Sciatica & the pain that comes with it

[Cooter]

You're preaching to the choir, but I appreciate it.

It's funny how when all the stretches, exercises, poses, medicine, etc. don't accomplish shit, that simply stopping and RESTING and allowing the body to heal itself is the answer. It was fucking humbling and depressing for me... I'm a lazy SOB, but I'm a free wheeling mofo. I'm always out and about. Always doing something. I'm lazy, but I'm a fucking hustler.

Sitting still and not being able to lift a piece of paper off of the floor fucking killed me. I injured myself three times within 6 weeks of the initial injury because I wouldn't stop working.

I'm pretty good now, but, for example, earlier this week I emptied out one of my storage units and moved everything to my barn... days like that I definitely feel it and can get a tinge in my legs.

best wishes to everyone dealing with any facet of this shit... makes me want to go back in time and slap the shit out of my jr. high self... looking back through my life, I've fucked up this disc so many times...

once was actually doing squats and deads with Alan at the gym a million years ago (I never admitted it to him afterwards )

http://www.amazon.com/Treat-Your-Own...+your+own+back

Pick up this book. It is written by Robin McKenzie (the McKenzie method). it is about 100 pages, read the whole book, do not skip to the exercises. Follow his guidelines and methodology. I just finished reading it a few days ago and started with the exercises as often as I can. It is helping so far.



Pick up an inversion table, you can find them on craigslist for $50-100. Or brand new as low as $150. I just started using one this week and so far, I am hopeful that it helps me long term.

I have a VERY long thread regarding back pain/surgery that I bumped yesterday or the day before, it should be easy to find. It somewhat chronicles my journey through back pain, surgery, and now a relapse. The pain you are describing is EXACTLY the pain that I had when I was referred to a specialist for my issue. 2 years later I had a discectomy/laminotamy. 5 years later, I am going through it all again, because I got lazy and did not take care of myself like I should have. When I went for my second opinion on Monday, the doctor described my herniation as MASSIVE.

I had a relapse in September last year, then in November it flared up again to the point oral medication did not help. I couldn't perform my PT exercises/stretches because the pain was so bad. Fast forward to January, I spent a week on the couch extremely sick. This rest helped give my back a break and it reduced the pain and discomfort. I have been aggressively researching alternative methods for treatment. Exercises, herbs, amino acids, ANYTHING that will keep me off of the operating table. Read my last few posts in my thread for what I have found thus far.

It is a VERY long road, one you will have to walk each and every day. Be conscious of what you do and how you do it. You MUST carve out time slots for maintenance exercises to help maintain your mobility, core strength, and ultimately quality of life.

[black2002ls]

My herniation was so bad, glides and stretches weren't doing shit... they were just squeezing the disc material out like a tube of toothpaste. The stretches felt great while I was doing them, but it would just exacerbate the problem.

After reading everything on the net for days on end, I decided to just rest and let my body heal itself. After a month I was better enough to get around ok but with a good amount of pain.

Initial injury was mid June. MRI was ~7wks later. Ability to pick something up off of the floor was probably another 1.5 months.

I'm at a dull ache now. I can dead lift a couple hundred lbs when I need to. I have to take it easy and not overdo it. I moved in Oct. I moved all of the furniture myself... As in, solo. Wife was busy boxing/unboxing shit. Thankfully we moved out of a small house!

Being down for so long and being depressed about it, I gained about 40lbs... thankfully it was coming up from my lowest at 232lbs. I was 325 a year prior to being 232... so even at 270-275 I'm better off than I could have been if I was still 300+

But I'm finally getting around well enough that I'm going to start easing into walking more and more and buck the fuck up and quit eating like shit because of the combination of sympathy weight for the wife's pregnancy and my depression.

I never ask for help, but when I did, the doctors I was asking for help were nothing but surgery pushers. The chiro wanted to see me 3 times a week for however long. The stretches he recommended were shit. I had to request the MRI. Once he saw it, he said I needed surgery. So did the other doctors. My problem with that was the fact that the worst of my pain had already happened and it was just starting to reside.

If you read back health blogs/forums/articles/etc. it's the same shit over and over. Everybody is quick to cut you open, but the recovery rate for surgery vs. non-surgery tends to be similar. Surgery just accelerates it. BUT, those who get surgery are more prone to getting it in the future.

I've read some case studies and seen some pretty nasty herniation MRI's that followed up 1-2yrs later with almost totally normal looking disc.

Oddly enough, the worse the herniation, the better the resorption by the body. People who just have severe bulges and/or minor herniations often have a hard time healing. The Aussie stretches/positions/glides/etc. are good for reducing bulges. But once you have a major blowout like I did, all that shit just makes it worse until the body has a chance to heal itself.

I guess nobody imagined how bad my shit was because I was able to get around ok. I feel like I have horrible pain tolerance, but I guess it's actually fairly high?

We should compare MRI's! My specialist described mine as massive. This is, of course, the same location as my surgery in 2012.

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[Cooter]

discectomies are more prone to future herniation

My chunk of sequestered disc was 21mm long and 14mm around... that's fucking massive... over 3/4" long and over 1/2" diameter. It was actually oval shaped... 13x15mm around and 21mm long.

I was considering surgery, but the stubborn me, (combined with pouring over case studies), as soon as I heard everybody say "oh, you need surgery right now, I can get you rushed in with so and so, etc." I was like... you know what? fuck you... fuck you and your kickback referral bullshit.

Every surgeon they recommended had horrible reviews. I spoke with a neurologist, and to her credit, she didn't try to rush me in to surgery. She referred me to a surgeon, but said let's see how you're doing in a month. I just never went back. Never consulted with the surgeon.

I need an inversion table, I've just been lazy. I haven't been able to stretch adequately, and I need the hydration to the disc/joint. To me lazy = so busy that when I'm on down time, I don't want to do a fucking thing. Part of it is my sweet bi-polar depression!

[GE]

Damn we're all some old fucks now. LMAO. I have a slight bulge at L4-5 but luckily Meloxicam and taking it easy helps, it randomly flares up once or twice a year.

[Cooter]

I was told I would be dead before I hit 30, and I guess I sorta believed it... I certainly lived my life like it

I turn 39 this spring

On a plus note, I'm closer to 260 than I am to 270 according to the scale, so I'm down almost 10lbs from Xmas. I'd love to be 230 again this summer

[Snatch Napkin]

Inversion table and yoga.
Seriously, it's the best long term fix.
Go easy starting out on the table. Don't go fully inverted until you feel comfortable with stepping off of the table after using it.
The first few times can feel like your back has been injured.
Work on isolating your core muscles to support your lower back more.

EDIT: Test drive your table before you buy one. Comfort on your feet will be the most important thing when upside down. I wound up buying a $99 table from Academy instead of the super fancy ones with all of the extra shit all because they hurt my feet. You don't need all of that extra shit either. The main point is to alleviate the compression of your discs. Gravity does that just fine when upside down.

[akfodysvn]

For me personally yoga is I've of the worst things I could do without limiting all poses that require you to arch your back. Any rounding of the back allows that disc to push out

[Cooter]

Yep, I haven't leaned over so far as 90 degrees in over 6 months. I'm good for maybe 45 deg and it's a ham stretch, nothing on the back...

I originally tried to fix it myself using all the tools in my arsenal. I've done yoga since my teens. I also tried various stretches that my chiro prescribed. EVERYTHING but rest made it worse

For me personally yoga is I've of the worst things I could do without limiting all poses that require you to arch your back. Any rounding of the back allows that disc to push out

[black2002ls]

Yep, I haven't leaned over so far as 90 degrees in over 6 months. I'm good for maybe 45 deg and it's a ham stretch, nothing on the back...

I originally tried to fix it myself using all the tools in my arsenal. I've done yoga since my teens. I also tried various stretches that my chiro prescribed. EVERYTHING but rest made it worse

This is exactly how I was Nov/Dec last year. Not sure what happened when I got sick the first week of the year but I have been going slightly uphill since. This past week, for the first time since early November I am somewhat active. I am able to perform the first few exercises of the McKenzie method with no increase in pain/discomfort. Now I just need to find a way to work them into my day more often.

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[Cooter]

I'm at a constant dull ache, but it's so exponentially better than where I started out and more so better than when I kept trying to stretch and "heal"myself, that I'm good with it.

I've actually slacked off on keeping my lower back pinned erect, and I can feel a little tingle in my foot after a few days of inattention. And, when I over exert myself.

This has been one of the most humbling experiences in my life, and it came closely on the heels of the other in my top two just two months prior.

2015 was arguably the worst in my life. I sure hope it stays that way

[black2002ls]

I'm at a constant dull ache, but it's so exponentially better than where I started out and more so better than when I kept trying to stretch and "heal"myself, that I'm good with it.

I've actually slacked off on keeping my lower back pinned erect, and I can feel a little tingle in my foot after a few days of inattention. And, when I over exert myself.

This has been one of the most humbling experiences in my life, and it came closely on the heels of the other in my top two just two months prior.

2015 was arguably the worst in my life. I sure hope it stays that way

2016 has started off in the shitter for me. Good thing is, it can only get better!

Posture has always been a problem for me. I slouched REAL bad in school. I had trouble sitting upright at my desk due to the lack of padding on my backside! I try to make a conscious effort to improve my posture now.

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[Cooter]

I'm 6'4", and the entire world requires either looking like you're pushing a fart posture-wise while doing things like opening a door knob, using a sink, opening a drawer, etc etc etc OR executing poor posture

[Snatch Napkin]

Damn, that really sucks on not being able to do yoga.
The other real "fix" came as a fluke. When I bought my truck, I got two twin size memory foam mattresses, 6" thick, to stack on one another.
That has been the absolute best feeling when waking up. When I'm at home, I always wake up hurting.

[Cooter]

Damn, that really sucks on not being able to do yoga.
The other real "fix" came as a fluke. When I bought my truck, I got two twin size memory foam mattresses, 6" thick, to stack on one another.
That has been the absolute best feeling when waking up. When I'm at home, I always wake up hurting.

If I weighed 50lbs less and had some hip flexibility, I could probably do some yoga, but all the poses I try to do to "help" the situation (even hip stuff, etc.) end up causing more pain than I had prior, so I just chill for now.

Beds are a whole other thing. Soft beds kill me. Our bed at home is dual firmness. My side being the firmer, obv. Well, with the wife being pregs, she claimed my side. It's only 9 months, I'll survive

[barronj]

is that kid #1? congrats!

I appreciate the info everyone has given.