Does anybody have any suggestions for sciatic nerve pain?

[MCR0161]

As the title states. I had a back injury a couple of years ago. And I have kind of suffered badly since. Recently (around 2 weeks ago) went to alton towers theme park. Managed to catch covid. After coughing and feeling shooting pains in my lower back and left leg for a while. Had it checked and was told its sciatica. For almost 3 weeks now I've been unable to function even as limited as I could. And it's only getting worse. Any suggestions very welcome as to try and get some relief/sleep would be absolutely awesome. It's even hard work hand watering plants.

 

[Creeperpark]

One can get sciatica from laying in bed for an extended time or from changing mattresses. It happened to me many years ago. If you stay in bed after the onset of sciatica it will only get worse. The best treatment is to get up and move do your regular routines with pain and stay out of bed. The bed or recliner or inactivity is the enemy when it comes to sciatica. Keep moving and don't stop even though it feels like it will kill you. It won't kill you to be active and within a week or two of movement, the sciatica will leave.

 

[MCR0161]

One can get sciatica from laying in bed for an extended time or from changing mattresses. It happened to me many years ago. If you stay in bed after the onset of sciatica it will only get worse. The best treatment is to get up and move do your regular routines with pain and stay out of bed. The bed or recliner or inactivity is the enemy when it comes to sciatica. Keep moving and don't stop even though it feels like it will kill you. It won't kill you to be active and within a week or two of movement, the sciatica will leave.

It would have been bad for 3 weeks on sunday. I've still been pushing myself to walk around and try stretches. Magnesium baths. Cold presses. Warm presses etc. But its getting progressively worse. Started lower back. Now it's almost constant in the left leg.
From what you're saying I'm already about doing what I can do for it in that case I hope it shifts fast. Appreciate the reply mate

 

[right]

The best thing to do is planks . Start off with a 1 minute plank off of your fore arms

 

[Shua1991]

Buy a beehive, and a queen to form a colony, a small one can be kept indoors.
Feed them oligodang and coconut water diluted with RO filtered water. Or go with the cheap stuff(sugar water) but their nutrition adds to their medicinal value. You can also add beneficial probiotics too using micro feeding regiments.

Use bees to sting your spinal column. It anywhere you have arthritis/inflammation. It will ache for a day or two but constant use of bee stings will prevent arthritis and inflammation.

Exactly what you need.

I use honeybees for their venom, to treat my chronic Lyme's disease, nothing works on my spine/nervous system like it does. Beekeepers never develop arthritis for this reason. Helps prevent nerve damage via inflammation regulation.

I've suffered a lot, I wouldn't recommend this unless you can develop a tolerance for pain(with Lyme that's easy) or you have allergies.

 

[subrob]

As the title states. I had a back injury a couple of years ago. And I have kind of suffered badly since. Recently (around 2 weeks ago) went to alton towers theme park. Managed to catch covid. After coughing and feeling shooting pains in my lower back and left leg for a while. Had it checked and was told its sciatica. For almost 3 weeks now I've been unable to function even as limited as I could. And it's only getting worse. Any suggestions very welcome as to try and get some relief/sleep would be absolutely awesome. It's even hard work hand watering plants.

First, don't take advice for sciatica from people on a weed forum. Or any other non medical personnel. Lol. As someone who has suffered from 30 years of breaking shit, construction accidents, motorcycle crasheS, I can tell you that people THINK they know your pain, but don't. And sciatica can range from discomfort and minor pain to excruciating, life altering, blinding, rage inducing pain. Stick w medical advice from professional medical caregivers.

 

[midwestkid]

i would go to the bone cracker. chiropractor. cheap and easy. worth a try? good luck

 

[mike-or-ozzy]

A theracane has worked for me for 30 years, get online for about 20 $

 

[madalasatori]

See a physio they will give you stretches, do the stretches religiously three times a day and it will eventually clear up

 

[RobertFripp]

Have family Dr recommend Neurologist. GP may order an xray But your best money is with a Specialist.


You need an MRI, to see what the extent of the most likely damage thats lurking in there.

They would most likely do an Xray first, and want you to do PT before they will recommend an MRI, if PT doesnt work.

Dont let anyone manipulate your back without knowing whats going on in there.

Alternate Heat, and Ice. Start 10 minutes Heat, and 20 minutes Ice. Off for 30 minutes. Repeat as often as possible. Do stretching.

If no contraindications, try a couple of OTC Aleve 2x a day for 10 days. No more than 10 days. Take with food.

Take everything I said with a grain of salt.

 

[EnjoyingLife]

Stretch hamstrings, quadriceps, psoas(iliopsoas), hip rotators and hip adductors. Throw calves in there because why not?
Once you get back in working order start focusing on core strength.
You can find all of this on YouTube, just find someone you'll listen to and most importantly pay attention to your posture during these stretches/exercises.

 

[3illmesmart]

See a physio they will give you stretches, do the stretches religiously three times a day and it will eventually clear up

This

 

[Maria Sanchez]

I feel for you. Sciatica is nasty. You can google around and try to find exactly where the problem on the spine is from knowing where exactly you're experiencing the pains. The nerves in different parts of the spine will lead to different places of pain. That may be helpful for then identifying where exactly you need to give attention. You can also google up some stretches that may help. Try different ones individually and see the results. I'd go for slow but long-time stretches, like at least a minute but better two minutes plus. Because you had a back injury there's a good chance that's the main cause. If you can (afford it), please try to see a specialist doctor.

 

[MCR0161]

Some what seems excellent advice here. But I think I may go to the hospital and try and see a specialist. (Luckily we have the NHS in the UK so it wont cost any more than my national insurance contributions already paid) I've always been active even when inactive. Working in property services theres a lot of heavy labour.
For the record here my pain threshold is quite high. But this is constant and debilitating. I cant pin point exactly where it is. Because it started lower back. Moved down my legs and decided to stick around the left leg with the most pain focused on the hamstring and calf area.

I also understand a weed forum isn't the place for medical advice but its always the place I've found people will respond with their own issues/solutions. I love the weed family

 

[Ca++]

It's unusual to get that diagnosis in the UK. The doctors were literally told to stop giving it. Maybe 8 years ago, it was a very common excuse for getting time off work, and before then, it was almost unheard of. Essentially, it's an easy diagnosis, and I feel quite skeptical when I hear it. It should also come with pain killers, if it's a real diagnosis.
You should 100% get to a specialist, and see what is really happening. It's not something some coughing is going to damage, but the theme park could well be a contributing factor. Making contact points with chairs a good place to look for damage.
I don't know anyone that still has it. Though they all made changes. Think about your mattress, and also your chair. You could of damaged your chair with all that coughing. Move the car seat, and consider if anyone else just drove it. It's all re-posturing.

 

[MCR0161]

It's unusual to get that diagnosis in the UK. The doctors were literally told to stop giving it. Maybe 8 years ago, it was a very common excuse for getting time off work, and before then, it was almost unheard of. Essentially, it's an easy diagnosis, and I feel quite skeptical when I hear it. It should also come with pain killers, if it's a real diagnosis.
You should 100% get to a specialist, and see what is really happening. It's not something some coughing is going to damage, but the theme park could well be a contributing factor. Making contact points with chairs a good place to look for damage.
I don't know anyone that still has it. Though they all made changes. Think about your mattress, and also your chair. You could of damaged your chair with all that coughing. Move the car seat, and consider if anyone else just drove it. It's all re-posturing.

They dont give it as a diagnosis of a health issue any more. But they still give it as a "symptom" of an underlying issue. I was offered opiates but I wont take them. I dont like the itchy nasty feeling that comes with them. Unfortunately I'm self employed so if I dont work I dont earn mate. Time off work would be awesome lol. The coughing wont be what caused it. But it certainly exacerbated it. Both me and the mrs drive the car but I always adjust the seat and mirrors cos I'm 6ft and shes short bless her I'm going to take myself to A&E today and see if they will push an x ray or MRI and see where the problem actually is bro

 

[Hmong]

After coughing and feeling shooting pains in my lower back and left leg for a while.

"left leg" tells me a lot already, and you being 6ft and mentioning car seats confirms my suspicion.

I've been having the same issues before, from simply lifestyle.
Seated work, then driving a lot in the car, hard training (or manual work) and little to no stretching...
The leg position during driving is a main cause of the issue, especially if you are taller, we are also driving manual where I am, so the left leg stays mostly contracted at all times.
For longer drives I put a lacrosse ball under my cheek for massage, to keep the blood flow going and have some movement. Before I started doing that, the whole left leg regularly just went numb after about 1hr of driving.

just educate yourself on that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piriformis_syndrome

stretch your glutes for instant release, a trigger ball under your left cheek also helps immensely.

Doctors can't prescribe exercise, therefore will never give you this kind of advice.
I have some bulging disks too, so first thing they always suggest is crippling surgery on my spine and what not...

I went with the stretches instead and recommend everyone to take these kind of matters into their own hands and not put their health into the hands of strangers with monetary incentives.

Been having sciatica on/off for 10 years now, and it only comes up when I slack on the exercise.
call it pattern recognition.

good luck, get well soon!

 

[MCR0161]

"left leg" tells me a lot already, and you being 6ft and mentioning car seats confirms my suspicion.

I've been having the same issues before, from simply lifestyle.
Seated work, then driving a lot in the car, hard training (or manual work) and little to no stretching...
The leg position during driving is a main cause of the issue, especially if you are taller, we are also driving manual where I am, so the left leg stays mostly contracted at all times.
For longer drives I put a lacrosse ball under my cheek for massage, to keep the blood flow going and have some movement. Before I started doing that, the whole left leg regularly just went numb after about 1hr of driving.

just educate yourself on that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piriformis_syndrome

stretch your glutes for instant release, a trigger ball under your left cheek also helps immensely.

Doctors can't prescribe exercise, therefore will never give you this kind of advice.
I have some bulging disks too, so first thing they always suggest is crippling surgery on my spine and what not...

I went with the stretches instead and recommend everyone to take these kind of matters into their own hands and not put their health into the hands of strangers with monetary incentives.

Been having sciatica on/off for 10 years now, and it only comes up when I slack on the exercise.
call it pattern recognition.

good luck, get well soon!

We also drive manual here. It's rare you get automatic drivers in the UK. It's also a megane GT so really low to the floor driving position. And a 6 speed box so foot is always on the clutch when driving. You may well be on to something. I dont want surgery. It took long enough to get semi okay after my initial back injury. And I'm going to try and get some more stretches in. And a good walk/limp with the dog. But not until I have at least spoken with a specialist.
Will have a read of that link with my coffee now though. Thankyou. And appreciate the well wishes ☮

 

[Hmong]

@MCR0161 sorry I thought you were US, I didn't think of right hand drive at all.
I'm central Europe, so left hand u know.

It's also a megane GT so really low to the floor driving position.

ahh, so then you basically laying, which doesn't engage your glutes at all.
It's like sitting on your spine / SI joint.

also couch laying is deadly for sciatica, another pattern I recognized after moving places and having no couch at the new one. Much less severe now, back then I often fell asleep on the couch when stoned and that regularly messed me up next morning.
Couldn't stand erect before stretching out.
It adds SI joint blockade to the equation, due to the ergonomic of most couches.
It's just some padding on a wooden board which doesn't adjust, there is a reason we sleep on mattresses and a slatted frame.

But not until I have at least spoken with a specialist.

it's fine to take some MRIs, just take everything with a grain of salt, once they suggest cutting you open. You can't see piriformis syndrome or SI blockade on an MRI or x-ray, so beware!
Those are functional impairments and only Physios and Chiropractors are educated on these.
Like nutrition, these things are not part of medical school curriculum, as there is no pill for it

 

[MCR0161]

@MCR0161 sorry I thought you were US, I didn't think of right hand drive at all.
I'm central Europe, so left hand u know.



ahh, so then you basically laying, which doesn't engage your glutes at all.
It's like sitting on your spine / SI joint.

also couch laying is deadly for sciatica, another pattern I recognized after moving places and having no couch at the new one. Much less severe now, back then I often fell asleep on the couch when stoned and that regularly messed me up next morning.
Couldn't stand erect before stretching out.
It adds SI joint blockade to the equation, due to the ergonomic of most couches.
It's just some padding on a wooden board which doesn't adjust, there is a reason we sleep on mattresses and a slatted frame.



it's fine to take some MRIs, just take everything with a grain of salt, once they suggest cutting you open. You can't see piriformis syndrome or SI blockade on an MRI or x-ray, so beware!
Those are functional impairments and only Physios and Chiropractors are educated on these.
Like nutrition, these things are not part of medical school curriculum, as there is no pill for it

I'm Manchester, England. The land of the bees the clutch work may be a big factor though still. I've just sourced myself a winter project bike aswell. So will definitely need to be more mobile before I jump on that.
I've been avoiding sitting as much as possible because the moment I stand is when the shooting pain is the worst. I know what you mean by the need to stretch before straightening out. The fractured spine is the bit that's making me want to see it's not that injury that's got worse. Or that I would make worse.

They wont be cutting me open anyway. A chiropractor can give me a good cracking though