Aargh! Please share your sciatica experiences, tips and wondrous miracle cures

[WaggyTailsWetNoses]

I’m on day ten of back pain from a herniated disc and day five of excruciating one-sided sciatic pain. It’s pretty much all I can think about and talk about. Driving is almost impossible. As a is sleeping, sitting and doing anything that isn’t a scalding hot bath. OTC medication useless, description NSAID/ codeine also not great (although strong ones help with sleep a little). Yoga poses, TENS etc. all
offer only fleeting relief. BUPA only will fund five physio sessions and, apart from that say to give it time.

Ant ideas where to go next?

I’m happy to try an osteopath and other medications. Happy to pay to see a pain specialist/ orthopaedist. Has anyone had a cortisone injection? BUPA physio ruled it out but I’m happy to pay if it might help.

To be honest, I feel a bit fobbed off by insurance company and GP (only spoken to the practice nurse, and she was very kind but said it’s just stronger painkillers from them), as it’s massively impacting on my quality of life. But maybe I’m being an impatient baby she just need to suck it up.

Walking and leg and core strengthening exercises when the pain is manageable.

Tens machine/ bath/ floating or walking in the swimming pool + painkillers to help get through it.

Been pain free for 2yrs now after almost 6yrs of sciatica due to disc so I know how miserable it is and I thought I'd never recover. The only time I feel it now is if I've 'forgotten' to do leg and core exercises for a few weeks...

Lie on your front with your chest leaning on a pregnancy/gym ball. So your spine is sort of bent the wrong way.

Made a massive difference to me and when I suggested it to my DF it got rid of his too. After weeks of useless physiotherapy.

Physio didn’t do anything for me and I did all the exercises. I booked a chiropractic appointment and after limping in I walked out. Could have kissed him! The relief was immense. Worth a try for you.

Sciatica is awful, so sympathy. I found an elasticated exercise belt helped as it reduced the pain while walking. You could also try curcumin. It's meant to be an anti inflammatory. (However as I was also trying osteopathy, naproxen, and codeine not sure what if anything worked). It's awful but does slowly get better.

Walk as much as you can
Time

Tens was a life saver for me, I had it on ALL the time , and heat and ice alternating when I slept. I slept with one leg out of the bed touching the floor.

I stood all day every day for about 2 months and also had to get up in night to walk.

Time is your friend though, it will get better

Do not go to a dhiro, they could and probably will make it worse.

Physio physio physio. Do it religiously. Look up the chartered institute of physiotherapists website for exercises. Avoid the osteoquackery.

Memory foam lumbar pillow for sleeping..the one with wings, it puts the curve back in your lower back. Then a triangle wedge pillow between the knees to stop the top leg dragging the hip down when you sleep.

see a spine specialist physical therapist, not just a ordinary one

Tens machine and Diazepam.

Try and keep moving, it's the worst pain!
It will go...eventually. But my thoughts are with you OP - good luck!

Physio and stretches from Youtube as soon as I feel an attack coming on. My first bout of sciatica was more than 30 years ago and with the stretches and better awareness of what sets it off (lifting, sitting with hips tilted at a certain angle etc), I've not had it for a few years although I'm sure it'll come back soon having written that...

I’ve had my first episode years ago and I suffer from it chronically now - so I feel your pain
when asked to describe the pain I said it was like shitting a baby out of my thigh / back and that got me the diazepam 😂😂

the only tablet that eased the pain Is quickly has been diazepam -but I’m not on that

Im on a fair amount of strong prescription tablets and have been for a long time
and they just help manage the pain

Tramadol Amatrypiline & pregablyn and co codamol

it’s horrible I honestly thought I had been paralyzed when I had my first bout of it
i was in bed for about 8 weeks in total agony

Nothing helped my sciatic pain- the disc bulge was massive and crushing the nerve. Finally got the disc removed on the NHS and now left with numbness but mostly pain free and can actually live again. Best thing i ever did- only sorry i spent so much time in agonising pain but tried all the exercises and treatments for years first.

Does your GP have a FCP (first contact practitioner) physio? They will be able to assess you and may be able to fast track physio if appropriate

what's your bed like? I find when my bed is sagging it makes it worse so I turn the mattress over, usually it's firmer and helps a lot!

Don't let doctors fob you off. My GP sent me away twice, telling me to take paracetamol and it'd go away on its own. I never went back as I was made to feel like a time waster. The pain didn't go away.

It was only when I went to the doc years later as I was tripping over my own foot, that I was sent for an MRI by a physio, the cause was identified and I had surgery. Too late, though, and now I am permanently disabled.

As others have said, familiarise yourself with Cauda Equina and know what to do if you get symptoms.

Amitriptyline. It doesn't work instantly, but after a few days of taking it, it's so good for nerve pain. Failing that, gabapentin.

Ask your GP. Be persistent if necessary. Amitriptyline also helps with sleep, and that's so important to help you cope with pain during the day. Everything is worse if you can't rest.

I have bouts of Sciatica
Things that help me
Regular pain relief
Pregabilin Gabapentin or Amitryptiline plus Cocodamol 30/500
Mini Tens machine
Heat pad
Lie flat with knees up and rock pelvis gently
You have my sympathy, it's very painful

Thanks so much for sharing experiences. I had a terrible night and was crying with pain from midnight til my second dose of pain relief at 2. , although strong cocodamol dulled the pain to a agonising throbbing ache after an hour or so. Finally catnapped from 4, and woke up at 5.30 with no pain. It’s back a bit now, but as a manageable ‘ouch’, rather than excruciating. Gives me a bit of hope it can be resolved. I’m working on reports standing up where I can today and obviously still heading to the physio later.
Bon courage fellow sufferers. It really is a special kind of torment 😩

I find in the acute phase the only thing that really worked was lying on my back with knees bent up. I worked like that for a while because I found work better as pain relief because it keeps my mind off it. Pilates and core strengthening help in the long run.

Forgot to mention - take paracetamol even if you aren’t in pain until you are absolutely sure the bout is over.

There is a great article on chronic pain on the Arthritis U.K. website, sharing some of the new discoveries around how our bodies, and particularly our brains, feel pain.

I’ve had this so massive sympathies to you @WaggyTailsWetNoses . What helped me was alternating between resting and walking and taking regular pain killers. I took regular paracetamol, ibuprofen and 60mg of codeine at a time. It’s really important to keep taking painkillers regularly as pain is easier to treat by staying on top of it. I was also prescribed Amitriptyline and diazepam, which both helped.

I tried a Chiropractor but he just made it worse. I found some appropriate physio exercises online, which I did very gently.

My did go away, I hope you feel better soon.

Thanks so much. The pain is much better today but I’m keeping up the pain meds for a while. Sadly, the stronger NSAIDS make me feel really sick ( even with antacids). I’ll stick with regular strength ibuprofen and paracetamol unless it gets really bad again.

I have been saying for years I need regular Pilates, so finding a good class is on the agenda. Does anyone find swimming helps?

The lack of sleep was a killer.

Swimming is very good and played an important part in my recovery. Building strength in a weightless way is very safe and little chance of aggravating the injury.

I have a herniated disc, with damaged and displaced vertebrae and I sympathise entirely. When it first happened, I was sent away with Dihydrocodeine, which helped the pain but obviously, didn't fix it. I asked for physio, but the doctor was horrible and I wasn't referred.

I had two chiropractor sessions and went from being in severe pain to being almost immobile, he told me it was normal, but I didn't go back.

Five years later, I was hospitalised for ten days (working in Norway). When I got home, my new doctor sent me for physio and another MRI and I was put on a list for an operation, which was cancelled three times. A friend recommended an osteopath and it was brilliant. The physio said it was too late for him to be much help, by that stage.

He gave me a series of gentle exercises, which are really helpful, but I always start to neglect them and I end up with pain again. I'm just getting over a bout of pain now and after ten days, I have not had any Naproxen today. I was using it with Tramadol, which I didn't take from Sunday.

Walking really helps to loosen things up and sitting is bad. I put two thick cushions under the proper one on my armchair, so I'm higher when sitting and I've found that to be very helpful.

I'd definitely recommend an osteopath, as it really did help a lot.

I think it’s really interesting that even on this thread alone, there are lots of different views of benefits and drawbacks of physio vs osteo vs chiropractor

I really think it’s about whether you get a good one who can help you with massage in the moment then a longer term plan rather than their specific job