Sciatic Nerve

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I'm in pain most of the time.
This has been going on for most of the time for about 2 months.
From what I've researched, its my Sciatic Nerve.

Has anybody else had this nerve giving them trouble????
I have to sleep flat on my back.
Hurts to drive and I have to walk funny to keep it from killing me.
Its my left back leg.

I'm going to the doctor this week if I can get in.  smiley_old_guy

[breederman]

My daughter has had a hip replacement and one day I was complaining about pain running down my leg when driving . She went and got a broom and had me lay on the floor . Bend your knees up so that your lower legs are parallel with the floor. Stick the broom handle under the knee on the pain side. ( Your left ) and in front of the other one . With your hands pull towards you against your left knee and push against your right one . I do 4 or 5 reps and pain gone. Works for me !

[WDH]

Not good, David.  Sounds like a disc problem  .  I had it too and had back surgery in 1988 for a ruptured disc. 

[thecfarm]

I can only wish the broom stick trick will work for ya.

[Ricker]

I get the same pain in my left leg 4-5 times a year, doc says it's the sciatic . Lasts a week to a month plus.  I find sleeping on my right side with an electric blanket on the left leg and hip seems to help with sleeping.  Doc says deal with it until you can't and we will schedule a Mri and see if we can find where the problem is. Could be in the back or hip he said.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I just tried the broom.....it didn't work.
Then I tried the mop....it didn't work either.
I'll try my Logrite Cant Hook tomorrow.  :'(

[breederman]

Lol !

[Dan_Shade]

Get it checked out, nerve pain can become permanent....

I have had sciatic pain twice, the first time caused while unloading cross ties from my pickup, the second (and worst) time while playing catch with a five year old.

Physical therapy helped me out; also,  I  am also extremely cautious when lifting.

Pulling a slab off and twisting around to toss it on the ground beside the mill can easily blow your back out.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I feel for ya Dan. There is no doubt in my mind it is from picking up White Oak Slabs.
I've hurt my back before but I'm hard headed. I try to watch what I pick up but sometimes its not the weight but the angle I grab and move a slab.

All jokes aside.....Breederman, I just tried the broom stick again. I actually pulled the knee up until I felt a lot of pain and I just held the broom there for about 7-8 seconds.
I did 5 reps like that....it does work.
For how long I don't know. But if the nerve starts to bother me at the mill tomorrow.....I'll hit the ground with a stick and do it again. Thanks.

[chet]

Not good, David.  Sounds like a disc problem  .  I had it too and had back surgery in 1988 for a ruptured disc. 

Agree with Danny, My first back surgery in 1989 for a ruptured disc cured it. In my case it may have cured it too good.  :D  Ever since the surgery the calf of my right leg has remained numb.

[breederman]

That's good to hear. Mine is because my hip gets tilted and apparently that trick brings it back into position . I also use an inversion table for back pain .

[Raider Bill]

Get a inversion table. Your back will thank me. ;)

[Magicman]

The Doctor told Pat that she waited too long before seeking help because the disc fragments had done some permanent damage to the nerve.  Repairing the disc cured the sciatic pain, but now her toe hurts.  The toe had nothing to do with anything, but nerves have a mind of their own and do not like to be pinched.

She saved the broom handle to use on me.   

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

She saved the broom handle to use on me.   

My pain only goes to my ankle.
I felt it in my hip, calve and ankle. It skipped my knee all together.
The broom stick drill seems to still be working. No nerve pain but a little tightness in my hip.

****Keep him in line PatD.  :D******

[Magicman]

She never had any foot/toe pain before the back surgery.  She woke up from the surgery with a terrible pain, and the nurses, etc. thought that her back was hurting from the surgery.  She finally got them to understand that her pain had nothing to do with the back, it was her toe.  Nerves are strange things.

[Ed_K]

 Talk to your doctor and get an MRI. That will be the best way to find out what's wrong. I ruptured a lower disk in Dec 1994, and had it operated on in Mar. By the time they decided to operate the nerve was almost severed, the doctor told us that if I had waited one more week I wouldn't have walked again. Sometimes you can take steroid's and that will calm down the pain. I've had to go that route twice since for falling down when working out in the woods.
I'm in some pain right now from the dreaded snow snake that tripped me yesterday. Getting to where winter is just plain mean.

[kensfarm]

Poston I hope you feel better.. 

Can't sleep because of back pain.. lay on your side.. w/ a pillow against your back.. and the pillow against the headboard or wall for tension..  position a hand massager where the pain is.. the pillow holds it in place.  Really helps numb out the pain so you can fall asleep. 

[doctorb]

Poston-

At our age (I got a few on ya') it's usually a combination of disc herniation and narrowing of the spinal canal and foramina due to arthritis.  As the disc collapses, it can rupture back toward the neural elements and irritate them.  But the disc degeneration causes the vertebrae to come closer together (why we shrink with age), which makes the facet joints angry.  They hypertrophy and narrow the escape routes out of the spinal canal where the nerves run.  Are you taking anti-inflamatories 24/7?  If not, you should be.  If you have weakness of the muscle groups in the leg, a steroid dose pack might be in order. 

I had my discectomy a couple of years ago.  My back is way, way better, but it's not normal and it's not what it was before my disc ruptured.

As suggested, you need an MRI.  But what you really need is some time to rest this thing, let the irritation subside, and then slowly regain your life.  I'm sure you have as much time for that as I do!

Hope you feel better.

[BradMarks]

Had my microdisectomy 6 yrs ago. Not perfect but soooooooo much better than before, pretty much what the surgeon said to expect.   Symptoms were typical before surgery, pain down the leg that wrapped around the calf and numb soles of the feet.  Couldn't drive 1 block w/o pain, my 3 mile commute to work always ended with me hanging onto the door and swinging my right leg around until the feeling would come back.  If you need surgery your pain threshold (w/o drugs) will let you know. Finally, I knew. MRI revealed the damage and Doc said a steroid injection would just be a mask. Had the surgery and Doc said the nerve was crushed flat by the disc, rather severe. Recovery is what you make of it, I went at it too hard and fast, so I did have setbacks. Finally(months later) went to PT and learned the "exercising" at work (lifting,etc) was detrimental to the wrong places and I needed to mitigate that with other exercises, which are mostly stretching.  So I still have "flare-ups" (numb ball of foot), always seem to be associated with heavy loads(40-50lbs+) and how far they need to be carried. Stop and rest, goes away. When stretching regularly, hardly ever happens.  Best stretch for me, and not for everyone, is flat on the back on the bed, and bringing the legs(first left, then right) to the perpendicular position, and hold it there until you can't. If I have been lax in the stretching regimen, a hand behind the calf helps to get to vertical.  This is not pain free, but works for me.  Have not tried the broomstick, but whatever works is the objective. Others I'm sure have their own success stories, and I'm sure others not so good.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Thanks Doc and to the rest of you also.
This is not a problem one can say...I'll deal with it later. Gotta be dealt with now!  :D :D :D

I can saw all day and as long as I am walking behind the miil, I'm fine.
But let me get on the backhoe or have to drive my pickup somewhere....OMG!....Its like electricity going through my leg and I'm about ready to shoot myself.

A lot of times BAM....it seems to go away and I have hours of relief and I think its getting better.
But then I may just move the wrong way and its like I didn't see the train coming because the lights weren't flashing.

Breedermans broome suggestion helps a little but is not a permanent fix.
I'm gonna make an appointment with my Doctor John "Long Finger' Hoitink.

[WDH]

I am in considerable pain tonight.  It rained all day and I could not run the mill, so I wore rubber slip-on shoes and not the steel toes that I normally wear.  Had a big pecan slab fall and hit on the left foot, smashing my big toe.  It is swollen and that quarter of my foot has turned black, blue, purple, and red.  Constant throbbing pain.  Probably not much sleep tonight   :'(.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Thats awful Danny......what we go through to make a dollar.

[chet]

I'm gonna make an appointment with my Doctor John "Long Finger' Hoitink.

Not ta be critical, but I don't think a proctologist is da right Doc ta see for yer back pain. Then again it may be just what you need.  :D :D :D

[thecfarm]

That Pecan got ya. That will teach you to play with it.  :D  It gots the devil in it. Now if you would of had your steel toes boots on,the devil would not of done that.  :(

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I'm gonna make an appointment with my Doctor John "Long Finger' Hoitink.

Not ta be critical, but I don't think a proctologist is da right Doc ta see for yer back pain. Then again it may be just what you need.  :D :D :D

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[sawguy21]

That is funny. :D I have had sciatic pain for years, it makes bending to weed the garden which I hate anyway or pick something off the floor an ordeal. The pain starts at the tail bone and shoots down my left leg to the toes. I have to help Karen get out of a chair or off the bed, she has severe arthritis, and have to be very careful how I lift. I have had a few spasms that almost rolled my socks down.

[Magicman]

so I wore rubber slip-on shoes and not the steel toes that I normally wear.

That sounds like a "Croc" to me.      :-\

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

so I wore rubber slip-on shoes and not the steel toes that I normally wear.

That sounds like a "Croc" to me.      :-\

Now that is funny!  :D
I have a pair of "Crocs". I don't wear them at the mill. I'm always scared I may drop a slab on my toe.  :D :D

[Andries]

Danny and David, there are times when our health sends us a big wake up call.
I broke my right arm in two places this spring.
Gravity won the fight that day.  ;D

You guys seem both seem to be suffering from 'slabitis'.  :D  :D
Take time to get good and properly healed up, it's well worth it.

[Raider Bill]

so I wore rubber slip-on shoes and not the steel toes that I normally wear.

That sounds like a "Croc" to me.      :-\

Now that is funny!  :D
I have a pair of "Crocs". I don't wear them at the mill. I'm always scared I may drop a slab on my toe.  :D :D

Crocs are convenient especially as water shoes but they have no support and make my feet hurt.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

so I wore rubber slip-on shoes and not the steel toes that I normally wear.

That sounds like a "Croc" to me.      :-\

Now that is funny!  :D
I have a pair of "Crocs". I don't wear them at the mill. I'm always scared I may drop a slab on my toe.  :D :D

Crocs are convenient especially as water shoes but they have no support and make my feet hurt.

Feet like yours are suppose to hurt.    :D :D :D :D :D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Ok doctorb, tell me what happened.

When I take a shower first thing in the mornings, the hot water really makes my sinuses run.
This causes be to gag and cough that stuff up.
This morning I woke up and the nerve in my leg was aching as always. I took my hot shower as usual.
While drying off I was going through my usual coughing spell.
I put my foot up on the toilet lid to dry my hoof off and when I did I coughed REALLY hard.
It felt like a knife went in my lower back and I had to sit down really quick.
I sat there for maybe 25 seconds.
When I stood up all the usual pressure was gone out of my lower back. I felt NO nerve pain what so ever.
It was like nothing was wrong and I have had NO pain all morning.

What went right?

[Magicman]

You coughed up a Chiropractor !!!   

[Jeff]

As mom would say, " I think your problem is constipation, time for an enema"

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Here we go......when I seem to getting better, look at all the Doctors that come out of the wood pile. :D :D :D

[BradMarks]

Call it an early Christmas ;D.  Hope for your sake it stays that way.

[Mooseherder]

Probably happened because you didn't use a pallet under the Outhouse.
Wallets too thick, move to other side or front pocket. :D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Probably happened because you didn't use a pallet under the Outhouse.
Wallets too thick, move to other side or front pocket. :D

:D :D :D :D :D :D......Hey wait a minute....whatchu talkn bout Willis?

[Magicman]

pallet pellets under the Outhouse. :D

Leave it to da goat !   :

[thecfarm]

I will try to be nice, no jokes.
Something slipped back into place.  8)  NOW and I said NOW just because you are feeling better don't think you can keep up with those 20 year old bucks. Well, the no joke part lasted a long time.  :
I am glad you are better. Take it easy or you will be back posting,What went wrong when I was drying off my hoof.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

pallet pellets under the Outhouse. :D

Leave it to da goat !   :

🐐💩

[4x4American]

I was told by an old employer that having my wallet in my back pocket could be making my sciatic hurt...somehow by always sitting crooked-like it could do damage.  Idk  ???

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I was told by an old employer that having my wallet in my back pocket could be making my sciatic hurt...somehow by always sitting crooked-like it could do damage.  Idk  ???

All jokes aside, I have heard that too.

[Jeff]

I was told by an old employer that having my wallet in my back pocket could be making my sciatic hurt...somehow by always sitting crooked-like it could do damage.  Idk  ???

All jokes aside, I have heard that too.

It is absolutely true. I suffered for years with back pain while in the sawbooth.  That one simple thing, after being told by a chiropractor, moving my wallet to my front pocket, made all the difference in the world. If the issue comes on while you are sitting, that really could be part of it. It doesn't have to be a stack of 300 dollar bills to do it. A regular old wallet is plenty thick enough to cause issues in some people.

[BradMarks]

Been carrying my wallet in the front pocket ever since...

[WDH]

David,

To say that you stuck a nerve (old saying) is an understatement.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

David,

To say that you stuck a nerve (old saying) is an understatement.

[red]

sneezing is an involutary body action . Bracing your slef helps but can be inconvient like when driving a car at highway speed . Coughing is another one even Laughter can be painful .  BUT then muscles used to make a Boul movement aka number 2 sometimes just dont work ???  so better have stool softner on hand or some real good Chilli . There is what we call a high hat to put on the toilet seat and it really helps . So thats basicly where you are until you get your First $300 opinion  there will be many more usually about $3,000 . . . I hope and pray that you have Very Good Inusurance ! ! !

[Ed_K]

 If you get put on pain meds you should also talk to the doc about some stool softeners you will need them. Day after I go to chemo therapy I plug up, it takes 3 days after the session to get regular again and another to actually go.

[Glenn1]

Last weekend, I was lifting heavy sassafras slabs and felt a twinge.  The next day, I could barely walk.  When I went to my Doctor,  he said  that I have a bulging disk infringing on the sciatic nerve. I have been having sciatic nerve flare ups for awhile so it probably just made the situation worse.   He has given my prednisone (steroid) and said that I will need an MRI if it does not improve in the next week.  I sure hope it does as I have arthroscopic surgery scheduled for early January for a torn meniscus in my right knee.

From now on, when working with any green boards over 5/4, I am calling in the young reinforcements to do the lifting. It will definitely be worth the money to pay them.  It 's funny in a sad way when you brain says you are still 30 but your body strenuously disagrees.

[Ed_K]

 I hear you on the feeling 30, I have a hard time wondering what happened to lose all that strength we had at 30.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

.........you should also talk to the doc about some stool softeners you will need them.

According to Magicman I pass pellets.  :D

But you given some good advice.

[Raider Bill]

I woke up yesterday with sciatica in my right leg. 12 minutes on the table and all was good.

[Ox]

When you had your leg up it had the vertebrae in your back relieved enough so when you coughed real hard and all your muscles tightened up it pushed that bone off your nerve and back to the spot in the cartilage where it's supposed to be.  I used to have bad sciatica years ago when farming and throwing 20 ton of groceries off a truck 3 times a week, but I would get relief when I put my leg up on a chair like you did when drying off.  It twists and opens a gap up in your spine right there next to your leg nerve.  You got lucky having it go back in!  Now, be warned that now you have a "chute" in the cartilage for this bone to travel on more easily next time, so it'll likely be easier to get hurt again in the future.  Glad you're feeling better again.  I used to get so bad I couldn't stand up straight after putting on my boots cause it felt like a knife was stuck in every one of my back bones.  I was bent in a 90° angle.  Scary stuff, when your body won't/can't do what you need it to.

[LaneC]

  I just came across this. You have gotten some good advice. All jokes aside, it is nothing to take lightly. Believe me I have (unfortunately) a lot of experience with this. If you don't take it seriously (it sounds like you are) this could be one of the biggest things in your life. Having severe chronic pain every day is not fun and it is serious. I hope you get some relief soon.

[kensfarm]

Just eat 6 prunes a day while you're on the meds.  All natural.. you'll have no problems.

[Polly]

      i am 78 yrs old ruptured disk op, 2 times , both knees and both hips totally replaced 1 shoulder totally replaced  now if your back hurts lay in the floor put feet and lower legs up on chair seat lay for 15 minutes  i had to sleep that way one winter before the first disk surgery now if lower back around tailbone hurts and you fight conspitation i take otezla 1 pi;; 30 mg breakfast bathroom 10 am throw in 3- 1000 mg omega-3 fish oil pills have sex 3 times a week and you will be like a new man  dont laugh it works for me also pays to have a loving wife    check out otezla on your computer  now happy new year to everyone   

[Left Coast Chris]

What you are describing with intermittent shooters and stabbing can be caused from hyper mobility in the back.  I did a lot of sports, weight lifting then worked construction for a number of years and as I got older I relieved my back pain by twisting and popping my back like the chiropractor.

I went to a MD and he sent me to a physical therapist.  Best thing I ever did.  The physical therapist said he can always tell a person that gets "adjusted" all the time by a chiropractor or they do it themselves by the hyper mobility (movement of the spine).  The physical therapist gave me some floor exercises and movement instructions that has avoided surgery so far.   One of the techinques is to clench the stomach muscles and the anus muscles before and while stooping, lifting or use of the back.  Doing that for months greatly strengthened the core muscles and now I can do most things including driving, working in the orchard, wood working and lifting pretty heavy things with the right technique and clenching.   I can now operate my tractor for a couple of hours while clinching my abbs and feel great.   Now if my back is out and I clench while I do work and it goes back in!   A pretty good success. 

I no longer lift heavy things and walk around, twist or bend with them.  A strict no-no. 

Strongly suggest finding a good physical therapist and doing the exercises + lifting methods.

It worked for me so far.   They should not cut on you until you have tried physical therapy , the shots and the stuff Doc mentioned.  Hope you feel better soon.

[Clean Image]

Ditto on the input regarding a Physical Therapist, I'm still (although not willingly) installing 2,000lb machines most every day because of her advise. Stretch, stretch and stretch! I was asking my back to do what my legs should have been handling...when my hamstrings maxed out, which didn't take much, my back took over and that's where the failure occurred!
Just look at the way most of those pro golfers used to lean over to pull there ball from the cup...lack of flexibility kept them upright. Many pro basketball players past and present credit stretching and yoga for an extended career...I've had many issues with my back, even having to go on temporary disability leave, but nothing since I took her advise and started a simple daily routine of stretching out...start slow and take it easy, sounds like a good NY resolution to me!
Happy and Healthy New Year to everyone!