Terrible pain spike today...Need advice about sciatica please

Hey everybody.  I just wanted to ask some questions for those of you with personal experience with sciatica.  I do know the signs and symptoms etc, and I have dealt with this for a couple of years, but I'm just a bit stumped today as I just cannot believe that pain this intense in my leg is directly coming from my lumbar spine issues.  Yes, I have low back pain but it now seems to be over-shadowed by this leg pain.  So I am wondering if this is common, as it relates with the *severity* of my disc problems per my MRI on July 12.  Even though the report states no foraminal stenosis and doesn't even mention nerve impingement, there is most definitely something going on with my right leg.  I do have 3 3mm protruding discs and I do understand that the extent of damage doesn't always correspond with the pain.  However, my ENTIRE leg (not just the back of it), including buttock, hip, thigh, down to sole of foot feels like *dry socket* wisdom tooth extraction pain...horrible.  It includes cramping, burning, aching, tingling, weakness, numbness, coldness...you name it.  I just cannot get comfortable and was up all night last night.  Is this common with sciatica?  The entire leg, even the front thigh, knee, shin, etc.?  My hip also seems to be hurting, which is new.  I did lift my mother's 50# suitcase yesterday when I picked her up from the Amtrak station....I wonder if that has anything to do with it?  I'm taking my usual hydrocodone (10mg 3xday) and added ibuprofen, also flexeril, lyrica.  (I guess that's a big DUH on the lifting thing).  What are your thoughts and do you know of anything else I can do to help get relief?  Thanks in advance.

I get sciatica from piriformis syndrome. One thing that helps, at least briefly, is to do a hamstring stretch. I was told at PT that it stretches the sciatic nerve and briefly halts its signal transmission.

If you're unfamiliar with the stretch, google it and try it carefully and gently at first, especially if you're not too limber.

if the pain is reaching 7-9/10 pain scale, then to me that points to lumbar ridiculopathy of some type. the sciatic nerve is as big around as your thumb or a standard walgreen's pill bottle, that is a lot of nerve that can transmit major pain. you do not have to have bad foraminal stenosis for this to occur. Facet Arthropathy or facet joint arthrosis can cause sciatica by causing a huge inflammatory problem in the general area. when you say you have protruding discs on 3 levels, do you know by the report or the films if they are bulging strait back, "posterior" into the dura which is the sheath that surrounds your spinal cord? if that be the case it does not take much protruding to irritate the cord canal and that can cause sciatica. are your discs healthy and not degenerated or have they lost some of their disc height and equal space between the vertebral bodies. do they appear to blackish? have you had a EMG, Myleogram, or Discogram? none of the 3 is easy but i would say the EMG or nerve conduction study is the least painful and traumatic. a Myleogram at this point since you have a MRI that is not definitive may be the deal because they inject a different contrast than what a MRI would be intrathecally which is the same as a lumbar spinal tap injection, and now interventional radiologist or anesthesiologist are doing the procedure and they put a I.V. in your hand maybe and give you one of about 3 or 4 things: Propofol and Fentanyl or Versed and Fentanyl or they might use dilaudid as the opioid. Demerol was standard for these things but they have disconiued the common use for meds with low adverse effect risk, anyway i'm going on a tangent. i'm curious to see your report and i wish you nothing but the best, "i feel your pain" to quote Pres. Bill Clinton.

If this is acute (ie caused by lifting the suitcase), and the sciatic pain is only down one leg, try this. Lay on the bed or floor on the opposite side as the painful leg with a pillow (or two) under you at about the same level as the bad disc(s). The pillow will force your back into a curve, which may open up the disc space a little and give the nerve a break.

I hope that made sense. It has helped me in the past, if only while I'm resting.

Mysti my orthopedic says for people with back problems they should never try to lay on their stomach or back, especially when sleeping. Should sleep on our side with a pillow between the knees and it does take the pressure off the back. It takes a little to get use to the pillow but is doable. The only way I will ever lay on my back is in my bed. I too have the topper on my mattress and its mainly how I am able to do stretches.

i just typed a long reply and the power tripped and pufff gone. i wanted to say the risk of spondylothesis exsist because of multi-level facet joint arthosis. i think you should have a consult with two of the better neurosurgeons in your area. i was similar and having the joints fused helped.

Hi Mysti, just wanted to offer my sympathies on your pain levels. I hope that you can get them down very soon *hugs*

Laura

Thank you Laura and everyone else replying to my post. It sounds like you all have way more reasons to have pain than I do...so I feel somewhat of a hypochondriac now. But I do have some pretty significant pain going on that is driving me nuts.

While I am in no way trying to diagnose myself (my GP has been telling me for 5 yrs that it is sciatica from my DDD...and the pain has grown worse since the past couple weeks (even since my MRI last month)....but my first PM appt is not til the 29th of the month, so I've been doing my research and I think I have come to a conclusion as to what I THINK may be going on. It is starting to make sense now. Sacroiliac Joint Disease/Dysfuntion. I've also learned that it can be very difficult to diagnose on MRI and is usually dx with hand manipulation tests by the doctor. I'd like to hear from anyone that might have some experience with this condition. My pain is in my low back (around L4/5) and to the right, then it *feels* like my hip, but only to the *inside* of my hip, to the groin/ pelvis/ front & back of thigh/ outer calf to bottom of foot. It's like a gnawing, aching, sharp, crampy pain that also includes prickly feelings in my feet, but especially right one.

Anyhow, geez I'm so sorry I seem to get long-winded and gabby so I apologize for the length of my posts here. Maybe I will start another thread on this. Hugs to all of you...I hope you're having a peaceful night.