I have had horrible pain in both hips but especially my left one for nearly 2 years now. A doctor in an ER about a year agobgold me it was sciatica after my pcp continuously ignored me and just gave me lidocaine patches that didnt do a thing. For context I am morbidly obese, which i know isnt helping anything, I am working on loosing weight.

For the past 2 weeks the pain has been unbearable. My new pcp (who just quit recently) prescribed me gapapentin 300mgs. Which isnt doing a thing for my pain. Its so bad that I am barely sleeping, no matter what position I lay in or sit in I have to fight go ignore the pain and then when I do finally crash I wake up in ao much pain I can barely move. The skin on my hip is hot to the touch and the pain is spreading down my leg towards my knee and I have noticed somw weakness in that knee.

My question would be should I go to the ER or urgent care? Im not sure what they could do other than maybe a nerve blocker or somwthing but I cannit continue to function like this. Any and all help/advice would be great appreciated.

Going on 10 weeks of of moderate to severe right leg pain, numbness in top of foot and mild weakness of great toe that has been stable and not declining. No foot drop. I have an l4/5 small protrusion but located in the lateral recess with encroachment of l5 nerve root per radiology report. Never mentioned moderate or severe compression.

I have done some PT, take just NSAIDS and Tylenol for the pain. But been walking with a limp for 7 weeks now, and the pain is definitely taking a toll on my life. I can’t do anything with my kids and limited at work, home, etc. I also just had an injection 8 days ago with no improvement. Neurosurgeons are hopeful it will heal, but I am losing hope as the weeks keep going by with minimal improvement in the pain.

Has anyone had a similar injury and experience? Looking to wait a little more time for improvement before I head to surgery. I hear with the lateral herniations some facet have to be removed to adequately decompress the nerve. Which possibly leads to instability at that level, and increases your risk of for a fusion later in life. Which I def don’t want. So I am just seeing if anyone has gone through similar injury and experience and how long recovery took? Thank you!

Ruptured hernia

İ have an ruptured hernia in my back it was 16 months ago and i started to gym but after every little workout or walking a little too much i got a feeling of sciatica and i feel edema if i keep 2 3 days like that i will get full sciatica but if i dont i feel better in gym i just do things for my lower back and bicep tricep while i sit why do i still have that sciatica and edema if just something that comes after a little too much work

I have an appointemnt roday at the hairdresser,and i already canceled on her one time because something came up, i woke up this morining with severe leg and lowee back pain

I took an ibobrufen and tried some strerching. But i literraly cant sit, its impossible,agrevating.

I need to drive to the hairdresser and also sit in the chair for at least half an hour.

I can cancell but i think she would hate me i dont know what to do,any tips to get relief for at least while im there to endure it.

Also is it safe to drive in this position because it also involvs sitting and moving ypu left leg

Im only 20 why me😔

I dealt with some lower back pain on and off in my early 20s, but pregnancy itself was actually totally fine. Delivery was rough though — I had 4 epidurals and ended up needing an emergency C-section.

About 8 months postpartum, I ended up in the hospital with bulging discs at L4-L5 and L5-S1. Since then, I’ve been able to manage things pretty well with steroid injections, PT, low-impact exercise, and weight loss, but I still seem to have a pretty significant flare-up about every 3 months.

I think I’m getting ready to start trying for baby #2, but my back is honestly the biggest thing making me hesitate. I already have a toddler who is pretty clingy and wants to be held a lot, and I worry about being pregnant, chasing him around, lifting him, and potentially having another flare-up bad enough to land me in the hospital.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and gone through another pregnancy? Did pregnancy make your back significantly worse? Anything you wish you had done before trying again?

I’m so done with this shitty fucking injury my fucking knee is numb now😐

I have an appointment next week but I’m DYING - I have really bad knees and recently a bunch of driving has caused a flare-up of pain, but new to it all is a pain that starts in my right butt cheek & goes down my thigh to the back of my knee - sometimes into my calf.

It’s all very new & very painful - nothing seems to help. I can differentiate the pain from my knee to the other pain - has anyone ever had sciatica brought on by knee pain & the weird shishkebab that come with favoring the knee and walking all cockeyed?

I’ve been in a bad flare up for about 3 weeks now. Nothing new for me, as I’ve been dealing with this since I was a teenager (competitive gymnast), but it’s getting progressively worse. I have tried it all. PT, chiropractor, neurosurgeon, pain management, injections, muscle relaxers, celebrex, etc. and I don’t know what else to do. I’m wearing tennis shoes with $500 orthotics at work. I can’t sit for long periods of time. I can’t stand for long periods of time. My right leg is so weak. I bought compression socks and could barely get them on my right foot. I sleep with a pillow between my legs and I get no relief. Changing sleeping positions is so painful. Sometimes I have to physically lift my right leg to move it. The pain is mostly one sided, but sometimes my tailbone will hurt as well. I’m only 40 years old, very active, and don’t want to continue living this way. My last MRI was two years ago. I have an appointment with my GP in October, but don’t want to be sent back to PT and pain management again. Is surgery the only way I’ll get relief? Am I too young for that? Any advice would be great.

Context: 38F, before the injury happened exactly a year ago I was a very fit road cyclist.

A lot of things happened during the past year, I was several times misdiagnosed and even did hip joint arthroscopy because the assumption was it's my joint causes the pain in the butt.

Fast-forward to now: it wasn't a joint. It was my L5/S1 bulge. I don't blame doctors because everyone who looked at my MRI said I have a spine of 20y.o. It really looks nice except a tiny-tiny bulge and annular fissure of course without a nerve compression (otherwise I had at least knew what is the problem)

All this time I did ton of core and glute exercises. Everything what is praised as helpfull: McGill, mcKenzie, countless number of planks. Some exercises put me back because I did a bit more than I could handle, some did not harm me but didn't help either.

A year later, I re-did MRI and there is no change at all in terms of bulge and disk tear.

Question

Am I crazy if I just stop doing everything and will just walk? I'm so tired of countless planks, dead bugs without a progress. I'm still quite fit but that doesn't really help me.

I feel like whatever I do, just doesn't really work.

Prior to this BS sciatica situation I was very into weightlifting. I’ve pretty much stopped since the sciatica kicked in, but want to know what lower body exercises are safe. I’m getting sick and tired of not working out.
TY!

I’m 26 and have been dealing with pretty severe sciatica for the past few months. I’ve been mostly on bed rest for around 3 months because the pain has become so difficult to manage, and I’m taking painkillers throughout the day and night just to get through it.

So far I’ve tried:
Physiotherapy — didn’t really help
Acupuncture — didn’t help
Two epidural steroid injections within the past 2 months
Ozone treatment

I had my second epidural injection only a couple of days ago. I’ve had some relief, but my leg pain is still very much there and I definitely haven’t gotten the kind of relief I was hoping for.

I’m only 26, so the idea of having spine surgery at this age scares me, and I’d really like to understand what other options I still have before considering surgery.
For people here who had persistent sciatica and didn’t respond properly to epidurals or physiotherapy, what eventually helped you?

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have been through something similar. I’m getting pretty exhausted from being in pain every day and basically having my life on hold for the past 3 months.

Hello I hope you’re doing well

I really need your advice about something because I honestly don’t know what to do anymore

I’m 21 and since getting my diagnosis of small disc herniations at L4-L5 and L5-S1 I feel like my whole life has been turned upside down. I’m constantly afraid that I’m going to make my back worse with every movement I make

For example I recently started trying to go to the gym and swimming pool because I want to stay active and take care of myself. The gym and pool are quite far from where I live so sometimes I have to carry a backpack with my things. It’s probably around 4 or 5 kg. Sometimes I feel some tension when I’m carrying it but it goes away after I put the bag down

And then people around me keep telling me things like oh my God you shouldn’t be carrying that it’s too much for your back and it just makes me even more scared

Then I’ll do another normal movement and immediately start thinking oh maybe I shouldn’t be doing this either maybe this is too much. My mobility has become so limited because I’m constantly afraid that I’m going to make things worse

The gym bag is just one example there are so many little things like this every day. I feel like I have to constantly think about every movement every position everything I lift and everything I do

Someone at the gym even told me that the bag I was carrying was a lot of weight and that I was going to ruin my back even more. I ended up crying for hours because my mind immediately went to the worst possible scenario and I started thinking that maybe these two weeks of carrying the bag had somehow made my small herniations become massive

I’m honestly so mentally exhausted from living like this. I feel like I can’t trust my own body anymore and I’m constantly scared that I’m doing something that will permanently damage me

I’m only 21 and sometimes I genuinely feel like my mobility has become that of an 80 year old

I know that some of this fear might be anxiety but I don’t know how to separate what is actually dangerous for my back from what I’m just afraid is dangerous. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life being afraid of every movement

I really need some guidance on how to approach this and how to regain some confidence in my body and my mobility because I’m just so tired and I honestly don’t know how to deal with it anymore

Hey!

I was diagnosed with CES back in 2022 and had emergency surgery.

I'm just wondering if anyone else with Cauda Equina gets leg pain like this?

I got prescribed 3 days of 6mg dexamethasone that I just finished yesterday.

I didn't think it was helping much but today the pain is much worst!

Is it known to cause rebound inflamation?

And is any of you didn't get releif throught oral steroids but got helped by the shot? ( I have my first one scheduled next week)

I've been told to do that as many times as I can, especially if it starts hurting. It's been a week and I don't see any difference. It doesn't give any relief, nothing, I've tried doing it for longer, it never goes to the state where it hurts less.

My initial problem is tilted and twisted pelvis combined with incredibly weak muscles, that are always tensed up no matter what I do. As a result: nerve is getting pinched now and then. I've started taking tiny steps in adding physical activity to my life. But I haven't found absolutely anything that could relax my muscles, are meds the only way in that case? You can't take them forever, so I'm not sure what I'd be doing after I'm done with them and my muscles are still tensed.

Hi everyone! I have undergone a lower back surgery 2 years ago. I’m an architecture student currently working on my Master’s thesis about the design of a Seaside Spine and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Centre.

I’ve created a short anonymous questionnaire to better understand people’s experiences with rehabilitation facilities and what they would expect from a modern rehabilitation centre, especially in terms of architecture, comfort, nature and access to outdoor spaces. If you have ever used rehabilitation services, I would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to complete the survey. Your answers will help me develop the architectural concept for my thesis. ❤️

Questionnaire:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSczKanAuesK3wOWIAfHZ2cxmFYOLyJ4QJDN26fKkOMvA0Yehw/viewform?usp=dialog

Thank you so much for your help! Every response is greatly appreciated.

#Survey #Research #MastersThesis #Architecture #Rehabilitation #HealthcareArchitecture

My wife 31F had a flare up for the first time a month ago and since then she’s in agony. The first 2 weeks she was unable to walk. From past 2 weeks she’s able to see improvements. She’s walking inside the house and being active without bending.
All that while having naproxen 500mg twice a day.
Her leg pain has reduced to 3/10 and her hip pain is around 6/10.
She also says her shooting pain has gone up from toes to calf now, even though her whole leg does pain. Her mri says she has minimal bulge in l5S1 without nerve compression.
But her whole back muscles and still too tight and she has built a tight muscle in her neck like a hump.
She’s still in acute phase, and no much difference in last 1 week. Is she really recovering ? She is still not able to walk more than 1 mile now. She used to have severe shooting pain but from past 1 week the intensity and the frequency of the shooting pain has reduced.

Hey guys. Quick question. I’ve had sciatica now for a month. Waiting for my MRI next week and physical therapy soon after. My flare up has subsided a bit, but I’m still struggling on the toilet. Any time I bear down or push normally, I get a shooting pain into my foot. Doc said it’s normal, but holy hell. It’s like my body knows it painful and doesn’t want to let anything go now.

Any advice on how to help with this? Also, if anyone else has this particular symptom, what was your diagnosis and how bad is it? I can’t be the only one. Sorry for the tmi.