Advise from chronic sciatica suffers.?

I have had sciatica for 10 years, caused from a fall. It has been pretty quiet lately, I know its there but no full blown episodes. The last time I had one, the doctor suggested a nerve block. I have read good and bad about this, so I opted not to. He then make the comment, well when you start having incontinence you will change your mind. Now, apparent sciatica can cause this or he would not have said it. My question is, will I just lose bladder control and pee all over myself or will I have slight incontinence, i.e. dribbling?

I have back issues as well, two herniated discs that give me the same symptoms of sciatica. I have been also told that at some point that I could have incontinence, and it was described to me like just having no control over at all.

I didn't take it as a scare tactic, but as a potential result of the problem I am dealing with. Over the course of dealing with this for 15 years (long term like you); I have had many nerve blocks done and they do provide immediate relief, but short term for the most part. The longest period of time I went pain free was 6 months.

I have also have two discectomies done---where they remove the part of the disc that is touching the nerve which causes the pain.

The main concern that I would have for you is to not get too many nerve blocks. Not too many??? how many is that...I don't know...I have lost count of the times I have had this done to my back...I know it is maybe near 70 times in the last 15 years as they are done in a series of three injections over a 3 week period...some doctors do it over a 1 week period..depends on their thoughts on it I guess.

I now suffer from AVN (avascular necrosis) which is a bone disease from having too much cortisone shot into my body. Please understand that this takes a lot of cortisone to get this disease, so don't be afraid of getting a series or two of the shots for the pain relief, I would do it all over again to be pain free for those short periods of time.

As you know back pain is one of the most miserable things to go through.

Sorry so long, I just wanted to give you another point of view.

Your doctor's comment was inappropriate and insensitive. I would highly suggest you find another and write a letter explaining why you are "firing" him. Yes, you can fire your doctor. Sciatic rarely causes incontinence but if it progresses to something more serious, it can. You need to see someone else, get an MRI to see what's going on to rule out a herniated disc or spondylosis. I have had sciatic on and off from working as a nurse. I feel your pain. I find physical therapy helpful and a lot of times need narcotics, anti-inflammatories and steroids to get me through. Alternate heat and ice but get the PT.....to fix the problem. The drugs just help the pain....you want to fix the problem. Nerve blocks are controversial and I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a really reliable practitioner with a good track record......again, not a permanent fix. Good luck and please dump your doctor....he sounds like a jerk.

I too have suffered from sciatica for years. I was always told it was caused from me having scarolitis. The thing was that come to find out that I had an underlying medical condition. It was called Reiter's Syndrome. I would suggest finding another doctor. I would get an MRI done as soon as possible to find out what the problem is.