Bad sciatica

Have tried epidurals (many - no longer work), acupuncture, chiropractic; husband bought me an inversion table that provides only brief relief; had micro disc surgery. Lost weight and felt better for about 5 months and pain returned. It is seriously effecting every aspect of my life.

I have not yet crossed the Hudson but now I'm desperate. Suggestions?

Have you had a cortisone shot into the sciatic nerve? I did, and it cleared up my pain magically.

How much do you walk? It can help a lot, even get rid of it.

I found dry-land walking very difficult for a long time, so resorted to supervised hydrotherapy (I think you call it aquatherapy, it's physical therapy in a specially heated training pool), then combined that with with dry-land walking and Feldenkrais (awareness through movement) work.

The physical therapy exercises I got for my sciatica did help. I also found relief with the electrical stimulation that they use.

Thanks all

lizziecat said:
Have you had a cortisone shot into the sciatic nerve? I did, and it cleared up my pain magically.

Multiple times, no longer effective

Tom_Reingold said:
How much do you walk? It can help a lot, even get rid of it.

Used to walk a few miles /day; sadly now it worsens the pain :

sciatica itself is a symtpoms, not the actual disease...you have to try to find the cause..is there another surgery..i know someone who had successful surgery for it, but i don't think it was anything to do with microdisc.

have you done physical therapy? are you able to do bed rest? when my symptoms started, i was able to do bed rest right away and avert a major problem as it helped the underlying cause

Hi snowmom, just sent you a PM

What was the result of your surgery?

jmitw said:
sciatica itself is a symtpoms, not the actual disease...you have to try to find the cause.

This is worth thinking about. Mine went away (after a year of pain) when a friend suggested I stop wearing my wallet in my back pocket. Maybe you have a chair whose design works against you. Maybe you could adjust the way you sit when driving or watching TV. If you got rid of it and it came back, it sounds like it might be a problem in your environment.