(((Petalique)))

Yes, I have had horrific sciatica off and on since my 20s. But, it has gone away almost entirely now. So sorry you are having this horrible pain. Here is what has worked for me:

Immediate relief

1. Tens unit. Have you ever used one? You put sticky pads on the areas of pain and hook them up with wires to a little machine. It sends vibrating pulses to the area. It doesn't actually fix the pain. It is thought that the reason it helps is because it blocks your brain from perceiving the pain signal. Sometimes it is not as helpful with nerve pain as it is muscle pain. But they are inexpensive and you can probably get one delivered ASAP via Amazon. Worth a shot. Physical therapists often use them.

This is the one my mom and I own. LINK . When my pain is bad, I hook it up, put my clothes on and wear it all day with the device in my pocket.

2. Heating pad on my butt - Sometimes it helps relax the muscles that are pinching my sciatic nerve.

3. Pulling your leg and toes - I used to have my husband stand at the end of the bed and pull my leg and then pull my individual toes. It sometimes brought some relief.

Longer term

There are lots of stretches that help release the deep butt muscles that can often contribute to the pinching of the sciatic nerve. Those stretches never worked that well for me. Instead, my physiatrist (no not psychiatrist, a physiatrist) to my me to stop crossing my legs. Stop curling up on my side in a fetal position. Lay with my legs straight out on the bed. Sit with my two fleet on the floor. This has helped immensely.

I've had sciatica so bad I wound up in ER with a morphine injection. That required several days (a week?) of bed rest and anti-inflammatories to recover from. And a new mattress and orthotic inserts. That was my most acute attack. Since then I have experienced several less devastating episodes that were relieved by a chiropractor and exercise.

Yoga helped a lot.

So sorry Petalique. I have thankfully never had anything like that. I have have brief flashes of agony, but thankfully mine abates into a more tolerable level. I am always afraid it won't though.

I sure hope you continue to feel better from here.

Only sympathy to offer. ***I'M SO SORRY!***

I endorse 'the rack'. An uncle once made his own stretching device that he cranked by hand; maybe there are similar 'stretchers' available to buy?

May you find relief NOW!

Thanks to all of you. Kendrah, I’m so glad your sciatica is gone.

I regularly do piraformis and straigh leg stretches. I do pelvic tillts, side leg lifts, other. I have a heating pad.

In the past I troed a TENS unit but did not find it helpful. Booze does not help either.

MJ just gives me bery dry mouth and RLS (restless legs).

In desperation I scrounged around the house and came up w a few very low dose pain pills. Have to eat a bit of food before taking that sort of thing else I get nauseated. I still feel whoozy and sleepy and it takes 1.5 to 2 hours to work. I got relief for a few hours, then in 5 hours the pain returned full force.

It was Fri to Sunday. we don’t yet have a replacement primary care physician. Many are not taking new patients.

Most doctors hate patients in pain. The govt gives them a very tough time for prescribing pain medication,

They are afraid of losing their licenses. They turn you over to a pain center which runs you through physical therapy and other ”modalities.”

💲💲💲For them and they are unlikely to give any prescriptions for pain meds. Government oversight run amok.

I do not enjoy the altered state side effects of medication. I like the real here and now — wind, fresh air, walking, reading. I never take or ise ”drugs” and even in the laid back 1960s did not like any maryjane whether as a brownie or smoke. Never was tempted by cocaine or LSD. Never took or sought recreational drugs.

But this level of pain could almost find me begging for just about anything.. It is like torture.

I thought about going to the ER, but usually busy on a weekend and maybe the ED gets people looking for drugs that they don’t need medically. How could I get them to believe me — that I was in super intense pain? You only get a few seconds with a doctor.

They would likely offer X-rays, but my spinal stenosis is unlikely to show on a simple LS spine X-ray. (There are a lot of naive uneducated people who think that if a person has REAL pain, it will show on an X-ray. This is not true. (Ever see a migraine or trigeminal neuralgia on an x-ray? You will not.

Also, low back pain gets no respect and perhaps goof offs, malingerers, or drug seekers use back pain as a reason or excuse.

Statistics.

But if these practitioners, even at pain centers, were asked how many patients in severe untreated pain take their own lives or attempt to, I bet they would not have a clue.

I have had daily severe back pain for well over thirty (30) years and have not gotten help.

It is perhaps akin to being a criminal to be afflicted with severe back pain. You are often suspect.

If I went to the ER with any of the following, I would be more likely to be taken seriously:

Tooth ache

Severe headache

Severe abdominal or chest pain

severe pain in calf

Ideally one should not keep old medication around, particularly narcotics (“they say”). But I claim a good case for doing so.

Thanks for your warm support. I wish our country wasn’t in the dark ages about addressing extreme pain and chronic pain.

I sense we are all in for bleaker times on many fronts.

PS Severe pain truth test. Person complaining of severe pain has two large lobsters waiting to be shelled out. She has to pass (and she loves lobster).

Sorry to hear that Petalique. A family member had sciatica pain for a few years until six months ago when he started going to therapy sessions where they taught him stretching exercises. He also does hang up on a bar to decompress the spine and that has helped to keep the pain from not recurring. Have you tried taking both ibuprofen and Tylenol at the same time during an acute attack? That may work temporarily to help relieve the muscle tension around the nerve while you get the proper treatment.

Hhhmmmm....ooooh....lobster with butter? Yum! Enjoy!

Yeah...I have spinal stenosis, my feet go completely numb if I run or walk 20 minutes. I'm still on the treadmill, then on the massage chairs...then back for 20 minutes. I just do as much as I can stand....for about 2 hours. If I'm gardening, standing on my feet...I usually sit down while weeding, for instance. I'm really no help with a solution. I just take aspirin. My DH says I need to learn to do pull ups. He hung a bar in the garage. He says it will stretch my spine when hanging from a bar....OK....so that's something I'll go do here in a minute. Take care of yourself....just take in all of lifes pleasures, like lobster, every chance you get....

“Have any of you experienced bad wicked extreme sciatica? What do you do for it?”

Personally, I’ve never experienced it.

My husband, on the other hand, has.

A few years ago he was experiencing sciatica pain (his diagnosis) and the only relief he got was lying flat on his back on the floor. He said it was wicked pain that came and went. When it came, he grumbled constantly.

One afternoon when the the pain seemed to be in a went mode, he decided to go out and start building a fence. He was about two fence posts in and then accidently placed his hand on the top of one of the posts just as the hydraulic post pounder was coming down. He smashed every bone in his left hand. He was 18 months in physical therapy getting his hand back in order.

That seemed to have cured his sciatica, as he never mentioned it again.

I’m not suggesting this as a cure, just relaying my experience. 🤠

I hope you get the relief you need, Petalique.

Sorry to hear of your difficulties. I can have back pain if I move the wrong way but never sciatica. It's immobilized me for a few days a few times but thankfully not recently. I can imagine what you're dealing with.

Best wishes, I hope you feel better soon.

I was recently diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Finally my sciatica and every other back and body pain makes sense. I have something to tell doctors that they understand. And stretching is the worst thing for it. No wonder every time I went to PT it got worse instead of better. Now I see a PT that only focuses on strengthening and is super slow with it too.

Other things that have helped: completely eliminating stairs from my life, never doing yoga, standing with my feet in parallel position never turned out (super challenging habit to break as a former ballet dancer), my husband lined every square inch of flooring in our home with foam matting, and I only ever wear Hokas. Sucks for my sense of style, but I'll take that over pain any day.

roxol, you tell some of the best true tales. Poor husbando! What a horrible thing. Broken hands-wrists, brains, and spines are among the most difficult things to set back right. Too many fussy parts. I sure hope he’s complely better. Yikes!

Elmer, thanks.

I think I said that I routinely do those straight leg lifts. On back, one leg lifted straight up. That is supposed to be (I just learned) a diagnostic test for sciatica. So, ya gotta love these simplistic single paragraphs for med students and doctors. No accurate. Although, yesterday when I tried that leg lift, shooting pain zipped down my leg before I could get it extended. Surprise to me. I can also touch my toes. Not a problem. I am very flexi.

Once, two clown doctors working as hired experts asked me to touch my toes. I did and they gave each other these smug satisfied looks as they quickly jotted notes. You know, simpleton learned. All back pain is the same. Page 207 in Grays.

Petalique, his hand did heal, and except for crooked fingers it worked perfectly fine.

However, this year we were in Cancun and he was beachcombing, picked a broken bottle so no one would step on it, slipped on some rocks and cut his hand. Yes, the left hand. He required eleven stitches (?). I was just glad he didn’t break his hip.

He should be more careful. His mother lost her right hand in a tablesaw accident at the age of 17 or 18. Long story, but she ended up raising four children on a small farm. My husband said she could do everything but hammer a nail into something. She even taught them all how to tie their shoes, and he has the most unique way of doing it. They stay tied up, though. That’s all that counts.

What a story, roxol! Maybe get some whopper insurance on that man.

I see he’s got his shoes fastened with green neon bungi cord — isn’t that cheating? Nice looking legs, I’ll say!

His amazing mother. As far as getting her children to behave, maybe that came naturally. All she had to do was to hold up her arm with her missing hand and emphasize that she meant business.

Seriously, she is an amazing person to triumph over such an enormous loss; to thrive and to raise her children and show them grace. Kudos to her.

I am generally not a fan of chiropractors, but I had one that really helped one of my horses when she had a bad flip and her gate was really wonky.

I had suffered from sciatica periodically over the years (once every two to three years) and never got any relief from traditional medicine. Just pills and pain till it decided to subside.

I was at the ranch and moved one of the heavy stall mats and must have turned the wrong way. I felt the pain starting and somehow managed to get to my car and drive home, but by the time I got home couldn't get out of the car. My husband and our neighbor had to carry me into the house.

The chiropractor that I had for my horse had told me that her husband was also a chiropractor and she had worked with him before going on to study veterinary chiropractics. I called her and she got me an appointment with her husband. I was miserable. He put heating pads on me and left me lay for about a half hour, then came in the room, placed one leg over the other and pulled, then did the same thing with the other leg. Did a few leg stretches and I walked out of his office unassisted and free from pain.

From that day forward he was the person I called when I got sciatica. Worked like a charm every time I went.

I had to give up horse back riding and a lot of other activities due to other medical issues and haven't had sciatica since, but he was a godsend when I did get it.

Jennifer, quite an adventure. I’m so glad you found relief. Sorry that tou cannot ride horses. They are wonderful. I’m hoping to get small boat sailing— heaven for me.

I bought an inflatable paddleboard off CL. I hope I can use it someday.

Kendrah, I bet there are doctors who are not clear on what Ehlers Danlos Syndrome is. And aren’t there different types?

Petalique, i am cringing thinking about your pain. Ive had sciatic pain, but not as bad as tgat. However, Ive had bulging discs that gave me blinding pain in my lower back. I only struggled to my feet to use yhe bathroom. Knock on wood, its been a couple years since that kicked up. Steroid shots helped a lot. It took two weeks for the shots to take effect. i woke up one morning and hallelujah, i could stand up straight and walk down the stairs.

I sincerely hope your pain resolves soon.

placed one leg over the other and pulled, then did the same thing with the other leg. Did a few leg stretches and I walked out of his office unassisted and free from pain.

They have chair massagers at the gym that arch my back, then PULL my calfs down....it's called a "stretch" setting. I do it 3X inbetween 20 minute sets of running....it really does fix it!

I never dealt with sciatic pain but I'm sure it's really awful. Despite my poor posture, I never had back issues until I slipped on ice on the AT in February. It was brutal, especially on the left side, where I slammed the hardest. I'm glad nothing was broken despite my osteoporosis. It seems you have gotten some good advice here. Can you remember what activated the pain? Were you doing something differently? Hope every day is better.

I've had sciatica issues and was fully bed bound a year ago. I spent the time searching for help on the web and found Bob and Brad's sciatica program. The video in the second link below was the real game changer for me. I realized I was re-injuring myself every time I went to the restroom. Once I understood how to stand up from the toilet properly, I could start healing. Holding my back and head staight was key! I really hope you find relief soon.

https://www.bobandbrad.com/health-programs/sciatica-relief-program

https://www.bobandbrad.com/program/going-from-sit-to-stand-with-back-pain%2Fsciatica

Thanks again, everyone.

Ded, I hope you are well over your disk pain.

Lily, I remember you AT ice fall. ouch!

nicole, interesting chair. I’d be afraid I’d get trapped in it.

ljwrar, for real? I will look at the links. Thanks.

Speaking of toilet trips. Just sitting to pee hurt because the most gentle muscle contractions to void, caused leg pains.

I don’t know what started the sciatic marathon, but it was the very worst. Came on suddenly and after 21/2 days left just as suddenly.. Maybe it was the 5th day of a firmer mattress. After the 2nd day of wild pain, I went to an unused room where I put the older squish memory foam mattress and with some large, dull shears began to havk away a third of it to cover and put atop the newer mattress. Maybe, after 6 to 8 hours that turned things around.

But it left me in a PTSD state. I barely dare to fix the MacGyver‘d mattress kluge. it looks like my bed suffered quake damage.