Would you go on holiday with sciatica?

[Sameold23]

First family holiday abroad. Desperate for it. Kids never been on a plane or abroad. I got sciatica for the first time yesterday. I cannot describe the pain. I was in A&E so all checked out. It seems like a big improvement today, but still numb leg. Flying on Thursday. Would you go??

I don't think I'll be going. Only waited 10 years to go abroad!

@MaidOfSteel

Thanks. Think I'll pay for a private mri to speed things up. Haven't got the cash but will end up losing my job at this rate.

I would try to go, but ONLY if your insurance will cover you. It's just not worth the potentially v pricey risk if you're not covered.

Whether you go or not, try to get moving - being immobile will make you seize up even more. Take your painkillers but try to stay away from the diazepam. Try to get an appointment tomorrow or Tues for a hands-on physio appointment (not just someone who'll advise exercises, though those are important, but someone who will examine you properly and perhaps treat some trigger points).

If you go away, take a copy of your prescription with you, especially if you're carrying stronger pain killers, in case you get stopped at customs. Take some laxatives too! Be prepared to exercise every day - swimming is often good for back pain but not doggy paddle, you don't want to be arching your back too much! Don't forget to take your EHIC or GHIC card if you have one.

If the worst comes to the worst, Spain is a fully developed country with excellent health care facilities and medical staff who usually speak pretty good english if you're in a touristy area. Hopefully if won't come to that but it's good to know.

Think hard before you spend any money on an MRI. Unless you've got cauda equina, when you should be seen and treated as an emergency, surgeons are, on the whole, very reluctant to operate on backs; there's no good evidence that surgery helps most people with back pain.

Unless it's a CE emergency, the advice is almost always to do physio, mobilise, take painkillers and reassess if not improving.

Money spent on an investigation that won't make any difference to the outcome is money down the drain.

Contact your insurance, they may want to re-visit the risk element your health presents now. You don't want a situation where they decline help because they were not kept up to date.

Go. And the first chance you get, go to a pharmacy & buy Hidroxil. It's vitamin b1, b6 & b12 and is specifically for neurological pain. I was walking round Spain like a duck with my bum sticking out due to sciatica & lower back issues. A pharmacist saw me in this state & recommended Hidroxil. Only available in Spain, & it's brilliant. I recreated the formula back home in UK by buying individual bottles of those b vitamins at the correct dose because it works a charm & very quickly.

I would definitely speak to insurance company first. I'm reluctant to have physio after what happened this week.

The numbness is really freaking me out and I'm starting to panic. I really need to try and be calm.

Worth getting a "McKenzie lumbar roll" for your back if you are suffering. They aren't super cheap but not super expensive either.

Please can you tell us which dosages for which vitamin, Wobbly? I'm interested to try this.

Get a TENS machine - that along with the diazepam always helps me when I get a really bad flare up.

Money spent on an investigation that won't make any difference to the outcome is money down the drain.

I would agree to think carefully about spending money on a private MRI if you can't afford it. The majority of the time sciatica will settle on its own/with physio/painkillers etc.
They rarely do anything else for sciatica so it's not going to alter the outcome as you won't get any additional treatment

OK, hoping its just a matter of time then. Not sure if it's worth going away being an anxious mess anyway.

Yes, TENS machine was good for me in labour.

I don't want to scare you but, when I started with Sciatica, my GP sent me away twice with Paracetamol. It was only a year or two later, when I started tripping over my own foot that I was finally referred to the hospital, where I had an MRI and nerve conduction study. Turned out that a disc in my spine had bulged, for want of a better word, and the damage it cause to the nerve it impinged on is permanent. Please do all you can to have any issues diagnosed as early as possible. Feel free to PM me. Sending very best wishes.

I haven’t had it as badly as you, but when I get sciatica these exercises really help. https://somaticmovementcenter.com/iliopsoas-exercise/

Thank you. I think I would like to know what's going on.

Gabapentin was only thing that helped my pain because it works on nerve pain. But has strong side effects.
I wouldn't go on holiday myself but mine was so bad I was bedridden for most of two months. I didn't have the numbness though. I had surgery on the disc the time it happened before that.
Good luck OP, I know the pain is horrible 💐

I wouldn't go, to be honest. The plane ride is only about three hours. Three hours sitting in a cramped seat and you'll feel it. And do you have a long car journey to the hotel? I know its very disappointing,but I'd rather get the sciatica sorted and then have a lovely holiday. If you do go, and go swimming, try not to do breaststroke, as the leg action may not help your leg. You are best to float gently. Also I'd take some mild laxatives with you, because the last thing you want to do is sit on the loo straining - that really does hurt! Sorry to be the voice of doom, but I'm in the middle of a very bad sciatica attack, and I can't sit or stand without being in really bad pain; I'm waiting for a spinal injection which can't come a day too soon!! Best of luck with whatever you decide!

Gosh I wouldn’t be travelling abroad with sciatica. Can’t imagine really how you would be able too. A friend of mine recently went on holiday with her sciatica but it really restricted what they were able to do. Not sure why she didn’t cancel.

Honestly wouldn’t bother with this in U.K. I had one on NHS that just confirmed I had a disc that had compressed my nerve. I’ve lost my ankle reflex and 4 years on still have a weak leg that cramps up, luckily sciatica flare ups are less now. They don’t really like to operate in this country.

I was referred straight away by my GP as he was concerned my ankle reflex had gone. My local NHS weren’t really bothered, just confirmed the nerve was damaged, but as I was no longer in pain just waved me off. I still have a weaker leg to this day, with calf cramps, from the damaged nerve.

I went last autumn with sciatica that had just come on, so got the prescription tablets on the Friday morning, flew Saturday.

The painkillers and wine kept it at bay. Walked all round, Rome and Naples, Pompeii and Vesuvius.

Not power walked but it wasn't a sit round the pool holiday either.

But you need to keep an eye on symptoms, if you start getting pain down both legs or a numb genital area you have to go a&e.

Add it to your travel insurance and read up on health care for tourists where you are going

But yes I would go if the alternative was letting the kids down.

If it was just you and another adult and you could change dates, that's a different matter.

Hmm, initially I was going to say yes I'd go but not lift anything heavier than my mobile phone, however the numbness would make me more cautious about sitting on an plane even for a short journey, it's the getting in and out of the seat and twisting movement that could aggravate the numbness, which would be my concern.
Hopefully things will feel a bit better in the morning and you can decide tomorrow, but if there is no improvement or it's worse I don't think I'd be going, sorry OP.

I wouldn't
Mine was
Pain started in Jan but felt different to usual sciatica. By March I was unable to work
April in agony then lost all feeling
May cauda equina and surgery

People say it doesn't improve the pain, I went from screaming on morphine and being unable to feel one leg to back on a horse 8 weeks post op. I had a giant disc herniation that would never have fixed itself (I did ask the surgeon if physio/rest would work and he laughed)

I'm going to see the osteopath tomorrow. Can he stop the numbness? Can he cause me harm?