Sciatica - how do you cope?

LimeLight

im crawling the walls right now with excruciating pain

mumoftwins

LimeLight wrote: »

im crawling the walls right now with excruciating pain

Hi Limelight!

How are you now? How long have you been suffering and do you know what caused it?

I am up again as usual after 3/4 hrs sleep, but have taken a couple of Ibuprofen (night time meds from Dr are slow release but don't work) and will be off to bed again soon as got work in the morning.

What I would give for 8 hours sleep straight through

teachergirl

hi there mumoftwins,
so sorry to hear you are still sleeping so badly and poor limelight. I am someone who really hates taking drugs but my really bad sciatica showed me that there are times when they are a VERY necessary evil. I still take painkillers virtually every day and other meds because my op caused nerve damage on my left side. However it is nothing like the pain you guys are in. It worries me that you are still getting so little sleep. This can affect everything else that is going on in your life. If you have a sympathetic GP go back and see them. Prior to my Op it took me about at least 8 months before they got my pain even close to being under control. I remember sobbing in his office because he wanted to change my pills when I had at last got some that were half working...because he could see that they weren't working well enough. Different combinations of pills suit different people and different things help. e.g. I saw someone had advised swimming... this caused my sciatica to go into overdrive it was horrendous. I think you should keep going back to the Gp until you find a combination that suits you. The thing is if you got a bit more sleep you would feel better about doing all the other things that might help you...like going for that walk in the sunshine. Really hope things improve for you soon.

LimeLight

I have had small twinges for several years, but recently in the last year or so, they've been excruciating, lasting for hours at a time.

I actually went for a bike ride today and it seemed to have helped, along with cuprafen.

I've just changed doctors as i asked for a scan on my back & hips and the idiot of a doctor said ' no, we only use scans for people we think have got cancer, and i don't think you have'.

mumoftwins

teachergirl wrote: »

hi there mumoftwins,
so sorry to hear you are still sleeping so badly and poor limelight. I am someone who really hates taking drugs but my really bad sciatica showed me that there are times when they are a VERY necessary evil. I still take painkillers virtually every day and other meds because my op caused nerve damage on my left side. However it is nothing like the pain you guys are in. It worries me that you are still getting so little sleep. This can affect everything else that is going on in your life. If you have a sympathetic GP go back and see them. Prior to my Op it took me about at least 8 months before they got my pain even close to being under control. I remember sobbing in his office because he wanted to change my pills when I had at last got some that were half working...because he could see that they weren't working well enough. Different combinations of pills suit different people and different things help. e.g. I saw someone had advised swimming... this caused my sciatica to go into overdrive it was horrendous. I think you should keep going back to the Gp until you find a combination that suits you. The thing is if you got a bit more sleep you would feel better about doing all the other things that might help you...like going for that walk in the sunshine. Really hope things improve for you soon.

Oh, Teachergirl - thank you for such a lovely post! Having read it I now realise that I must get my Doctor to give me something to get this pain under control.

Limelight, thats ridiculous about the scans! What a thing to say!! People have scans for all sorts of reasons, especially back problems otherwise how on earth can we know what it is wrong and how to treat it?

Sorry for the rant, blame it on the pain ;)

teachergirl

let me know how you get on. I also think it is important to let them know that the pain wakes you up at night..this always seemed to make my Gp very concerned. Hope it helps.

mumoftwins

Well, I went to see the Dr on Thursday, not my usual one as he was booked up, but saw a lovely female GP who was very concerned about my sleeping habits and has given me Ibuprofen 400mg to take at the same time as my slow release CoDydramol when I go to bed. For the first 3 nights this was great, slept for 6 hours without waking but now its back to the pattern of before (as you can tell from the time of this message!).

Anyway, am up again at some unearthly hour and am waiting for an Ibuprofen tab to kick in then will be off back to bed again!

The pain is still awful but more 'manageable' now that I have got into a routine with the medication.

tenacioust123

mumoftwins wrote: »

Well, I went to see the Dr on Thursday, not my usual one as he was booked up, but saw a lovely female GP who was very concerned about my sleeping habits and has given me Ibuprofen 400mg to take at the same time as my slow release CoDydramol when I go to bed. For the first 3 nights this was great, slept for 6 hours without waking but now its back to the pattern of before (as you can tell from the time of this message!).

Anyway, am up again at some unearthly hour and am waiting for an Ibuprofen tab to kick in then will be off back to bed again!

The pain is still awful but more 'manageable' now that I have got into a routine with the medication.

I do sympathise with you, I don't think I've slept a full night for over 3 years, even tho I take a right concoction of tablets including Morphine. This is all due to problems with my back, i've had a fusion but that has made things worse.

mumoftwins

tenacioust123 wrote: »

I do sympathise with you, I don't think I've slept a full night for over 3 years, even tho I take a right concoction of tablets including Morphine. This is all due to problems with my back, i've had a fusion but that has made things worse.

Do you work tenacioust? If so, are you like me in that you fall asleep in the afternoon because you can't get through til bedtime without at least an hour's sleep?

tenacioust123

mumoftwins wrote: »

Do you work tenacioust? If so, are you like me in that you fall asleep in the afternoon because you can't get through til bedtime without at least an hour's sleep?

I'm not working at the moment, but hope to at some point. It varies really, last night I went to bed at midnight up at 3am because of pain, went back about 8am and slept till 12. Other times I do not go back to sleep in the hope that when I go to bed that night I will get a full night.... but it never happens.

I think my body has got used to snatching 2/3 hours every now and then. My medication seems to make me wakefull instead of knocking me out. I've had sleepers in the past but don't like the feeling in the morning, they made me feel like a zombie.

TT