Comments on Profile Post by caute

Not really, but sorry to hear that you are having to. I know it's horrible.

I have a herniated L4/L5 disc and sciatica has been bad for me. Constant pain Right lower back down right leg to foot, actually my big toe has been numb off and on.

It is a little like Hotel California you can check out but never leave. For me it may be gone for weeks or months and then it comes back like @HotRatSalad says, no numb toe for me

I'm actually contemplating surgery find out more tomorrow hopefully. @caute if your suffering from pain, there's a few stretches that really help me.

@HotRatSalad I am def interested in some stretches! I think it's flaring up bc I just recently last week starting working in an office again after six years remote, and the chairs here definitely leave something to be desired.

do you think an aeron or embody would make a difference in comfort while sitting (when it bothers me the most) along with stretches, ibuprofen and possibly surgery?

Nothing really helps me besides ibuprofen, I did get some opiates prescribed when the first 6 weeks was especially horrible. Those were fabulous but I don't temp fate with that shit. Really the path is finding out why this is happening. Orthopedic and MRI unless you can really nail down the symptoms yourself. Most the time they just want to give you cortisone shots though if it's from a disc pushing on the nerve.

I went through about a year with piraformis sciatica that got so bad I started losing feeling in my toes and calf muscle, beyond the 24/7 pain. I could barely walk. PM me and I'll share some deets.

Sciatica yes. Started having pain and OTC pain relievers weren't doing it. Asked my PCP for a referral to a physiotherapist. That guy didn't see anything unusual, & he gave me a set of stretches to do. Took a few weeks, but got over it and haven't felt that again 5(?) years on. Still do some of the stretches. I'd say don't choose random stretches, see a PT

I saw the PT maybe a total of 4 or 5 times, he did some measurements each time of range of motion and did some more complex & more forceful stretches each time

I had lower back pain and inflammation around my sciatic nerve and while tough to start, a gluten free diet really helped. It takes a few weeks to really kick in and reduce the inflammation though.

hitting 10k steps a day is the best you can do for back pain

Seems like it's been well covered in the comments, but these stretches really help me, especially the piriformis stretch: tinyurl.com/mvdywzu7

Yes, I pulled my piriformis muscle and it was squeezing the sciatic nerve. Took a week of steroids to be able to sit down again.

I just got back from my surgery consultation. Apparently the disc herniation in my L4/L5 was so bad it actually broke off a piece of the disc. That shits been floating around in there making things awesome. Looks like surgery for me. On the other hand pain isn't as bad as last month.

Like @ColdsnapBry I found my incidence of sciatica and back spasms greatly reduced by >10K steps per day, intentionally working to lower stress levels and listening to calming music when desperately wishing to inflict harm on those who really deserve it. In my case I can't take NSAIDs due to anti-coagulation therapy.