sciatica??

[Nurburgsingh]

I had this a few year back, went for an MRI and they told me my discs were dehydrated, they were all set to fuse my bones together when i tried a sports physio, he gave me a set of exercises to do and told me to drink tons of water... 5 years later... I'm still operation free and I only get an odd niggle now and then.

[The_Doc]

Nurburgsingh said:

I had this a few year back, went for an MRI and they told me my discs were dehydrated, they were all set to fuse my bones together when i tried a sports physio, he gave me a set of exercises to do and told me to drink tons of water... 5 years later... I'm still operation free and I only get an odd niggle now and then.

You can't rehydrate a dehydrating and prolapsing intervertebral disc. This piece of the advice was tosh I'm afraid. Pure old wives tale mumbo-jumbo. The prolapsed material is eventually reabsorbed and as the nucleus pulposus dehydrates further over the decades it is less and less likely to prolapse. (80 year olds never 'slip a disc') Everyone's discs dehydrate, its a normal ageing process. MRI in back pain is a dangerous tool for the non-specialist medical worker, all sorts of crazy diagnoses get passed to patients

I'm very pleased to hear you got better though without the knife, and you obviously bear out the findings that most people's sciatica and prolapsed intervertebral disc pain resolves in time without surgery

I'm glad to be of advice.

[granada28]

Had a few years ago mate. What worked for me was muscle relaxers and lying in bed flat on back with no pillow and a piece of plywood under the mattress for a week. Get yourself a shedload of dvds and do nothing if you are anything like me the doing nothing bit is the hard part. That was 6 years ago and it hasnt come back.

[sparkypete]

My sympathy mate, I am suffering at the moment,its my right leg that gets it, a constant throbbing and ache, had it on and of in varying degrees of pain for the last 3 years, the doctors cant realy help. I take 2 paracetamol and ibuprofen tablets which ease it a bit and just try to ignore it and carry on, (this can be difficult when it’s bad.) It will ease just takes time. Don’t let it rule you.

Pete

[jeffm3]

Another one that suffers with it, the pain i get down both my legs is the worst you could take me to the vets and have me put down............ouch, i go to the osteopaths every month but for the first 2 days after its worse but then it clears up (not completly) for a couple of weeks, i really feel for anyone with this its the worst, hope everyone is feeling better and get over it asap

[dfen5]

I had this come and put up with it for a good few weeks before going to the Doc', as you do. By then end I could hardly get up. The low point was sitting down for a coffee at a motorway services only to find I was literally on my knees to get back to the car. Doc' gave me Diclowhatever it is (anti-inflam') and I was on them for a few months. I could actually tell the difference between brands when I got repeat presscriptions.

The relief from the anti-inflams took a while to kick in but I found walking, weight reduction and some careful back strengthening excercises did the job and it's never happened since.

I wouldn't go near a chiropractor - google the dangers. They're not even medicaly trained. All they'll do is stretch your wallet open and massage that.

[jeffm3]

for me pain killers does nothing even strong ones doesn't touch the sides total waste of time, the only thing thats less painfull than the rest is walking it seems to ease off slightly, the hanging from a chin up bar etc. can also help as it can release the trapped nerve, i heard a story don't know if there is any truth in it but there are some right idiots out there, apparently there was a guy that suffered so bad with it he went to a train track and put his legs over hoping this would cure the pain he survived the train just about but after and he didn't have any legs he would still get the pain in them even that they wern't there coz its a trapped nerve in your back not your legs, not that i would consider doing something as stupid as that but i can quite easly see someone doing it coz the pain gets so bad you end up nearly suicidal about it, funny story mind wonder if someone could be so dull??
i feel for you mate honest i hope you get it sorted but try walking it off it helps me, i found staying still just makes you consentrate on it more too...

[scoobykev15]

you need an osteopath,one visit to a good osteopath will put you right for months.i fannied around with doctors,hospital x-rays and painkillers for years and one day a customer came in and saw me hobbling around like a 90 year old,asked me what was wrong and promptly gave me his osteopaths phone number.never looked back since.they will usually start off with a spinal massage which takes your breath away,then electric acupuncture machine for 10 minutes.after that they manipulate you spine by lying you on your side and pulling down on your legs which pulls the problematic discs back into place.

[supersingle]

scoobykev15 said:

you need an osteopath,one visit to a good osteopath will put you right for months.i fannied around with doctors,hospital x-rays and painkillers for years and one day a customer came in and saw me hobbling around like a 90 year old,asked me what was wrong and promptly gave me his osteopaths phone number.never looked back since.they will usually start off with a spinal massage which takes your breath away,then electric acupuncture machine for 10 minutes.after that they manipulate you spine by lying you on your side and pulling down on your legs which pulls the problematic discs back into place.

+1

Also consider doing some core strength exercises to protect your back in future. HTH.

[wiggy001]

supersingle said:

scoobykev15 said:

you need an osteopath,one visit to a good osteopath will put you right for months.i fannied around with doctors,hospital x-rays and painkillers for years and one day a customer came in and saw me hobbling around like a 90 year old,asked me what was wrong and promptly gave me his osteopaths phone number.never looked back since.they will usually start off with a spinal massage which takes your breath away,then electric acupuncture machine for 10 minutes.after that they manipulate you spine by lying you on your side and pulling down on your legs which pulls the problematic discs back into place.

+1

Also consider doing some core strength exercises to protect your back in future. HTH.

+2 and make sure you have a good matress.

[becksW]

Sympathies from me if it is sciatica (though any back pain is bad) I have mainly suffered lower back problems due to severe muscle spasms, however last couple of times I have started suffering the shooting pain across the buttocks and also down one leg, sheer agony.

My tx of choice, good strong pain killers (co-codamol 30mg x2 px by doctor) and osteopath. Once I discovered the wonders of an osteopath I wished I tried to use them sooner.

Luckily I have been relatively pain free for a few months now, just the occasional acute spasm that renders me useless for a minute or 2.

[biglepton]

Long term on and off sufferer of sciatica here. Ibuprofen is OK, but if you can get some, Naproxen 500mg is the real business for ending the pain IMHO. My current attack started in March while climbing a ladder and I have had little feeling and pins 'n needles in my right foot since then plus varying amounts of pain whilst walking and sitting. Good luck!

[jeffm3]

scoobykev15 said:

you need an osteopath,one visit to a good osteopath will put you right for months.i fannied around with doctors,hospital x-rays and painkillers for years and one day a customer came in and saw me hobbling around like a 90 year old,asked me what was wrong and promptly gave me his osteopaths phone number.never looked back since.they will usually start off with a spinal massage which takes your breath away,then electric acupuncture machine for 10 minutes.after that they manipulate you spine by lying you on your side and pulling down on your legs which pulls the problematic discs back into place.

right i'll try to explain the best i can what my osteopath does to me, i get on the this bench/bed that swivels in the middle he messages my back and gets it all loosend up (this is starting to sound a bit gay) then he will put me on my side with my one leg underneath bent up other staight and my arm sort of up round my head and then he pushes on my knee and grabs my arm and twist my top half of my body one way while pushing the bottom the other and then you get this god almighty CRACK going on in your back sounds like he just broke it, first time i shhit myself thought he had got it wrong big time, he also grabs my head from behind twists my head rocks it back an fourth then pulls my head nearlly off, it feels like its come away from your neck.
It gets worse for a day or so but after the swelling has gone down my back is sorted for a few weeks, has anyone else had these procedures done to them both i thought were a bit mad but definitely works.

does anyone also get a bad back not when you've been lifting heavy things, for me its when i go to pick something up or just reach for something slightly the wrong way and ouch it goes,

[PantsoftheShandy]

I suffer from "locking up" joints in my lower back. Which in turn can trap or pinch certain nerves. Can be very painfull. Get yourself down to an osteopath and they will be able to release the pressure from the nerve. Give it 5 days and the pain should start to ease as the nerve calms down.

I would also recommened some back strenghting excercises and doing some strecthing or yoga.

Hope you feel better soon

[wiggy001]

jeffm3 said:

scoobykev15 said:

you need an osteopath,one visit to a good osteopath will put you right for months.i fannied around with doctors,hospital x-rays and painkillers for years and one day a customer came in and saw me hobbling around like a 90 year old,asked me what was wrong and promptly gave me his osteopaths phone number.never looked back since.they will usually start off with a spinal massage which takes your breath away,then electric acupuncture machine for 10 minutes.after that they manipulate you spine by lying you on your side and pulling down on your legs which pulls the problematic discs back into place.

right i'll try to explain the best i can what my osteopath does to me, i get on the this bench/bed that swivels in the middle he messages my back and gets it all loosend up (this is starting to sound a bit gay) then he will put me on my side with my one leg underneath bent up other staight and my arm sort of up round my head and then he pushes on my knee and grabs my arm and twist my top half of my body one way while pushing the bottom the other and then you get this god almighty CRACK going on in your back sounds like he just broke it, first time i shhit myself thought he had got it wrong big time, he also grabs my head from behind twists my head rocks it back an fourth then pulls my head nearlly off, it feels like its come away from your neck.
It gets worse for a day or so but after the swelling has gone down my back is sorted for a few weeks, has anyone else had these procedures done to them both i thought were a bit mad but definitely works.

does anyone also get a bad back not when you've been lifting heavy things, for me its when i go to pick something up or just reach for something slightly the wrong way and ouch it goes,

currentyly having exactly that routine on a 2-4 weekly basis. Scary is not the word first time but completely agree - serious "soreness" (for want of a better word) for a day then all movement returns

[Goughie]

+1 on the Dicolfenac. Had sciatica so bad due to prolapsed discs (a rugby injury) that I had my bottom two discs removed. That was after six months in an orthopeadic corset, paralysis from the waist down, four MRI's, an epidural and a mylogram (radioactive dye injected into back and x-rayed). Even after all that and the six month recovery period, the worst pain without a doubt was coming off all of my medication cold turkey. I literally didn't sleep for three weeks. The first night I did it was for 38 hours!

Not something I'd wish on anyone else, but I'm as right as rain 16 years on.

Edited by Goughie on Saturday 26th July 19:06

Edited by Goughie on Saturday 26th July 19:08

[GLENRED]

Thanks for all your help guys, pain is now manageable thanks to prescription meds and I can now stand up slowly and make it to the couch. A few days more and i hope to be OK again or at least able to get about.

[funkyrobot]

The_Doc said:

Nurburgsingh said:

I had this a few year back, went for an MRI and they told me my discs were dehydrated, they were all set to fuse my bones together when i tried a sports physio, he gave me a set of exercises to do and told me to drink tons of water... 5 years later... I'm still operation free and I only get an odd niggle now and then.

You can't rehydrate a dehydrating and prolapsing intervertebral disc. This piece of the advice was tosh I'm afraid. Pure old wives tale mumbo-jumbo. The prolapsed material is eventually reabsorbed and as the nucleus pulposus dehydrates further over the decades it is less and less likely to prolapse. (80 year olds never 'slip a disc') Everyone's discs dehydrate, its a normal ageing process. MRI in back pain is a dangerous tool for the non-specialist medical worker, all sorts of crazy diagnoses get passed to patients

I'm very pleased to hear you got better though without the knife, and you obviously bear out the findings that most people's sciatica and prolapsed intervertebral disc pain resolves in time without surgery

I'm glad to be of advice.

The doc, you certanly know your stuff and are full of very useful advice.

I have had sciatica related symptoms for a year, then had an MRI in April. They found out that my L4/5 disc has prolapsed. I'm off to see a consultant/surgeon on Thursday (been waiting for 3 months) but am due to start a new job in a week's time. I'm hoping that I won't have to have an op but its likely I will, or so i've been told.

I have a new physio now and am doing core muscle exercises that seem to be helping (i've not had a big moment since Jan, touch wood!!) but i've got numbness and hypersensivity in the little toe area of my left foot.

Is a chiropractor worth seeing as well?

And do you have any idea that I may be able to avoid surgery for a while? I don't want to ruin my new job straightaway lol!!

[Clammy]

funkyrobot said:

Is a chiropractor worth seeing as well?

Yes, but an osteopath would be better.

A chiro will focus on the area of your spine s/he believes to be the problem. An osteopath will look at the structure as a whole inlcuding muscles joints and connective tissue.

Either way it's better than living on painkillers and being told to put it with it by your GP.

[The_Doc]

funkyrobot said:

I have had sciatica related symptoms for a year, then had an MRI in April. They found out that my L4/5 disc has prolapsed. I'm off to see a consultant/surgeon on Thursday (been waiting for 3 months) but am due to start a new job in a week's time. I'm hoping that I won't have to have an op but its likely I will, or so i've been told.

I have a new physio now and am doing core muscle exercises that seem to be helping (i've not had a big moment since Jan, touch wood!!) but i've got numbness and hypersensivity in the little toe area of my left foot.

Is a chiropractor worth seeing as well?

And do you have any idea that I may be able to avoid surgery for a while? I don't want to ruin my new job straightaway lol!!

1) 60% of over 40years olds will have a disc bugle on MRI. Completely normal asymtpomatic people.
2) Numbness in little toe = S1 nerve root irritation. Sacral root and no disc present here
3) don't bother with a chiropracter, as has been stated in this thread they are unregulated and even more DIY than the osteopaths
4) You can avoid surgery for as long as you want, it's your spine, you control the plan. The surgeon is there to explain together the symptoms, the MRI scan and your options. He won't want to operate unneccessarily either.

W.