How to reduce pain! Sciatica?

[Lemon]

I just want to say I love you guys.

 

[Lemon]

Hey besties, I’ve been on steroids again now, which I asked about side effects. The doctors said it is the worse side efx when you’re on them daily for many months to years, without breaks. I take them off and on as rx. However I am injured as well as my FM, which I suspect is not uncommon. Pain amplified by life and our symptoms whichever are the most severe often made worse as side efx of our meds or pollution or chemicals or something in our immediate environments. I feel like we are detectives of our own body, more educated on our own skin than the biggest research yet to be thought upon. I’m in so much pain, and the brain fog, and other things. I don’t like some people telling others what works for them CANT work for others. That since it didn’t 9/10 times it’s impossible they are not that one person. How about giving people and options a try and listening that we all aren’t the same and that’s a good thing, to be respected- best wishes you guys feel better soon too

 

[Lemon]

What are jab-effects?

 

[JayCS]

What are jab-

What are jab-effects?

Hi Lemon - I have been having extremely severe side effects from the first jab = vaccination since I had it on Nov 30th... which - probably together with my specific form of fairly severe fibro is debilitating me even more than fibro alone ever did.

 

[Lemon]

@JayCS ive heard the more s.e. Means it’s working, some with no side effects means they need more jabs, the tests show no antibodies made with no immunity. Still, makes you wonder if they could make better ones for us in the future. Also,you said you’d not take cortisone shots for the pain because of side effects. What is so severe from them that wouldn’t be worth help from pain?

 

[JamieMarc]

Good morning Lemon!
I have not read through every single response to your original post, but I did want to share my experience with a couple of things you wrote about.
First off, as sunkacola touched upon, opioids are not to be taken lightly. I know I know, we all know this because we have been hearing about all of the dangers of opioids over the last several years in the news. But I speak to you now from personal experience. Sunkacola responded to me in much the same way as she did to you when I first posted after my initiation of opioid and muscle relaxant therapy. Keep in mind we are all different and I was experiencing other things at the same time as I started on the opioid. However, that time was among the worst four weeks of my life. Not only did I have dozens of the side effects from the opioid, I believe that it actually worsened my chronic pain, particularly my right arm which was and is my worst area of pain. Now I'm not knocking opioids. And I have not tried everyone out there. It was hydrocodone for me and it was just an awful experience. The adverse effects far far outweighed any benefit, if you could say there was even a benefit at all. Since then, my doctor and I are still experimenting with a variety of treatments including medication, supplements, relaxation and exercise techniques, stress reduction and on and on.
Secondly, I wanted to share something that my physical therapist taught me about an easy way to relieve sciatica pain. Now my sciatica is mostly in one leg more than the other and it is not what I would say severe. However, the technique that he shared with me immediately eliminates my sciatica pain whenever I have an episode. So here is the technique.
1. Sit in a straight back chair, back upright with both feet flat on the floor. Your knees should be at approximately a 90° angle. I prefer a chair with arms and I rest my arms there.
2. Maintaining this position, extend one of your legs out, keeping the other leg in the original position.
3. On the outstretched leg, slowly bend your ankle towards you. You will feel a stretch behind the knee and the backside of your leg. Hold that stretch for 30 seconds or as long as you can. Repeat as needed. Do the same exercise with the other leg if you're sciatica is on both sides.
This works like a charm for me and I hope it is of some small help to you.
God bless you.

 

[JayCS]

@JayCS ive heard the more s.e. Means it’s working, some with no side effects means they need more jabs, the tests show no antibodies made with no immunity. Still, makes you wonder if they could make better ones for us in the future. Also,you said you’d not take cortisone shots for the pain because of side effects. What is so severe from them that wouldn’t be worth help from pain?

Unfortunately, the 'good' side effects of the vaccines only mean the immediate light ones that most get... (I read some articles on that.) "Thankfully" there are 5-6 more vaccines already close to being put to use. One recent theory is that not using the whole of the spike protein may diminish the side effects. But these all can't target the rare severe side effects I'm experiencing, it'd be very lucky if it'd improve those...

Thanks for your well put question about the side effects, making me think once again about my decisions:

Firstly (hydro)cortisone has many side effects, esp. in the long run, well documented, there's no doubt on that. Wherever you look - mayoclinic, drugs.com, webmd, rxlist they list about 25 common side effects, incl. serious ones, plus a lot of rarer ones. And looking at even the common ones, I wouldn't trade one single one of them alone for pain, after my experience with pain killers & amitriptyline. I always get side effects, e.g. from amitriptyline I got >8. Not ever playing that game again: One side effect and I stop. Only with some supps the side effects were mild and stopped after a few days. Mild in the sense of not dragging further problems with them (like the occasional weird dream), and not like my most common side effects gut/stomach and skin which make everything a problem.

But mainly: my decision is the other way round: Almost NO side effects merit suppressing pain for me. I have fared much better by keeping a clear head and away from meds so that I can identify triggers better and prevent/alleviate causes, rather than suppressing the symptom showing me there's a problem. Any additional effects make everything more complicated. The other symptoms, increased by the side effects of meds such as hydroscortisone/corticosteroids are much more of a problem for me than any pain, even it were even more severe.
Because of this I don't subscribe at all to the pain doc hypothesis that our pains are brought up by the nervous system itself (Central Sensitisation / nociplastic / idiopathic pain type).

Can you follow why I've decided that way?

 

[JayCS]

Looking for ways on youtube to treat my symptoms, in this case "weak legs", I'm coming across a lot of suggestions for sciatica... Like I've already said above...
Already had success 3x today with some acupressure points for breathlessness (took 30 seconds to get the panting down to zero, despite mask wearing).

 

[sunkacola]

Hey besties, I’ve been on steroids again now, which I asked about side effects. The doctors said it is the worse side efx when you’re on them daily for many months to years, without breaks. I take them off and on as rx. However I am injured as well as my FM, which I suspect is not uncommon. Pain amplified by life and our symptoms whichever are the most severe often made worse as side efx of our meds or pollution or chemicals or something in our immediate environments. I feel like we are detectives of our own body, more educated on our own skin than the biggest research yet to be thought upon. I’m in so much pain, and the brain fog, and other things. I don’t like some people telling others what works for them CANT work for others. That since it didn’t 9/10 times it’s impossible they are not that one person. How about giving people and options a try and listening that we all aren’t the same and that’s a good thing, to be respected- best wishes you guys feel better soon too

You are right, Lemon. We are detectives in our own bodies, and that is a good way to put it. It always comes down to us as individuals to determine what actually works for us and what doesn't...and then be ready to change that completely when that effect changes. The general research is wonderful and will in time and with luck help all of us, but the most important research is what each of us does with out own bodies.

 

[Lemon]

Disc bc

You are right, Lemon. We are detectives in our own bodies, and that is a good way to put it. It always comes down to us as individuals to determine what actually works for us and what doesn't...and then be ready to change that completely when that effect changes. The general research is wonderful and will in time and with luck help all of us, but the most important research is what each of us does with out own bodies.

thank you for putting that so well, that’s exactly what I was trying to say

 

[Lemon]

Get a scrip from primary for OT.

I have one but am in too much pain to get there, the drive hurts

 

[Lemon]

Just because I feel it is important, I want to caution everyone, as I have done in the past, about taking steroids. Steroids do nothing to address any problem the body has, and instead they over-stimulate the adrenal glands and that makes you feel better for a while but it does nothing that is actually helpful and they have terrible long-term effects.

Used regularly, your own system of adrenal functioning will become dependent on the steroids and will cease to be able to function without them.

Using steroids can, among many other things, increase the risk of heart disease, cause gastro-intestinal bleeding, blurred vision, and increased muscle weakness, stimulate the growth of certain cancers, and worsen other medical problems including chronic pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia, as well as significantly lowering the immune system to the point of making a person far more at risk of disease or infection (which is especially unwise in the age of Covid).
Steroids taken orally (by mouth) have also been closely linked to liver disease.

There are so many other things that are safe and effective ways of managing fibromyalgia that I always want to encourage people not even to consider using steroids as a response to FM.
It is in my opinion, and the opinion of many others who know a lot more about the body and its functioning than I do, a very unwise way to manage this or any other condition.

I would especially warn people off from getting steroids against doctor's orders, and/ or secretly imported from places out of the country, on the internet, or through uncertain outlets, which any place secretly sending them or selling them to someone without a valid prescription would be, as all of these are likely to be scams or equally may be selling something even more dangerous than steroids.

I’ve heard of people dying from tampered with drugs ordered online, so I must agree that there is serious Caution here. I’d agree with a doctors orders or find second opinions when you must but don’t buy poison because you can’t from rite aid

 

[Lemon]

Hello, hope you feel better today. For what it is worth before I was diagnosed I figured out that taking steroids helped me feel a lot better and did this three times. Each time for a week weeks or a month of so. Each time starting at a high dose and gradually taking less. Each time after a few days I would feel better, then feel virtually normal again for quite a while and then as I lowered the dose it would come back, or it would return when I came off them. My doctor is not interested in any of this and just tells me to put up with it all. Hard to do when it';s you and it affects you a lot physically and pain wise. It changes your life. I would have to get prednisolone myself now secretly imported, as cannot get them the usual way. I noticed when taking the steroids that it was a balancing act. And I have read of people on other forums who take them to help with this, sometimes long term eventually with a maintenance dose. But they have to buy them and work it out themselves. Steroid tablets are very cheap to produce so this myth that you must be careful because they might send you fakes makes no sense with cheap tablets. Its cheaper for them to send you the real thing. Every day we have to gauge how we are an d make decisions based on that. Not easy. Especially when the brain fog kicks in.

Thank you for your input, I hope you continue to feel better. I agree it helps very temporarily so we need something better to feel good long term

 

[iamitpal]

Hi all,

Thank you Lemon for bringing this up and I'm sorry to hear you've been in so much pain. I currently have not been officially diagnosed with Fibromyalgia but a rheumatologist and a couple physical therapists have suggested I probably have it. I've recently been having a flare up that's included fluctuating sciatic pain, chest pain, aching all over (sharper trigger points), fatigue, fogginess etc.

Physical therapy has helped me a bit. Honestly, what's helped soothe my pain the most has been the cheapest method: epsom salt bubble baths. I've been taking bubble baths with Dr. Teal's Foaming Bath products that have epsom salt in them. During and for about 30 min-1 hour afterwards I feel incredibly soothed, not 100%, but as close to it as I've felt in a very, very long time. Also heating pads help a bit.

I was wondering if others here know if there is a connection between sciatica and Fibromyalgia. I've only found confusing resources in some preliminary Google searching. I'm just having so many different types of pain, I'm wondering if it's all connected.

I'm new here (this is my first post). A physical therapist suggested I check these forums out. Grateful for this supportive community.

 

[Charz]

Try doing melt method for that area. You can find Sue Hitzman's videos on youtube. You can buy the small balls on amazon. Be sure to read reviews to get the soft ones.