Sciatica
 

Proving again that it's always something. Maybe 10 days ago I lifted some moderately heavy stuff, not all that stupid, was feeling a bit of back pain and a few hours later had another flair up of what has to be sciatic nerve pain in my right buttock and thigh. About 6 months ago I had an episode for a few weeks, I thought I had maybe damaged my hip cartiledge by trying to push my Bimmer out of the way of other cars in a small parking lot after a stall.

My PCP looked me over, she said it was almost certainly some agitation of the sciatic nerve, she gave me some stretches to do, sure enough it disappeared after a few weeks.

This time is quite a bit worse. Good Lord I feel like half a cripple. It's not too bad early in the day but by evening can be really bad. Hard to find a comfy position to sleep as well. I read that sometimes it will not go away w/o surgery. If herniated cartilage is pressing on the nerve, probably needs removing. And surgery that close to the nerve has risks.

Any experience with this?

No .. but I hope you feel better soon.

One of these days I'm going to have to stop thinking I'm superman.

this!

Been facing the same sorts of issues for 20+ years. You've got a good handle on the issues/concerns.

Mine is totally random, sometimes brought on by too much physical exertion, sometimes by too much seat time in a car, sometimes by absolutely nothing that I can see. I've also had it totally disappear for several years. Pain can vary from very minor to totally debilitating. Like you I've noticed that early in the day it can be pretty minor but by the end of the day it can be pretty major.

My guess is the randomness is caused by the size/shape of the passageway where the nerve is being irritated. Different activities or stimulus cause varying amounts of inflammation and widely varying amounts of pain.

Ibuprofen has proven very effective for me but I'm trying to resist using it as much as possible.

I think its all just part of the inevitable aging process.

I had a chronic problem like this. It grew worse over time, and eventually it was repaired surgically. My problem was a herniated disk at L5S1, which sounds about where your problem is. I allowed someone at work to convince me to see a chiropractor, and after as few treatments, the pain was gone, as was all the feeling in my foot. So I finally sought out a neurologist. CAT scan showed that the disk had broken up into chunks, most likely as a result of the chiropractor’s manipulation. The chunks were pressing on my spinal cord. The good news was that I had minimally invasive surgery and recovered most of my nerve function over time. I was up and walking the day of surgery, and back at work in a week. Painless. The only long term side effect is a touch of mild arthritis at the surgery site. Some suggestions:

- It can’t be diagnosed by intuition or simple X-ray. If it’s gone on for some time and they aren’t giving you a CAT scan, they’re guessing
- surgery is serious, and doesn’t always go well. So take the time to pick your surgeon.
- try everything to avoid surgery, but know when you are out of options.
- use a neurologist, not a Pcp for the initial consultation. Let him refer you to a neurosurgeon if necessary.
- avoid open surgery if possible.

Sciatica
 

Ouch .

I have this non & then too, might you have a link to explian the stretches ? .

TIA,

Excellent advice all, thank you. I spoke to an advice nurse by phone today, told her it had been about 11 days since the flareup and that it seemed to be getting worse, not better. We had a good talk, I mentioned how the Google had told me that resting it doesn’t usually help, that staying active is better. She told me that Dr. Google is not always your best friend. Based on what I told her she thought there was a chance I was causing damage. She urged me to pay a trip to the ER.

I found several articles that said the best time to go to an ER is 3 AM to 9 AM, that late afternoon early evening on Monday was the worst. I’m going to get there before 7 AM tomorrow.

I would certainly like to avoid surgery, but if expert opinion has it that I should do it, it would certainly be something to consider very strongly.

This site has several I haven’t yet tried, looks promising:

https://facty.com/conditions/sciatica/8-exercises-for-sciatica/3/

My PCP gave me several ways of doing one type of exercise and a couple of others, About midway through this short video are several variations on the main one she encouraged me to use.

https://www.webmd.com/back-pain/video/sciatica-stretches

It’s where you put your ankle or heel on the opposite knee and gently push the knee that’s hanging in the air down towards the floor. You can do it sitting, or on the floor as is shown here. As it’s my right side that’s really feeling it, if I am walking about and the pain is pretty bad, or standing still for some reason (in line somewhere, sometimes that’s the worst) I’ll steady myself with my left hand on something and with my right put my right ankle to my left knee, slightly bent, and push gently backward on the right knee with my right hand.

Especially sitting this is the one position/stretch that always makes the pain go away. I see it as a good sign that it's a good stretch. If it's hurting in bed I'll get on my back, pull the left foot back and put my right foot on my left knee and pull down a bit on the right knee. I've gone to sleep with it like that few times, even while not pulling down on the knee it's a good stretch.

She also showed me the version of that on the vid, where on your back you put the ankle on the knee and pull back on the back of the thigh to further the stretch; and the one where you pull your knee towards your face, neither leg crossed.

""trying to push my Bimmer""" <--- there it is

:D sowwwy

Not smart, I will freely admit. It's a struggle sometimes to come to grips with how dumb I've been at times. I console myself with the thought that some people seemingly are unable to consider that they have been wrong/dumb. Regret can be toxic, you can wallow in it, OTOH there is the point of view that inability to feel regret is one sign of sociopathy.

I ran across this lady, Kathy Shulz in a Youtube vid of her Ted Talk: 'Don't Regret Regret:'

https://www.ted.com/talks/kathryn_schulz_don_t_regret_regret?language=en

I've been reading more about surgery and I might look into if it seems well advised. They say here it's one of the more minimally invasive types of back surgery:

https://www.spine-health.com/blog/sometimes-surgery-quickest-path-sciatica-pain-relief

Cusing Sciatica Pain
 

It's maybe how you approach pushing the car .

In general physical exercize is good for you even as you age out , you just have to be smart about it .

As the old saw goes : ' work smarter not harder ' .

I have multiple spinal injuries, fusions and so on plus damaged sciatic nerve yet I push my vehicles a little bit every day because of my too tight parking situation .

I'm looking forward to trying the stretching .

Since we'e all tinkerers, it's helpful to think about the mechanics of this problem. Your spine is composed of many bones, separated by flexible "disks". Each bone has a name and number depending on it's location: the cervical bones at the neck, the thoracic bones in the middle, the lumbar bones in the lower back, and the sacrum at the pelvis. So when your problem is correctly diagnosed, the specific joint will be identified, like L5/S1, being the joint at the top of your pelvis. The disks are like inner tubes: they have a tough skin and a spongy interior. The spinal cord runs through the center of the tube. Strain can cause the skin to weaken and then the disk bulges. It can touch the spinal cord or the nerves that radiate from the cord, and that causes pain or worse, loss of nerve function. If the tube tears, the spongy insides can extrude into the spinal column and cause more complicated problems.

If the damage isn't too bad, stretching exercises or chiropractic manipulation can push the bulging material away from the spinal cord, and you have relief, maybe permanent, maybe temporary. Sometimes the bulged area will shift by itself by natural process, or relaxation. And sometimes, the pressure on your nerves simply can't be relieved without surgery.

Surgery shouldn't be undertaken lightly. Although it's a pretty common surgery these days, a surgeon going around your spinal cord with a cutting tool can easily do permanent damage. So you only want to do this as a last resort. Some of the things that would move you to surgery: chronic pain that can't be relieved by any conservative therapy. Weakness, numbness, or tingling indicating nerve damage. Pain that doesn't change, regardless of your position. Surgery can be very successful, but can also be disastrous, so don't be naive. Surgery can be done by a neurosurgeon or an orthopedic surgeon, but you want to check out your provider as best you can.

You should speak to a neurologist before considering surgery, not a GP, PCP, or orthopedic doctor. The neurologist is equipped to evaluate the extent of nerve damage and will order the correct radiologic studies. The neurologist will refer you to a surgeon if it's warranted.