Sciatica - nothing works?

[NeedForSpeed]

DH has sciatica. He's had 30/500 co-codamol and 500mg naproxen for days and it's not touching the sides. I dosed him up with my 20mg amitryptiline last night which knocked him out at least, but he's in agony again now.

He's refusing my TENS machine now although it helped 2 days ago. Heat and cold application makes no difference to him.

No position is comfortable - lie on side, back, front, sit, stand, squat - so he's throwing himself around all the time trying to find a way to be out of pain.

He's also an appalling patient, and even the mildest cold turns him into an absolute wailing arsehole so this level of pain means he is currently the most cantankerous thankless groaning and moaning prick you can imagine which is making nursing him even harder.

Any actual tips? Or does nothing work?

Medication will not cure sciatica. You need a mix of physio, osteopathy, and for me, a really intense shiatsu massage. If you’re not doing the exercises the physio give you at least 3 times a day, the pain could drag on for months

Not much help when you can barely move between your bed and the toilet in the next room.

Update: managed to get him into the GP surgery this afternoon which was awful for him - had to stop five times between the house and car (there is no access for cars into our close). Absolutely hellish 25 mins in the waiting room, and he saw.... A paramedic.

No disrespect to the paramedic who was sympathetic and asked lots of questions, but he had to get the GP to prescribe without seeing him. So we have a prescription for amitryptiline, no diazepam obv, and he'll get a call to see the practice osteopath in the next few days.

Rx says to take 1-2 pills at night... He's taken one now and we'll keep him lightly dosed for a few days!

Bed of nails!

Ok not an actual bed of nails but an acupuncture mat did wonders for mine after a car crash!!

It felt odd at first then after 10 minutes it was a wave of heat and relief.

I think they're called Shakti mats or similar.

Poor man-he needs Tramadol or similar instead of codeine. I also take Diazepam 5mg for the spasms. It's worse than childbirth. After that, Pilates is his friend.

The only thing that ever helped mine was Pregabalin. It was brilliant at getting rid of the pain when everything else failed. Spraying deep freeze on the area also gave some relief in combination with the Pregabalin.

I posted earlier. My husbands sciatica went away in a couple of months. He was in real pain but he was prescribed Pregabalin by the consultant. This did stop the pain.