Intense Sciatica, Numbness, and Other Odd Sensations

[Baybreeze]

Hi,some quick background info: Female, Age now 38: started with low back pain & swelling in lumbar areas at age 33, which came & went; had x-rays done 3 yrs later, found minimal s-shape lumbar scoliosis & mild facet degenerative changes. Pain started progressing over the yrs and got to the point I was no longer able to walk or stand straight, finally had an MRI, diagnosed w/ DDD, spondylosis, central canal stenosis and 2 heriated discs. Finally had 2 level laminectomies this Sept for the stenosis and afterward all my pain was gone. I've been going to PT for a whole year now to keep my core strenghtened. 6 or 7 weeks ago I began having trouble doing leg extension & some other exercises. I felt bruised in my sacral /buttocks area and felt like I had lead on my upper legs. It worsened slowly over 2-3 weeks until I felt like I was kicked by a horse or something, except I did not injure myself that I know of. One night I awoke in excruciating pain while laying on my left side, got out of bed and found my left foot was numb. Couldnt reallly sleep the rest of the night and since then have been lucky to get 2-3 hours sleep each day. I think I have intense sciatic pain which runs from my sacral area, through my left buttock, into my more outer thigh area, down past my knee, into my ankle and outer foot. I also have numbness from half way down my outer calf into my ankle and toes. Sometimes the numbness abates a bit and I get horrible pain that feels like someone's shooting a nail gun into my ankle area. I've had on & off trouble moving my toes and my left foot feels very cold. I also have severe sciatic pain when bending my neck forward and recently noticed a tingly, twitching type feeling in my bottom right foot under the big toe area also when I bend my neck forward - though I have no pain at all in my right leg. Could all this be a low disc herniation to the leftand can it also cause that odd feeling just in my right foot?

[shelbsassy]

Hi there Jazz i876...I could have written your post as I will be 38 in a few months and have had exactly the same issues with my sciatica which is SO beyond painful, initiates severe anxiety because once you sit wrong its all over for the day...My MRIs and CT shows the same thing, nothing they can operate on or extremely abnormal, just degenerative something, nothing major, just with age I guess.  I have had the shots at the p-ain management center into the piriformis muscle which seems to aggravate my sciatica when it gets inflamed because anti inflammatory drugs do not help because in that area there is not enough blood circulating to carry the medicine so they do the injections straight in there via x-ray guide.  It has not been this bad consistently since last Monday when I did some exercises like hip flexors and stretches and extended walking to try and get into shape and since then it has been nagging every day.  I either have to sit with ice every day or jam my fist into it until its bruised almost.  I have my 8 year old stand on it to shift the pain at night before I go to bed.  The big problem is I try to compensate the pain by sitting wrong at work and then my lower back suffers and by the afternoon I am just dying.  Around here they dont give you any kind of pain meds it seems; they think everyone is a drug seeker or something.  Ive had to beg for percocet before and I have taken so much in the past with this back issue (I fractured my back in 87 from horeseback riding fall) on and off that I have such a tolerance.  The last pain mgmt guy I went to said he couldnt even put me on meds because he had reached his allowable limit to subscribe in the state.  That doesnt even make any sense. Im on the anti seizures, anti depresasnts (which as long as I fell like I have no hope from day to day of this pain going away, it doesnt seem like they will work).  I am blessed that I work at home because when I used to drive to the office 2 hrs each way, it really acted up...but I wish I could just get one of these Drs to listen to me to help me get through the day.  Yesterday in church I suffered big time and was thinking do I need to see an acupuncturist, massage therapist, chiropractor, pain mgmt, which one next again?  Currently I am looking online again for one of those Healthy back chairs and sacral cushions to help me.  Has anyone tried any of those?  I need some input before I sink even more money into another chair that doesnt work.  Thanks for listening.

[anjel75]

I was diagnosed with DDD and Facet Syndrome in June of last year after having my second child. My back was hurting so badly in the last few months, but you know I thought well, everyones back hurts. Don't be a wuss. In August, I fell at work. I do medical records and I was in the rolling charts and had my weight leaned up against one side. My partner, unknowingly, rolled the shelf that I was leaning on. I fell back on my bottom. This made things a lot worse. After an MRI, I was told I had two bulging discs one of which is torn. I think the tear is old. I herniated a disc in 1998 and I think that is what they were seeing because I still have issues with it. The gel-like stuff in the middle will squish out and touch the nerves. When that happens, my back goes into a complete spasm. However, the MRI also revealed that even though they were bulging, they weren't touching a nerve. So, all that being said, I still have tingly, numbing pain that goes down my right leg.

No one but the PT has told me their opinion on what may be causing this. The dr. says nothing but I have the bulging discs but there is no nerve impingement. PT says he thinks I most definitely have a nerve problem. He sees me twice a week for an hour though. My doc has seen me maybe 4 times for about 5 minutes each. Of course, he is the kind of doc that won't listen to anyones opinion but his. He is always right! However, now he wants me to go to pain managemet but I think there must be something else that can be done! If he would just swallow his pride and listen! Trouble? Workers comp claim. Can't switch docs!

[Jazzi876]

Hi there, I too am 38 with left-sided sciatica pain.  Excrutiating at times and frustrating as ole get out because this is not reflected in the MRI or CT scans. Doctors say I am a text book case of sciatia pain, yet MRI shows minor bulging in disc and ddd just coherent with my age.  I wonder what else can be done for this, as the GP says there is really no where else to send me but the pain management clinic.  This should take at least a year to get an appointment in my area.  I have done the PT, chiropractor, Epidural injections.  I have tried 3 types of anti-seisure medications and anti-depressents, to serve as a nerve block.  These have not given any relief, in fact one of the anti-seisure meds sent me to the emerg.  Presently, I am on sr morphine and for the awful days oxycodone. I try to keep the pain meds to a minimum, but some days you just have to give in.  I understand the frustration and am flabber-ghasted that there is no other type of relief out there, I could understand chronic pain like this in a much older body, but this can be so tiresome.

[Titantic]

yes, I have suffered with sciatia since 2004. have had the same syptoms as you have described.. But sometimes my left foot burns like fire.The right foot will tingle and have strange sensations also.The sharp pains down the left buttock and thigh area.It is very painful. This is all caused by a L5 hernaited disc, which I have had 2 surgerys so far on it.just had my second one the 5th of last month.First surgery was immediate relief, but this second one, I am still holding my breath.Still having some pain. I am hoping to be referred to a Pain Mangement Center , my next visit to the doc.I am going to keep up my excercises, but I feel I am am going to need pain meds in the future.Hope this helped you alittle.