in the car, will make it flare up. I also have facet arthropathy and DDD. I have to get Toradol injections occasionally when the pain gets so severe that I can't take it anymore. I also take hydrocodone and gabapentin. I have nerve damage in my left thigh. I have a really big ice pack that my sister got me when she was seeing a physical therapist. I will literally sit on the ice pack, and that does help.

Hope you can get in to see someone soon.

I discussed this is another forum but, for me, the best 'cure' was working with a PT who told me that I was squeezing a disc with my stance. To correct it, it's as easy as laying down and doing back bends. It isn't an overnight fix, but after about a week you should notice some change. I always had issues with pain also accompanied in either my tail bone (bulging disc referred pain, weird eh??), and the iliac area. Happy to say that this exercise helped all three.

Lay on your belly and do a back bend until you have reached the angle that is uncomfortable - and just hold it there for ten seconds. Do this repeatedly for about 5 minutes, slowly making that angle farther and farther away from the floor. Feel free to take as long as your need. its not a race, but a marathon. Also, another tool is if you feel pain on either *side*, pull up that particular leg, like a frog, and continue doing back bends until the pain subsides. The point is not to get your leg as high, pretty froggy, it's to get your pain out of your sciatica and into your lumbar area where there is more support and less nerves on fire.

I realize your sciatica might not be caused by a bulged disc necessarily but I have found that this stretches cure a LOT of what ails me in my lower body. *shrug*

(Also, not sitting on my couch. Or bed for any length of time in the same position.)

Post Edited (AnnaBananna) : 1/6/2014 8:06:42 AM (GMT-7)

Thanks for the tips Annabananna!

Keribethmarble: I live about 3 hours SW of you. I'm betting a 3-hour drive after getting treatment might not be the best thing for me right now. It's all I can do to get to town once a week. :)

It's nice to know there are some of us living not TOO far from each other, though.

I feel your pain. Thats how mine started out. My sciatica hurt for almost 5 months before i got any relief. My doctor put me on gabapentine. It took several days to work, but finally most of the pain was gone. But, the other day i scrubbed my floors and now i'm in pain again. I hope you get relief soon. Let me know if the chiropractor works. I was thinking about doing that too.

I'm glad you're doing so much better - and that it wasn't a disc problem.

This seems to be a theme here on the forum right now: not overdoing! May you keep your vow when Christmas rolls around again!

Debbie