jeffsmom11

I need help. I am living a nightmare called sciatica and I hear a million different things. It started 6 months ago with numbness and stinging in the thighs. My doc said that it was because I was over weight and my fat was pressing on the sciatic nerve causing this so I needed to diet and exercise. Well I did just that. My company went out of business and I lost my job and insurance 2 weeks before I felt this pop and mind numbing pain shot from my butt cheek down to my ankle which was soon followed by my hunched over back. So I called my aunt who is a nurse and she said it all sounded like sciatica. I went to a chiropractor who was offering free xrays and he said my L5-S1 disc was gone. I went 5 days a week for 3 weeks and honestly while my back was less stiff it did absolutely nothing for the pain that shoots down my leg which when I walk and/or stand to long re-flares up my back. Vicious circle and a waste of my unemployment money so I gave it up. He kept preaching exercise yet when I told him over and over again I can't do them all he would say is try. Well this all started 3 months ago and I don't know what to do. How do you get your nerve unpinched? Especially when I cannot lay on my stomach because the pain is so bad it makes me vomit, literally. I cannot do any of the exercises with the exception of that chair exercise on those video's all over the back pain/sciatica websites. It has done nothing. I can bring my knee to my chest and my heel to my crotch but I cannot roll over, lift my butt from the floor if I am laying on my back or pretty much do anything on my back. Thank God I am a side sleeper but going from side to side is excruciating. So how do you get rid of it if you can't do the exercises? Are there like beginner exercises for those still in pain? I have a TENS machine that I use but does that help "cure" it or just mask the pain? Please help me!!!