experience with sciatica?

[locutus]

have recurrent episodes (with no back pain). , this is 3rd year. usually self resolves, but takes 2-3months to do so. been trying to keep it off. here is what I've researched, and I would be curious if you had success with it.
1) Physical therapy - temporary improvement, but does not seem to speed up healing, good for back pain but not sciatica
2) chiropractic care - completely useless IMHO
3) NEUROMD device - doesn't seem to do much if acute. probably helps back pain.
4) time and patience only thing seem to help (and managing the pain)
5) I had no surgeries, and am not super excited to get one. my MRI does show NO disc herniation pressing on nerves, it does show some typical disc degeneration

pain management:
1) NSAIDs - all completely useless (diclofenac maybe slight improvement)
2) opioids - tramadol barely touched it, codeine/tylenol #3 - fairly good pain relief, docs bitching about prescribing long term, I only would take this for sleep
3) lidocaine patches - they actually do seem to work, 60% relief.
4) DMSO 70/30 gel - sometimes it works amazing, sometimes not at all
5) st johns wort topical oil - same as dmso gel
6) some other topicals - all useless
7) dmso 50/50 injections in buttocks - this actually helps! especially if tense muscles make pain worse
8) medical MMJ - makes is 500% worse and sends me straight to hell
9) infrared heat - some help, but makes it worse sometimes
10) ice patch - some relief
11) acupuncture - temporary relief
12) massage - no change

I did read this book as well, (John Sarno, healing back pain) Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection: Sarno MD, John E.: 9780446392303: Amazon.com: Books
and I'm inclined to believe that this back pain/sciatica is not mechanical in nature, in fact this whole thing started with stress. the author claims that most pains are due to what he calls 'TMS', which are repressed emotions which lead to oxygen depravation in specific tissues. this is why surgeries fail so many times, they do not address the correct issue. there might be exceptions to this of course. I'm in process of working through the topics in this book, and do not have any update on this yet.

 

[CKO]

For what it's worth, I used to get terrible sciatic nerve pain down my left leg and occasionally right. This was completely resolved by starting yoga and exercising in a way that strengthened my core all the way around. I was a pretty avid crossfitter, but I found this created muscle imbalances in my hips lower back and abdomen. I do a lot of 'plank work' and movement in this type of position.

 

[Nelson Vergel]

I had two back surgeries because of sciatica and I wish I had known what I know now about stretching. I do believe that stress is a main issue that can make it worse. Cialis also worsens my symptoms.

I also got myself one of these.

Precor 240i Stretch Trainer – Fitline Fitness USA

fitlineequipment.com

Last but not least, stretch studies are popping up everywhere. Google "stretch studio plus your zip code". I am going to one once per week in Houston and I absolutely love it.

 

[Deleted member 43589]

My wife had horrible sciatica a few years back. She tried everything, doctor, medications including muscle relaxers and Medrol, chiropractor (made it much worse) and then finally she wen to a Chinese acupuncturist. With a fee visits the sciatica pain went away.

Nelson, we have the Precor 240i Stretch Trainer at the gym where I teach and one at the gym where I train. Use it daily. I have osteoarthritis in the L4/L5 and degenerative disk. This helps me keep the pain away. About 2-3 times a year I will have low back pain and take 200mg of Gabapentin when I go to bed and the pain is gone by the next morning.

 

[Nocalves]

Spinal fusion here. Nothing else helped.

 

[locutus]

thank you for all replies. surgery might be helpful in rare cases, but it is such a lottery, too many horror stories of not working out there.
I will definitely start the youtube stretch routine!
cialis also sends me straight to sciatica hell (especially now where I'm still in the acute episode.
I have some l4/l5 disc degeneration, but then, many people do - with no pain. it is part of aging I believe, like wrinkles.
according to the author of one of the books i linked to, sciatica peaks between 30-60 in people. if aging/degeneration would be the main issue, you would see cases go up as people age, but this is not the case. according to him, this has to do with what he calls peak life responsibility, usually a time in life where you got career, family etc to manage. and therefore stress peaks as well.

 

[Deleted member 43589]

Yea, degenerative disc issues are age related. Mine are very bad. No disk left at all, totally flattened out. My ortho says probably my career as a football coach and 27 years competing in powerlifting probably added to the problem. Like I said I have 2-3 bouts of pain per year. I have had it so bad I was almost bed ridden for 2 days. I got some Gabapentin and that relieves the pain over night. I am still unable to stand up for very long periods of time. My dad also had the same issue and ended up having surgery. No way I am going to do that after seeing what he went through. I also know Ronnie Coleman (Mr Olympia) and have seen the struggles he has gone through with botched spine surgeries and recoveries, I believe it is 10 so far. I can manage the pain, and still working out 5 days a week so life is good. Retiring my my full time job helped a lot.

 

[Systemlord]

I injured myself when I had low-T bending over to pick up something heavy, heard something rid and tear, a month later I went into a kind of convulsion and almost passed out and fell face first on the floor.

The pain only got worse, to the point where I was screaming in pain and got to injections in the back.

It took me two and a half years to fully recover. I'll be 50 tomorrow.

 

[Guided_by_Voices]

I've had a variety of back/nerve issues. Some things to consider:
- A lumbar extender ($25) provided almost total relief for many years from a problem I had had all my teen and adult life. It is still helpful.
- Consider an inversion table ($130). It helped a lot when I had my latest bout of issues.
- Both of the above are variations on stretching.
- Examine everything you do including sleep posture to identify things that trigger the problem. For example, having the seat on my bicycle set too high was causing me a lot of trouble but it took me a long time to accidentally discover that.
- BPC 157 and Thymosin beta 4
- Try to minimize sources of unnecessary inflammation. Get your fasting insulin under 5. Keep your blood sugar down. eliminate vegetable oils, wheat, a cellular carbs and processed food. Get checked for food sensitivities. *** oil and curcumin help some people in this regard.
- Review Dr. Stuart McGill's thinking on the topic. He is very insightful on all things back-related.
- Retained stress in the muscles is a real issue, especially the low back and learning to avoid the mental patterns which lead to it is a big factor in recovery. For example, not doing anything that will create emotional drama (like checking emails) after 6PM or so, to cite one of many examples, is key. Recognizing and removing discretionary stress is another must-do, not just for back-pain but overall health.