Re: Sciatica Questions

Dear Darren,

I wish you would have come by here while your doctor was whispering bad advice in to your ear. I'm sure it wasn't intentional since he recommends surgery to you after only a month from onset every patient of his likely gets the same line. A month is way too fast to be jumping in to an OR and buying a $6000 scar. Now you're finding out what kind of warranty comes with that scar- absolutely none.
Ah well, the deed is done and no sense in crying over spilled bodily fluids. Any advice I might give (other than the previously mentioned tennis ball trick, which might offer some immediate pain relief) is going to depend on a few answers from you.
First what did the MRI report say? I'd rather hear it in doc-speak because so many physicians get a radiologists report just chock full of abnormalities and dismiss most of them as "normal". Things like bad disks that many people have, but don't get pain from. But if there's a herniated disk and pain, and other causes are ruled out, it's not normal, no matter how badly they want it to be. So what did they see?
Second, what did they do to you in the OR? There's a couple procedures that are the most likely, either a laminectomy or a fusion. I won't say which is worse till you tell me what they did. You don't need even the possibility of your mind telling your body you had the worst one. It can work that way and you never even know your mind is working against you.
I guess all that's left is what other kind of therapies, procedures, manipulations and medications did they try? This should be a real long list like nerve blocks, various other injections, stretches, acupuncture and exercises, but how much could you do with only a month between onset and the Grand Opening? I hope I am missing lots and that you tried plenty before the knife. Bee venom and Holy Water. The works.
The most important advice I can give you, even if I knew your whole story, is never doubt it's going to get better. God forbid it's 20 or 30 years down the road, and things are the same, never doubt it will get better. Life is a lot easier if you can keep that going.
OK the tennis ball trick. You want a chair that's not too soft, not too hard, somewhere between. Take a tennis ball and put it right about where the back pocket of a pair jeans sits. You may have to do a little maneuvering, but you will know the spot, you'll feel it run down the leg and in to the foot. Keep it there till 10 minutes have gone by or your foot goes numb, whichever happens first. Give it about a half hour break and do it again. The pain should be noticeably reduced. You are basically doing self acupressure. I think it was Mike in here who also suggested doing the same thing filling a sock up with rice. It has the added benefit of being able to nuke the whole thing. It's not going to hurt (though I don't know if the rice is still edible) and it may help quite a bit.
Above all, relax. We'll get you through this, however the cards play out, and whatever issues arise.

Wishing you painless days--og



"Searcher7" <Searcher7@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:ed1cf9b8-0b09-4f93-b254-36b25a6c7a0b@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I visited a doctor yesterday who told me to do some internet research
and learn as much as possible about my lower back and my condition.

So I thought I'd ask what those here who have had to deal with
sciatica and surgery for it have done to facilitate recovery.

From what I understand my initial problem was something that occurred
over time. For the last several years I did a lot of bending over at
my place of work, and thanks to my bad right knee most of the bending
was done with my back.

Like just about everyone I had experienced back pain in the past, and
had attributed it to growing older or perhaps over straining the
muscles. Nevertheless, it had always gone away. But on this particular
day in July I began experiencing a different kind of pain.(As well as
numbness and weakness). Though I didn't know it at the time, this
obviously wasn't related directly related to any of the past
"backaches" I may have experienced.

I had an MRI which shed light on what my problem was and then
subsequently I had surgery. This was over a month after the initial
problem surfaced. A month after surgery a lot of the feeling I had
lost returned. But progress seemed to come to a halt and not much has
changed in about two and a half months. (I'm still weak, but that may
be a problem related to the clot in my leg or the blood thinners that
I've been taking).

I'm experiencing some pain in my feet, which makes it difficult to
walk in the morning for fear I may pull a tendon or something.(That's
the way it feels). And the lumber/hip/glute/groin areas can get really
tight if I sit down too long. Those muscles area also weak, as well as
my calves, making it difficult to walk up an incline or even stand on
my tippy-toes.

Has anyone ever returned anywhere near 100% from a similar condition?
And what steps have you taken to facilitate recovery?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

.

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