To ask about gabapentin and nerve pain/sciatica success stories?

Just been speaking to surgeon on the phone. Booked in for surgery next Wednesday . It’s a microdiscectomy so a fairly routine op as far as things go. In his words it’s “reasonably urgent”. I have always thought of myself as a strong person so it’s hard thinking of myself as needing an operation sooner rather than later.

@avocuddl oh dear re meeting. Any chance of going first class to make life easier?

@BogstandardBelle sorry to hear that. The whole I’m feeling better so I’ll do stuff definitely happens to me - I feel like I have to carefully plan what I’m doing at the moment

I had sciatica for nearly a month. I was rolling around on the floor in the worst pain. It was unbearable. I couldn't sleep or sit or walk. The hospital gave me some anti-inflammatories, which did nothing. Paracetamol and Asprin did nothing, including very high doses. Exercises did nothing.

Then I tried co-codamol and I was finally was able to sleep and started to get better. I also ate lots of turmeric at the same time, as this is an anti-inflammatory. Within 3 days my agonising pain was almost gone. I cannot recommend co-codamol enough.

Hope you had w nice lunch and coffee out though!

Yep I totally got cocky too and thought I could walk more than I could 😒
Got an important meeting next week but it's 2-3h away by train so doubt I'm going to make it. Will be gutted if I can't though

It’s possible that the comfort of the back brace made me do more than I should have - beware!

Meh I’m having a “two steps backwards” day after thinking things had improved. I went out and met a friend for coffee and had lunch in a pub with DH... and rested all afternoon. I felt ok, had my brace on etc. And this morning - not quite back to square one, but the sciatica has come back on both sides and everything feels very fragile and like it’s ready to “go” at one wrong move. So I’m back on my back, taking as many painkillers as I can, and rethinking a return to work on Monday :-(

How are you all today?

Feeling annoyed as I walked to the end of my road to the shop and I'm back in pain 😒

Sorry to hear you’ve had a tough day @Bloodybackpain - I hope you’re feeling better this evening. It must be pretty bad if they are talking about surgery already. If you go for surgery will it be private? Hope so - then you won’t be beholden to NHS waiting lists!

The thing with driving is after the first couple of weeks which were horrendous, I found I was able to drive comfortably. But my pain keeps changing and the comfortable positions are also changing. So now driving is not comfortable However moving my seat back made a huge difference. I am only driving short distances (mainly to drop off / collect DS1 from nursery).

GP has slightly increased my pregabalin dosage so hopefully that will start to make a difference.

My friend had a similar operation a few years ago and her top tip was to get the prune juice in for the few days after!

@avocuddl ah thank you. Have had a sleep and it feels a bit better. Everyone I speak to about the surgery says it’s totally worth it.
I think it sounds sensible to have a quiet few days, the physio said to me normal advice for back pain is to be active but where the nerves are severely irritated it’s best to do as little as possible to allow everything to settle.

Hey @Bloodybackpain. Sorry you're having a crap day. But so good you've been diagnosed so quickly and have the offer of surgery. From PP it seems like that's the only instant relief. Don't be scared, I'm sure it's a really routine procedure and just think of being pain free! I'd love that!

Eggbert that sucks about the sudden pain in the car! So frustrating that it can just hit at any time! Can you get some lactulose? That's the only thing that saved me after birth! And bran flakes!

Spam I'm sorry about the side effects to the meds but I'm so pleased that they seem to be working at you can walk a bit further!

I've taken a couple of days off work, prompted by my boss, and I'm glad I don't have that stress. I've just concentrated on me the past 2 days, resting watching telly, ice, hot baths, not lifting my toddler and my new meds (Amitriptyline and Meloxicam) and I do feel a bit better. I wish I had taken your physio's advice Bloody and not just kept going because maybe I wouldn't have endured 12 weeks of it!!

Having a definite woe is me Day today . The nerve pain is actually quite exhausting and even though I’m only taking ibuprofen my brain feels quite foggy.

Surgeon is calling me back tomorrow to discuss whether I want to go for the operation, I think my answer is going to be yes. I’ve never had any sort of operation so it’s quite scary.

Eggbert are you sure you should be driving? I don’t think I trust myself to do it at the moment. Tricky though if you have to.

Thanks spam Could you possibly post a link to the back support you bought? I think my crappy posture is definitely feeding the pain!!!

I am feeling ok today but got a pretty bad attack of nerve pain when parking my car earlier. It was holding it tense on the pedals that set it off. So I’ve moved my seat back so my legs are fully extended when I put my foot on the pedals. It’s so much better but because I’m short I can’t see over the bonnet as well as I could

I’m just waiting for the GP to call so I can discuss increasing my pregabalin. I think you’re right about the level of toxicity spam so I’m more comfortable taking it over codeine which is not safe.

Your bum gravy sounds rubbish spam but a small (very tiny) part of me is a little jealous as I have had the worst constipation of my life. This is TMI but I feel we’re all friends now - if I need a poo I know it’s a 15 minute job and it’s like labour all over again I’m starting on syrup of fig today so hopefully that will resolve. I think it’s all the meds.

spam hope you start to feel less queasy soon and wishing everyone a good day. I have to say this thread has really helped me when feeling really rubbish so thank you all

@SpamChaudFroid I’ve got a lot of glute pain so they sort of hold everything together!

My Spanx type pants have been quite helpful to hold everything together

spam I’ve definitely considered it and I even did it for one weekend so I could take codeine all weekend. But the difference it made wasn’t big enough to continue formula feeding.

For me the fact I can’t do much at the moment (round the house, with the kids), I feel like breastfeeding is the one useful thing I’m doing! Especially as it’s going much better than it did with my DS1.

I hope they will let me increase the pregabalin and keep an eye on any symptoms in the baby.

Oops