Thread: Sciatic Nerve problem??

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WOW, lots of information and advise here. Let me say first THANKS GANG, I do appreciate it. I have just gotten an appointment with my primary care physician on Thursday to see what he thinks of all of this.

Today my pain is much less and easier to get around, however, I had to have some vicodin to get thru the night last night.

Once again, thanks for all of Y'alls experiences and suggestions,
meller

I have to chime in,having back problems for 30+ years and I had the same thing as you do. I also ended up with surgery 21 years ago and yes I still have pain and get the sciatic thing going again sometimes. I found thru some rehab, stretching the hamstring quite alot gets me out of it as long as I dont do a stupid thing afterward. Chiropractors also screwed me up-and wont usually touch someone with a bulging disc problem. Mine is so bad I havent worked since 1990,but get by.

All of the above. I think some people end up having surgery for this if the nerve is compressed and the pain is radiating especially down the butt and leg. Worth a trip to the doc(neurologist), and to get an MRI to see if it's a fixable condition. General practice docs will more than likely refer you to a Neurologist, or blow it off and proscribe pain killers. I sort of get the same response to my migraines. Kaiser docs told me to meditate to get rid of the headaches. I told him I'd sure hate to find out I've got a brain tumor for the last five years and you guys misted it. He took a deep breath and said I think it's time we did an MRI. Amazing what the power of persuasion can do to motivate your medical professional!

Originally Posted by stovens

...Amazing what the power of persuasion can do to motivate your medical professional!

Ain't it the truth, Steve, ain't it the truth.
Mellow,
You've received lots of free advice here, and you can see that different people have had different experiences, especially with bone crackers. I opened my response telling you what has worked for me, and not giving you any advice on a course of action that you need to take. I knew what had caused my lower back strain initially (helping 3 other guys lift a USN airplane tri-blade propellor from deck to stand instead of going to get the cherry picker, and one guy slipped when it was above shoulder level ) and that it was a chronic strain, not a rupture. On that basis chiropractic adjustments helped me deal with the pain for several years whenever I overdid on manual labor or bent over a fender too long. Along the way I had an old Quack Osteopath explain to me how I could pop my back by myself - it didn't work, but he gave me enough info to look at the physics and figure out how to do it my own way and that, plus buying my inversion table seven years ago all but eliminated the pain for me. I am fortunate.

In my experience a PC physician is going to be very, very conservative in apporoach, generally taking months to try paths of least action because the insurance companies pressure them (my opinion). If muscle relaxants do it for you then everyone wins. If not, and if your insurance allows you to go to a specialist without a PCP referral then a good sports medicine doc or, as Steve suggests, a good neurologist will probably take action and get to the root of the pain sooner. All in all, it's your body and your pain, and the right path is what's right for you in your situation. I hope you find a good doc that listens and understands.

UPDATE:
After two weeks of pain, I finally went to my primary care physician today and he pushed and pulled for about 10 seconds and sent me to Palestine (40miles) for X-Rays and an MRI.

Laying motionless on that hard surface for 25 minutes during the MRI took some reall praying on my part. By the time it was thru, my hair was wringing wet with sweat and I was hurting pretty bad but we "Got'er Done" as Larry would say.

He put me on Soma 3 times daily, Meloxicam (anti-inflammatory) 2 times a day and Hydrocodone (vicodin) as needed during the night. and wants to see me back in his office on Tuesday to discuss the results of the tests.

Don't mean to be Ps'n & Mo'n just passing along this info for Y'alls future reference which I hope none of you ever need.

Thanks again to "ALL" for the advise and personal experiences,
Mello