Hi everyone, I'm Julie. Mom of 3, been dealing with sciatica for about 3 years now. I've tried physio, chiro, painkillers, heating pads, TENS machines, and probably over $2,000 worth of stuff I found online. Nothing has made a real difference. Started this group because I was tired of being sold things everywhere I looked. No ads here, no products I'm pushing. Just people trying to figure this out together. If something helped you even a little please share it. And if you just need to vent that's fine too.
just found this group. been at this 3 years and still no real answers. glad this place exists at least.
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week 3. still awful.
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does anyone else feel like giving up on doctors entirely
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@Edith yes. frequently.
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@Rose went to a physio who actually knew about the piriformis after reading your comment. doing a lot better now. thanks for posting that.
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@Sandra which comment? I'm new here, trying to find it.
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helpppp
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@Patricia what's going on?
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@Janet I'm really suffering. can't sit, can't stand, can't sleep. been 6 months of this.
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day 4 of not being able to put on my own socks.
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tried acupuncture for 3 months. $1,800 out of pocket. didn't do much. I'm 63 and I never thought I'd spend my retirement dealing with this.
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@Dennis I did acupuncture too. maybe 10% relief. not worth the cost long term in my opinion.
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woke up in pain again this morning. it's been every single day for over a year. my husband doesn't really get it. hard to explain what it's like when it never stops.
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@Nancy my husband is the same. "have you tried ibuprofen?" yes, I've tried ibuprofen.
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@Nancy hang in there. it does get better for some people. keep looking.
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does anyone get the burning that goes all the way down to the foot? not just pain, more like heat under the skin. been 8 months. MRI showed a bulging disc at L4-L5 but surgeon said not bad enough for surgery. so I'm just here.
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@Linda yes, the burning is different from regular pain. hard to describe to people who haven't had it.
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@Linda right leg only, started after a long car trip about two years ago. same here.
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kind of embarrassing that I had to find out about the piriformis from a forum and not from any of the 4 doctors I've seen. @Rose thanks for sharing what your sister told you.
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@Carol same. I pay these people a lot and I learn more from here in a week than from months of appointments.
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heat packs in the morning help me get through the first couple hours. not fixing anything but makes it more manageable. anyone find heat works better than ice?
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@Carol heat yes. ice makes mine worse. my physio said to use ice and it was wrong for me.
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@Carol heat helps for about an hour then it's back. but I'll take that hour.
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cortisone injection helped for about 6 weeks then came right back. doctor says max 3 a year so I'm rationing them. not really a solution.
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@Kenneth same. 6 weeks of relief then back to square one. I'm on my second of three for the year.
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when I started this group I wasn't really expecting to find an answer here. just looking for people who understood what I was going through. but after reading @Rose's comment and doing my own research I've had some actual relief for the first time in 3 years. still not 100% but I finally feel like I understand what's actually been wrong. thanks Rose, and thanks everyone here.
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@Julie glad to hear it. gives me some hope.
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been on gabapentin 8 months. takes the edge off maybe 30%. the brain fog is rough and I've put on weight. it's managing the pain but not fixing anything. I'd rather find the actual problem.
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@Earl the fog got bad enough that I stopped driving. that was a line for me.
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every time I see a sciatica product ad on facebook I get annoyed. they all claim 97% success rate in 3 days. I've bought a few over the years. none did what they said.
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@Irene tried to get a refund from one of them. took weeks of emails and they gave back about 15% of what I paid.
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so it's the piriformis. not the disc. been treating the wrong thing for 3 years. read @Rose's comment if you haven't, it's a few days back in the thread.
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@Vincent what is piriformis? genuinely never heard of it
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@Margaret it's a muscle in the buttock area. can press on the sciatic nerve. look for Rose's comment a few days back, she explains it.
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@Vincent I'm a bit skeptical about all these "real cause" theories that keep coming around. herniated disc shows up on MRI, piriformis doesn't. hard to know what to believe.
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swimming helps more than anything else I've tried. maybe 20% improvement. but I'm 67 and can't get to the pool every day so it's not really practical long term.
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@Thomas same with me and walking. helps while I'm doing it. doesn't last.
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I've been researching this for 2 years and every source contradicts the next one. sleep on your back, no sleep on your side. exercise more, no rest more. stretch, don't stretch. at some point you stop trusting any of it.
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@Beatrice the contradictory advice is one of the most frustrating parts honestly.
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@Beatrice I literally have a list of things I've been told to do that directly contradict each other.
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had to skip my granddaughter's soccer game last weekend. can't stand for that long. it's these small things that add up.
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@Agnes yes. it's not even the pain itself most days, it's what you can't do because of it.
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my chiropractor mentioned something called piriformis syndrome once and then never brought it up again. I didn't know what it was so I didn't ask. now I kind of wish I had.
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@Helen same thing happened to me. mentioned it once and moved on. should have asked.
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short walks help a bit. 10-15 minutes max. more than that and I'm paying for it the rest of the day. not a solution but it's something.
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my appointments are 10-15 minutes. not long enough to actually talk through what's happening. I leave with less information than I came in with sometimes.
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@Gladys mine spent half the appointment typing with his back to me.
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I've spent a lot of money on this. physio, chiro, massage, two MRIs, three doctors, spinal decompression, supplements, a special mattress, four different cushions. still in the same place as a year ago.
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@Marilyn the cushion rabbit hole is real. I think I have five now. none of them work.
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physio helped maybe 30%. the stretches did take the edge off. but my physio never explained why those specific stretches help. just handed me a sheet. after reading @Rose's comment about the piriformis I'm wondering if that's actually what those stretches were targeting all along.
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@Raymond nobody explains the mechanics. just "do these exercises." frustrating.
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my sister is a doctor and she basically admitted that the medical world doesn't have great answers for sciatica. she said most of what gets prescribed is just managing symptoms. hard to hear but at least explains why nothing has really worked.
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@Dorothy that tracks. I've had the feeling for a while that they're just guessing along with the rest of us.
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four years of this. seen six different specialists. done everything they've told me. starting to wonder if this is just how things are now.
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@Virginia please don't stop looking. there are people in this group who turned a corner after years of nothing working.
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@Virginia I know that feeling. going on 18 months. some days it's hard not to just accept it.
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want to be honest about what I've spent in the last year. chiropractor $800. two rounds of physio $1,200. inversion table $400. decompression therapy $900. random stuff online probably another $800. specialist co-pays $500.
that's over $5,000 and I'm in the same amount of pain. I don't regret trying. but it's a lot of money for nothing to show for it.
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@Leonard I'd rather not add up what I've spent. it would be depressing.
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@Leonard you're not a fool for trying. when you're in pain you look for anything.
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been lurking here for a few weeks. first time posting. this group has been more helpful than most of my medical appointments just in terms of feeling like someone understands what I'm going through.
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anyone notice their pain is worse when they're stressed? I've been dealing with some stuff at home and it's been noticeably worse. not sure if that's a coincidence.
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@Morris not a coincidence in my case. always worse when stressed or not sleeping well.
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TENS machine did nothing for me. everyone online says it works. maybe I used it wrong. $200 gone.
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@Harold worked for me but only a little. like 10-15% relief and only while it was on. not a fix.
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six years of this. kind of stopped expecting it to go away. just trying to keep it manageable at this point.
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@Oscar seven years here. 64. I just want to play golf again. one round. that's it.
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my wife thinks I'm exaggerating. she's never had chronic pain so it's hard for her to understand. I don't hold it against her but it does get lonely.
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@Arnold mine said something similar once. it's hard when the people closest to you don't quite get it.
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69 years old. had this since I was 61. kind of assumed it was just part of getting older. reading this group made me think maybe it doesn't have to be permanent.
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reading back through this thread. a lot of us have had the same experiences, tried the same things, gotten the same non-answers. at least we're not alone in it.
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learned more useful things from this group in two weeks than from years of appointments. not sure what that says about the medical system.
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