Sciatica Support Group

Hi everyone!

I'm here hoping to find some relief for my father who has been in excruciating pain for about about 3 weeks now. My father is 64 years old, 5'6", and 140 lbs. A little over a month ago my father started feeling a minor tingling feeling starting from the right side of his lower back, going down his right leg down to his feet. As time went on, he noticed that it was slowly getting worse and that as the days went by, he could only walk a shorter and shorter distance before he would need to sit down because he could feel an intense pain slowly coming to his hip and starting to make its way down his right leg and ankle. The pain was worst in the ankle. It continued getting worse until now, where he is unable to walk at all.

on May 12, 2012 my father went to the ER because the pain was so intense. After doing an MRI and Ultrasound, the doctors found out that my father had a herniated disk in his lower spine and that it was pinching his sciatic nerve. The doctors prescribed him some pain killers and other meds to reduce the swelling of the disk. The pain killers helped reduce the pain a little, but not much.

After a few days my father went to visit a chiropractor and they aligned his hip which was out of place and cracked his right foot which seemed to be a little flat. The chiropractor said that because his alignment was off, that it was putting a lot pressure on the nerve causing the excruciating pain. Since the visit my father still can't walk at all because the pain is too intense as soon as he puts any weight on his right foot, a sharp intense pain comes within seconds that is worst in his ankle bone and if he keeps any weight on it, his right hip will feel like its locking up with pain and he cant move. The doctor also gave us a "TENS" electric devise that he can put on his back to relieve the pain, but even that doesn't help.

For some reason as soon as he lays down on his stomach he can feel the pain start to dissipate and it will go away after a few minutes. My father cannot walk or sit down because the pain is so bad, but as long as he lays on his stomach, he said that there hardly any pain at all. He also crawls around the house instead of walking because there is no pain, even though he is crawling with both his right and left leg. but even sitting down to go the bathroom or taking a shower is nearly impossible for him.

We have gone to the chiropractor a few times now but it is not helping him at all. He getting so frustrated with not being able to do anything, and I feel helpless not being able to relieve the pain my father is feeling. If there is anything someone could recommend that I do to help my father, that would be a huge help for the both of us. On a scale of l - 10 my father rated this a 10 and said that this is the worst pain he has ever felt in his life. Thanks for listening and I hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend! Aloha!

Need more information on your dad -

where are you located.

type of work

does he go to a gym regularly

how active is he normally

does the pain in his leg run down the front, outside, inside or back of his leg

what does the MRI say - which disc is herniated

Raoul

Aloha Raoul, Thanks for replying! We are located in Hilo, Hawaii. My father has been retired for about 8 years now. Prior to that he used to do a lot of martial arts. One incident happened about 6-8 months ago where he had heard something crack in his lower back when he was moving a refrigerator. He had some minor pain that day but it went away by the next day and never came back. After thinking about it that was the only incident where he may have hurt himself. He had stopped exercising for the past 8 years as well. He also had a lot of stress over the past 10 years while he went through an ugly divorce.

The CT scan showed a disc bulge in the L4-5 effacing the neural foramina bilaterally. The ER report also says there is an L5-S1 disc bulge. The ultrasound results said: "patent arterial system throughout the visualized right lower extremity with some nonspecific diminished flow in the dorsalis pedis suggested.

My father feels the pain in the inside of his legs on the front shin and back calf but it is most intense on the side ankle bones. I also noticed that his right side ankle is colder than his left. Thank you so much for your response. Your concern and help is greatly appreciated by the both of us!

okay - he sounds like he has a first episode of sciatica from the L4-L5/S1 location.

The pain in the leg si mainly reflecting from the pinched nerve.

But he has also strained his iliopsoas and piraforma muscles.

those account for the pain in the front and back .

Here are a few links (within mdJunction) to help you.

There are lots of things you can do to fight the stenosis and arthritis and the stenosis:

little things:

http://www.mdjunction.com/forums/spinal-stenosis- discussions/general-support/3636756-little-helps-that-add- up-to-be-a-big-help#3636756

Medicines:

http://www.mdjunction.com/forums/spinal-stenosis- discussions/general-support/3638244-medicines-that-combine- to-form-a-helping-net#3639422

stretches:

http://www.mdjunction.com/forums/spinal-stenosis- discussions/general-support/3638164-stretches-to- help#3638164

Your dad needs to get a shot of about 50 ml of triamcinalon in his butt as near to his spine as the doctor is able to do effectively.

he needs to stetch his pira forma muscle and his iliopsoas muscle .

he can expect to be in pain for at least another two weeks.

He also will comntinue to be in pain until he gets the shot in his butt from a pain med doc. And that med will take about a week to activate too.

Then he will need to stretch a lot.

more later.

get his butt active .

hugs

Hey Raoul! Thanks for all your help! I read over the tips and stretches and I got my dad a cane and that really helps him. He is trying to do some light stretches every often but it seems like any movement seems to cause the pain to flare up. Because the pain is so intense, my father is thinking about an epidural shot.

Last night, the pain started flaring up when he was crawling to our patio and got so intense in his ankle but after a while it went away and it moved into his hip. Since last night the pain level when he is not moving at all in bed has gone down a bit. But when he moves, he mainly feels it in his hip now. I will try out your tips and give report back to let you know how it works. He also has another appointment with the chiropractor again tomorrow. Thanks again Raoul for your help and concern! Mahalo!

HI HUn

Get your dad onto aleve immediately.

Get his doctor to get him a muscle relaxer immediately.

Get him a shot of cortisone in the butt - not an epidural - it is too early for the epidurals for him - this is his first round and it will not help him.

Get him onto gabapentin from his doctor.

Get him some tylenol 3 or vicodin from his doctorand get him on one or the other.

And get him some manipulation from an orthopedic manipulative doctor - not a chiropractor.

chiropractors are useless in the lumbar area and may do harm.

all of what I am saying is from my personal experiences. been there, done that.

hugs, Raoul

oh he has to take some ranitidine 150 mg with the aleve - every time he takes the aleve - to protect his tummy.