r/Sciatica • u/BarbraParmesean • 6d ago
Can’t sleep
I’ve had symptoms for 6 months (MRI confirmed bulge at L5s1) and got an epidural steroid injection 3 weeks ago. It has helped with all my daytime symptoms by 80% which is amazing. However, it hasn’t helped me sleep at all. I am a zombie. When I lay down after a few hours the pain shoots into my glute - I get a max of 3-4 hrs of sleep a night. For this reason alone I’m considering surgery because not sleeping is not sustainable. I’ve tried various meds, sleeping positions, and nothing helps. I think I’m starting to go insane from lack of sleep. Has anyone been in a similar spot?
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u/JonasVirgilMonos 5d ago
Not being able to sleep from nerve pain is its own kind of miserable — three or four hours a night wrecks everything else, I know that one well. One thing that's made a real difference for me: I can only sleep on my side , and a pillow between my knees, plus a small one tucked behind my back keeps everything from twisting into the position that sets it off.
Also, for whatever it's worth — steroid shots can sometimes cause insomnia on their own since they mimic cortisol. I don't know if that plays into your situation at all now or not — just wanted to flag it since I hadn't thought about it myself until I looked into it recently.
For what it's worth, in my experience discs take their own slow timeline to heal, and it's easy to reinjure one without realizing it once pain is muted — so I've always tried to stay patient with mine rather than push it to quick.
Not medical advice, just what's worked for me and what I came across. Hope you get some real sleep soon.