I had back pain from a herniated disc, then the sciatica started about two weeks ago and is constant. I am on meds for inflamation, pain, and muscle relaxation, but I can't sit, stand, or walk upright for the pain. I don't have an orthopedic doctor yet as I have moved to a new town. So I will probably spend Thanksgiving in bed. Thanks for any help you can give me and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. So sorry to hear about your pain. It seems to be in the acute stage. Herniated disc must be in lumbar spine, since that's where the 3 sciatic nerve roots emerge (one pair at each of 3 levels).
Yes, I've been there. MRI showed 5 herniated discs, with 2 described as "very large and severe causing severe spinal stenosis," and there were complications as well. Couldn't stand more than 30 minutes. Sitting down was an agony as firm chair seat compresses the lumbar spine. Even morphine did not help.
Flash forward one year. No surgery, no painkillers these days at all, do own gardening & housework, can easily walk 2 miles. Only residue is a back that starts to complain fairly easily, so must cease whatever activity is stressing it (too-strenuous gardening, etc).
It wasn't luck. It was a lot of very hard work plus a determination to get better plus the ability and the resourcefulness to find extremely effective if somewhat unusual treatment modalities.
These are:
1) For the acute pain stage, a diet that will lower inflammation throughout the body. This is quite complicated. In a nutshell it means mostly vegetables and fruits for a short period of time (about 2-4 weeks) and elimination of all foodstuffs known to trigger inflammation. I've studied nutrition, my professor helped me individually in his private practice.
Improvement was dramatic. This approach helped much more than morphine. Within 2 weeks I began to be able to walk, farther & farther each week.
2) supplements to reduce inflammation. These are mostly omega-3 essential fatty acids. Surely you've read about these, there's amazing research coming out about their role in healing/stabilizing inflammatory diseases, everything from cardiovascular disease to Alzheimer's. The typical US diet at present contains too high a proportion of omega-6. What's missing are the omega-3 and, for anti-inflammation, the EPA (eicosapentanoic acid) component of the omega-3 EFA. The high EPA will suppress the inflammatory prostaglandins and encourage the body's production of the good or healing prostaglandin. Where does one get high-EPA omega-3 essential fatty acids? Best source is molecularly-distilled fish oils. Read label for EPA and DHA proportions, you'll need a high EPA count and these products are hard to find. You should try for 1 gram of EPA a day at first, for about a month. Can take less later. Yes, molecularly-distilled high-quality fish oil capsules are expensive, but it's still a lot cheaper than powerful prescription painkillers or surgery.
There are 4 other supplements I took, all available at health food stores. Two involved collagen (spinal discs are made of collagen) in interesting new formulations that render the large previouslyi-indigestible collagen molecule into a form that can be assimilated by oral ingestion. The other two were anti-inflammatories. It was said that one of these, based on turmeric and other herbs, is as effective as the controversial prescription cox-2 inhibitors (Celebrex and the banned Vioxx).
3) the 3rd treatment modality is perhaps the most important since it involves permanent rehabilitation of the lumbar spine. This is physiotherapy. I live in a country where a new approach to lumbar spine injuries is being taught by leading physiotherapists who work with our national Olympic sports teams. Many sports involve repeated battering or smashing of the spine, as in horse jumping, hurdle racing, downhill ski slalom racing, etc, and many athletes wind up with herniated discs.
The physiotherapy involves identification by the patient of the transverse abdominus muscle and a long program of exercises to strengthen this muscle. The trans ab is the deepest abdominal muscle. It sweeps around the lower abdomen and attaches to the spine at rear. Picture a basket at the bottom of your abdomen that holds upright all your organs - bladder, uterus, large colon, lumbar spine, etc.
Strengthening this muscle will protect the spinal cord from stress and prevent further disc degeneration.
How to do this? Best thing is to find a physiotherapist trained in this approach. You won't find it in any of the standard back books. To show you how difficult it to identify this muscle (and if you've read this far !) could you please give a little cough right now. Do you see those abdominal muscles that contract when you cough? These are not, repeat NOT, the transverse abdominus ! It is much deeper and harder to find than those muscles. I could describe how to find it, if you'd write again, or you could try to find a US physiotherapist who uses this approach.
Fact: several downhill slalom racers with multiple herniated discs and crippling pain in my country have been restored to excellent functional condition - they can even ski although they'll never slalom race or mogul jump again - without surgery or constant painkilling meds, following a year or more of this physiotherapy.
I'd write more if you would be interested. I don't really understand why the US approach seems to be so heavily orientated to surgery, powerful painkillers, sometimes chiropractic.
Re: chiro. Please don't even think of going to one. Any manipulation of your spine in this acute-pain stage will damage the bulging or herniated disc further. The physios mentioned above don't even practise manual therapy on an acute case until healing has commenced.
Final note: you will get better. The bulging/herniated disc that's pressing on the sciatic nerve root will retract with time. The diet is to lower inflammation now. The physiotherapy is to prevent this from ever happening again. try doing back excercises before it gets too bad and you can't do anything. it will hurt, but will be better in the long run http://www.sciaticaclinic.com/
http://www.easyvigour.net.nz/fitness/h_C...
i used to think i had sciatica, had some serious pain for like...3 or 4 months, i walked with extreme pain, the pain never seemed to stop, i looked at those sites and came to a conclusion (this was a while ago) that it must have been a muscle ache. i started stretching the sore leg as much as i reasonably could, and over time....bout a month, it got better. now it's as if it never happened. i know this may not be your case, but maybe? maybemaybe? stretching might help? ask the doctor who diagnosed you with it :-) Better find a doctor fast. Be brave, u can work it out! Happy Thanksgiving to u too! MY MOM HAS THE SAME PROBLEM . AN ANTI INFLAMATORY SEEMS TO HELP ALONG WITH TOPICAL RUBS SUCH AS BENGAY OR HEATING PAD.OF COURSE REST.
SHE RECENTLY SAW A RADIOLOGIST WHO WHILE IN A CAT SCAN MACHINE INJECTED MEDICINE DIRECTLY TO THE DISC AREA SEEMS TO BE HELPING. SEE IF YOUR HOSPITAL HAS A PAIN CENTER. OR MAYBE A CHIROPRACTOR CAN HELP. GOOD LUCK. HAPPY THANKSGIVING There was an article in the New Yok Times today about sciatica and what treatment is best. Here is the first paragraph of the article:
"Two big government-funded studies on back surgery for painful herniated disks show no clear-cut reason to choose an operation over other treatment. The pain and physical function of the patients, who were suffering from a condition called sciatica, improved significantly after two years whether or not they had surgery. However, neither strategy offered complete relief."
I think you should stay in bed and take the meds for now, and see an orthopedic dr. as soon as you can. Then you can decide whether or not to have surgery or continue treating it with pain medications. I have been having epidural steroid shots and that gives me relief for about 6 months. But I don't want to take too many of those shots because of the side effects, so I might try surgery next.
Good luck to you, and I hope your pain subsides soon. There is no medicine to treat it. Pain killers is not the answer. You will have to either go for surgery or acupuncture. We have treated many with acupuncture. Go to a skilled acupuncturist, your problem may be most likely solved. Afterwards you think of surgery. |
