anybody here dealt with sciatica?

[hacksaw]

this sux.
went to the walk in today and it was suggest i visit the surgeon whom removed a collapsed disc i once had.
i am also suppose to pic up some lidocaine fromCVS .
advil is only has mildly effective.

sitting doesn't bother me as much as it perhaps should.
laying down is terrible. cant sleep.
of course i haven't tried to ride with this malady.

anyone experience this shit?

[motogrady]

Yeah.   2010.  Memorial Day weekend
had a microdisectomy(sp?)
L4 was smashed like a squished donut.
The guy said he removed a piece of disc, about the size of a medium shrimp, that had entered
the spinal canal, pinching the spinal cord.

They said 2 weeks I’d be good, but really,
to get back maybe 80%, it was 2 years.

The pain down yer butt cheek, along the thigh and down to your foot was gone immediately.

Told me if the pain starts coming back up your inner leg and thigh, you’re on the verge of incontinance (sp?).

You need to get an mri.  Sooner the better.

Good luck dude.

[oldironnow]

Fully sucks !
I had a bout of it that ‘went away’ with stretching exercises, but it can come around now and again.
What caused it, besides age and work, was getting a memory foam chair pad for the tractor seat.
After that all calmed down, every interaction with memory foam causes back pain.

.

[Fatfatboy]

Sorry to hear that Keith. I hope it clears up soon. Do you guys have dispensaries, yet? There could be some edibles that can help with the pain?

I know a guy who dealt with it for years. He was a tinner by trade. He eventually had to take disability and have surgery to kill it.

Getting old sucks but I guess it's better than the alternative.

One of the side effects of dialysis is restless legs. I used to get it every now and then after my transplant back in 1997. I think it was caused by some of the anti rejection drugs but now it's just miserable. If I don't take drugs for it I can't sleep. The downfall to the drugs is they are a narcotic and they are effecting my short term memory and ability to focus.
But anyway, In the middle of the night last night I got up to take a pill for the RLS that was keeping me awake and I got a real sharp pain in my lower back that ran all the way down to my feet. I told my wife that she's not allowed to get old because we can't handle both of us falling apart.
 

[hacksaw]

thnx fat2.

oh god.
well my wife is 22 years my junior. i thought that would make me younger but it made her older. go figure????

i have had back pain to some degree for years.
i had a fused disc thing done maybe 5 years ago, emergency. that sucked. the surgery was fine but the rehab sucked.
fixed that issue but the original problem remained.
now it morphed into this. i feel like i was shot in the butt.

my daughter was a high end college softball player with all kinds of awards.
she quit and just plays locally for fun. one main reason is she had to go through all kinds of electronic and message  prep and taping to play. turns out she had this pain due to birth defect that her spine never grew a proper connection to her pelvis. first team division 2 player on a championship team both years she played.
so its not always old people. i do admit i am old. lol.

[hacksaw]

where di u learn stretching? chiro? PT?

[hacksaw]

yea mri would help . thanks

[hacksaw]

memory foam? is bad? wow! why?

[motogrady]

hacksaw wrote

yea mri would help . thanks

Well, with the mri then you’d really know what’s up.
X-ray isn’t going to show soft tissue.  

[motogrady]

I lived with mine for years.
But it got to where I could not eat or sleep.

After a chiropractor almost paralyzed me,
that’s a story in itself, a neighbor suggested
this general doc one town over.

So, I go to this guy.
He lays me flat on my stomach, and presses
right on the spot that made me jump.
Okay he says, I think it’s a disc.
We can try therapy, or operate.

It was a no brainer for me, therapy wasn’t gonna do squat.

So then he says well, we need an mri for the doc that’s gonna do the operation.  I know the ones around here that are really good right now.  Then get put on the schedule.
It’s gonna be a week to get the mri tho.

Ok I tell him, let’s just do it.

Ok, that will do it for today he tells me.

Well, I tell him, I work for myself.  No work,
no money.  I need something for the pain.
And I’m really having a hard time just walking.

He looks right at me.

And Percocet makes me an upset stomach.
I don’t want OxyContin.  Being a child of the 70s I know Valium works and doesn’t make me sick.

Staring at me he says, I think you should leave my office right now.  

WTF? I tell him.

Still staring, he tells me, I think you’re shopping me for drugs.  I’d like you to leave right now.

Doc, lighten up, I tell him. I’m not shopping for anything more than a guy that can fix my back.

Still staring he says, I’ll give you a weeks worth of strong aspirin. When you come back with the mri results we’ll
talk then.

A day after the mri I got a call from him.

What was it that worked for you, pain wise?

With what you have going on,
You can have anything you want.

[Mad4TheCrest]

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[hacksaw]

well i didn't open the pool yet. but i will get on it.

i really dont want another operation but i do think an mri is the way to go.
i have an appt next week and will ask for one.

i am using patches. the first one insurance wouldn't pay for so i got some over the counter that are close to it. they seem to be helping. and i am eating advil and tylenol and sucking down coffee.

i can sit pretty good. sleeping sux. i am starting to use a cane if i expect much of a walk.
strangely , it throbs much less, but but when it hurts its sharper pain.

i have held off on chiro and PT since i want the mri to pinpoint whats happening.
unfortunately my lawn is going to
 seed.

[motogrady]

How much lawn you got?
With 3 acres here, one understands.
I’ve been paying a guy $80 a pop, which is cheap.
Takes him about 3 hours, already used him twice this year.
I’ve had guys quote me $200.

Between snow plowing in the winter and grass mowing
in the summer, that will be a grand, easy, more like $1,500.
Sucks but what u gonna do.

Good to hear about the mri thing.

At least you’ll know what’s up.
Plus, they can do a lot more nowadays.
Don’t sweat it, you’ll be fine.

[Mad4TheCrest]

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[motogrady]

Mad4TheCrest wrote

My lawn is beyond seed - it's weeds. Quotes for yard work here in LA run $250 and up just to cut the side strips along the road. 80 bucks to cut three acres is an LA homeowners wet dream 😳

Wealth transfer from one generation to another.  

Life goes on.

Edit: ya, 80 is a deal.  Even here.  

[hacksaw]

3 acres is a hay field here. the guy cutting would pay the landowner.

i dont have anything near that.
i have 4 spots that get cut. all with different requirements for blade height and watering , etc.
small stuff.

sciatica has vastly improved. havent got into the surgeon because he cancelled my last appt.

[oldironnow]

hacksaw wrote

where di u learn stretching? chiro? PT?

I went to an urgent care before a long hike as the pain was flaring.

I ask the medic, "if I go to a surgeon with this, they'll cut on me, right?"

She said. "Oh you bet they will."

But she clued me in to two stretches.

Both from laying on the back.

The best is trying to push the curve of the spine to the floor.

The other is taking a knee and bringing it over to the floor at hip level.

Both, slowly.

[oldironnow]

hacksaw wrote

memory foam? is bad? wow! why?

I don't know why exactly.

It bends differently than other foams, which I think bends my joints differently and excites nerves that are otherwise usually un-bent.

[hacksaw]

I am aware of those exercises . I used to actually do them in karate class. But that was 20 plus years ago .
The idea of trying to get up off the floor at this stage is not great .