Massive Sciatica-like Pain

tricks79

tricks79

Well-known member
Trusted Member
Hey guys,

Real curious to hear if anyone has had any similar issues and resolution.

I'm losing my mind here, especially last few weeks.

I've been suffering with a 'sciatica like pain' for 8 months. I say "like" because Sciatica is a diagnosis, and I'm not claiming to have that, but the symptoms is what I'm here to talk about.

- The pain is completely centered in my left glute and shoots down my left leg, stopping at the knee.
- Been getting progressively worse. Started as uncomfortable tingling, gotten so bad I can't tie my own shoes, putting socks on is hell. Driving my truck right now instead of my car because working the clutch is too painful.
- Everytime I stand up the muscle (left glue) completely spasms and hurts immensely. I mean balls up super tight and I can't move my leg, all I can do is stand still and wait for it to pass. The longer I sit the bigger the spasm.
- Symptoms always worst first thing in the morning. But that's likely due to the fact I heavily medicate during the day.
- The pain is now persistent all day every day. Just sitting here typing I feel the pain like crazy in my left glute
- My mobility is severely hampered. Bending over to pick something up off the ground is one of my greatest struggles. I can't get into very many stretching positions because it hurts so bad.

Thoughts on it:
I think its inflammation related because NSAIDs have always helped. I used to be able to just take Ibprofen on bad days and that was enough, always proud of myself on days I could get by with nothing.
That escalated to taking it everyday, and eventually twice a day.
Then it wasn't enough I started taking diclofenac pills instead, stronger NSAID. 1 Daily let me live my life again.
Now that's not enough either. Today I've taken diclofenac, naproxen, and some muscle relaxant I smuggled in from Mexico. And I'm sitting in my chair withering in pain still, very uncomfortable.

I believe it's chronic muscle inflammation that's causing rubbing or pressure on the sciatic nerve. Hence the pain shooting down the leg. What causes the inflammation I don't know, perhaps the muscle rubs on the bone, inflames, and the puts pressure on the nerve. These could be wild theories for all I know.

Has anyone had this before?
If so how did you cure it?

OR from what you've read/experienced, do you guys think something like BPC157 could help me? I'm really desperate here.

I plan on seeing my doc again on Thursday at 5pm (walk in hours). Every doc I've seen about this so far has dismissed it as "it'll go away on it's own, just take NSAIDS for now". Well we're way past effectiveness of NSAIDS now and it's gotten 10000x worse over time.

It sounds like I'm being dramatic, but the pain is all this and more.
 
tricks79 said:
Now that's not enough either. Today I've taken diclofenac, naproxen, and some muscle relaxant I smuggled in from Mexico. And I'm sitting in my chair withering in pain still, very uncomfortable.
Click to expand...

What doses are you taking?
Don't mix your NSAID's. The two drugs interact.

3 Interactions Found
Significant - Monitor Closely
  • diclofenac + naproxen
    diclofenac and naproxen both increase anticoagulation. Use Caution/Monitor.
  • diclofenac + naproxen
    diclofenac and naproxen both increase serum potassium. Use Caution/Monitor.
Minor
  • diclofenac + naproxen
    diclofenac will increase the level or effect of naproxen by acidic (anionic) drug competition for renal tubular clearance. Minor/Significance Unknown.
You can piggy back acetaminophen with either of the NSAID's, or up your dose of an individual dose of one NSAID depending on what your current dose is.
 
Bagua said:
What doses are you taking?
Don't mix your NSAID's. The two drugs interact.

3 Interactions Found
Significant - Monitor Closely
  • diclofenac + naproxen
    diclofenac and naproxen both increase anticoagulation. Use Caution/Monitor.
  • diclofenac + naproxen
    diclofenac and naproxen both increase serum potassium. Use Caution/Monitor.
Minor
  • diclofenac + naproxen
    diclofenac will increase the level or effect of naproxen by acidic (anionic) drug competition for renal tubular clearance. Minor/Significance Unknown.
You can piggy back acetaminophen with either of the NSAID's, or up your dose of an individual dose of one NSAID depending on what your current dose is.
Click to expand...
Good information thanks.
 
Several points here:

1. The pain you are describing sounds like a lumbar radiuclopathy, rather than a sciatic nerve impingement, which I would expect to radiate down the ENTIRE leg.
2. The fact is has been going on for so many months is concerning as 90%+ of mechanical back pain resolves in 6-weeks. Have you done any physiotherapy or gotten things checked by a regular family doctor? And im not talking about walk-ins. There are many causes of backpain, but progressive pain over 8-months is a red-flag and needs to be further investigated. It sounds like you need some additional supports, physiotherapy and potentially a referral to an ortho/spine sx for possible discectomy. Do not visit a chiropractor.
3. NSAID's do indeed help with this kind of pain, however are rough on your stomach and kidneys with prolonged use and high-doses. Mixing NSAID's is also not recommended, not because of 'interaction' but because taking two NSAID's @ medium doses is equivalent to very high doses of a single NSAID... which runs the risk of stomach ulceration)
 
Peter Akara said:
Several points here:

1. The pain you are describing sounds like a lumbar radiuclopathy, rather than a sciatic nerve impingement, which I would expect to radiate down the ENTIRE leg.
2. The fact is has been going on for so many months is concerning as 90%+ of mechanical back pain resolves in 6-weeks. Have you done any physiotherapy or gotten things checked by a regular family doctor? And im not talking about walk-ins. There are many causes of backpain, but progressive pain over 8-months is a red-flag and needs to be further investigated. It sounds like you need some additional supports, physiotherapy and potentially a referral to an ortho/spine sx for possible discectomy. Do not visit a chiropractor.
3. NSAID's do indeed help with this kind of pain, however are rough on your stomach and kidneys with prolonged use and high-doses. Mixing NSAID's is also not recommended, not because of 'interaction' but because taking two NSAID's @ medium doses is equivalent to very high doses of a single NSAID... which runs the risk of stomach ulceration)
Click to expand...
Saw a 'sport specialist' the other day, he his theory is similar to yours that it's a back issue.
He has referred me to physio yes.
I will be starting that soon.
 
If your referring to a sport medicine physician, then you are in good hands. They are GP's with additional training in exactly your issue and thats what they focus their clinics on. And its not a theory, its a diagnosis based on what your describing, minus the physical examination as that is difficult for me to do here :)

Keep us posted how physio goes.
If you aren't seeing improvement, then a referral to ortho/spine will be in your future, +/- an MRI for preoperative planning
 
Peter Akara said:
If your referring to a sport medicine physician, then you are in good hands. They are GP's with additional training in exactly your issue and thats what they focus their clinics on. And its not a theory, its a diagnosis based on what your describing, minus the physical examination as that is difficult for me to do here :)

Keep us posted how physio goes.
If you aren't seeing improvement, then a referral to ortho/spine will be in your future, +/- an MRI for preoperative planning
Click to expand...
Process for mri has started but it's a 1 year wait in Canada. So inevitably will end up paying the $800 to get one done privately / faster.

But will see how physio goes first.

I'll be sure to update. Life's been very tough with this issue.
 
Hope your progress is going well..Just wanted to shut down cheap shots mega dosing taurine idea. I guarantee that will not work on nerve pain. Maybe if you had muscle cramps or what not but don’t take a shit load of taurine for sciatic pain. All your doing is stressing your kidneys with an unnecessary amount of chemicals.
 
i was going to loosely say what @Peter Akara already wrote: this isn't likely sciatica, and you need to have an MRI and see a spine /neurologist specialist.

and, yeah NSAID then acetaminophen then NSAID then acetaminophen alternating the two different compounds.

pleasr consider stipp taking all PED's and sports supplements, as one of them may actually cause an inflammation that could contribute to radiculopathy.

Eat well.
Sleep 13-15 hours each night.
Stop doing movement exercises that may exacerbate disc degeneration or wear/stretching of sheath around nerve located near the disc which may be causingbthe pain down the entire length of your leg.
 
I had the same issue that lasted a very long time (years). It gradually got worse to the point of numb feet for days on end.

MRI in December showed L4 disc was bulged and the one below flattened with the vertebrae shifted back into my spinal cord (listhesis). I have been doing the physio stuff with some minor relief but there are days I can barely walk now. I am in the wait list for surgery.

Do what you can now to strengthen your back and prevent it getting worse. This is a warning sign that something is off. I ignored it and just kept “pushing through the pain”.

Physio and a good chiropractor can do wonders to slownor stop any progression.
 
ClearWater said:
i was going to loosely say what @Peter Akara already wrote: this isn't likely sciatica, and you need to have an MRI and see a spine /neurologist specialist.

and, yeah NSAID then acetaminophen then NSAID then acetaminophen alternating the two different compounds.

pleasr consider stipp taking all PED's and sports supplements, as one of them may actually cause an inflammation that could contribute to radiculopathy.

Eat well.
Sleep 13-15 hours each night.
Stop doing movement exercises that may exacerbate disc degeneration or wear/stretching of sheath around nerve located near the disc which may be causingbthe pain down the entire length of your leg.
Click to expand...

sleep 13-15hrs??? who in freaken hell has the time to sleep that much?????
 
Thanks for the input guys. They got my mri done last week. They deemed my situation severe enough they did the mri same day as the request came in.

Will know more soon.

Im willing to bet I'll be on the waitlist for surgery myself too.

Taurine didnt really help no.

I'm only on 150mg test, nothing else.
 
I had sciatic issues and was told one leg was longer than the other. I may have mentioned this before? Anyway, the method used is not commercially available and not sure I would do it again as it was by far the most brutal friggen manipulation of all the "healers" I've seen over the years.

The pain sucks ass, I had to stop training legs for 1.5 years and took me a loooooong time to get this under control. To my knowledge no meds will resolve this. I think remaining "generally flexible" would avoid so many issues we come across.
 
Ritch said:
I had sciatic issues and was told one leg was longer than the other. I may have mentioned this before? Anyway, the method used is not commercially available and not sure I would do it again as it was by far the most brutal friggen manipulation of all the "healers" I've seen over the years.

The pain sucks ass, I had to stop training legs for 1.5 years and took me a loooooong time to get this under control. To my knowledge no meds will resolve this. I think remaining "generally flexible" would avoid so many issues we come across.
Click to expand...
Yes I do have one leg longer than other
 
Bagua said:
Us retired old farts need that much just to get the energy up for the walk to the park for Tai Chi.
Click to expand...
hahahaHAHAHA!!!! thank you for completely understanding!!!!
anything less than 10 hours and i can't make it through the next day.
 
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