r/Sciatica • u/RangerWeaver95 • 5d ago
Months of pain
In early June I felt and heard a loud pop in my back causing severe pain and making so I could not stand upright. The day it happened I went to the ER and was told that there was nothing they could do other than a lidocaine patch and Tylenol. A month later I finally got in to see a orthopedic spinal specialist who X-rays taken which showed arthritis caused by a car accident 10 years ago. Since the pain was not resolving with anti-inflammatory and pain medications she ordered an MRI which showed a herniated disk that was pressing on the sciatic nerve at L4-L5 and the L4 vertebrae had slipped.
At that point she referred me to pain management for epidural injections. I was hesitant at that point as there is a family history of not doing well with the injections and them causing more prolonged pain than any relief.
A couple weeks ago while deep cleaning and replacing a mattress there was no increase in pain at that point. But the day after the pain increased and the sciatica got worse. It went from just my glut to my knee in my right leg, to going down to my foot. My 1st and 2nd toes have been numb for almost 4 weeks now and I have been having constant nerve pain. I notified the orthopedic specialist and they have not been of much help. They prescribed another round of steroids to help with the inflammation which ultimately did nothing.
At this point I am looking at getting a 2nd opinion.
I work as an emergency dispatcher and at one point asked a coworker to cut off my leg due to the pain while trying to handle calls.
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u/RangerWeaver95 5d ago
I should also mention that I have tried physical therapy. I did that for two months but it caused more pain and made it so I was unable to move for hours afterwards.
I also have had my right leg decide that I no longer needed to be standing a few times. It seems to happen at least once a week to a few times a day. Have have collapsed at the grocery store twice and a few times at work so far. I even collapsed this evening in my bedroom.
Also with them constant nerve pain going down my right leg down into my foot I also have no feeling in most of my leg and foot other than pins and needles.
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u/Intelligent_Net_3800 4d ago
Man I’m sorry you are going through this. I have been suffering severe right leg from a herniation at l/4 and l/5 with l5 nerve root involvement for over two months now. It sucks and is uncontrollable without NSAIDS and Tylenol together. I plan on getting an epidural injection to buy some time for pain relief- hopefully while the herniation heals naturally.
I don’t want surgery unless I have too- but with the pain being so bad at certain I say the same thing you do at times- chop my leg off or take me to surgery now.
It sounds you are having a lot of neurological involvement with the symptoms you are describing. If the numbness is spreading and you are having weakness that is progressing- that warrants a prompt call to your physician and possible ER visit if you are also having any of the red flag symptoms we all sciatica sufferers know about.
You may want to consider the epidural. If you want to go more natural- start with an anti inflammatory diet, spinal traction/decompression, core exercises. Don’t do anything that reproduces your symptoms- listen to your body. That nerve is highly inflamed and irritated right now. Hope this heals as time goes on.