Ignorant about sciatica

mel1977

Hope I can help, I am an avid sciatica sufferer
The way I explain it is as a burning sensation, usually down the middle of my buttocks down the back of my thighs. Sometimes it radiates to other sides of my thighs. You can look it up on the web for pictures. The sciatic nerve runs from the lumbar spine and branches out from there. I was told before and after my surgery (microdisc at L5-S1) to expect sciatica. Especially when I had an unexpected movement like a slip. The scar tissue surrounding the nerves at the surgery site aren't as streatchy as they were before surgery, and when there is an unexpected movement, they kinda catch and get inflammed, causing sciatica. I usually manage with anti-inflammitory meds like Ibuprophen. If it gets bad enough, you can try neurontin. These are some good questions to ask your dr. I had a minor fender-bender three months after sx, and within 24 hours my sciatica returned. I hope you can get some good answers with your dr tomorrow.

Anxious Annie

[QUOTE=mel1977]Hope I can help, I am an avid sciatica sufferer
The way I explain it is as a burning sensation, usually down the middle of my buttocks down the back of my thighs. Sometimes it radiates to other sides of my thighs. You can look it up on the web for pictures. The sciatic nerve runs from the lumbar spine and branches out from there. I was told before and after my surgery (microdisc at L5-S1) to expect sciatica. Especially when I had an unexpected movement like a slip. The scar tissue surrounding the nerves at the surgery site aren't as streatchy as they were before surgery, and when there is an unexpected movement, they kinda catch and get inflammed, causing sciatica. I usually manage with anti-inflammitory meds like Ibuprophen. If it gets bad enough, you can try neurontin. These are some good questions to ask your dr. I had a minor fender-bender three months after sx, and within 24 hours my sciatica returned. I hope you can get some good answers with your dr tomorrow.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Mel. This is definately NOT a burning sensation and it's only on one side; it's more like a pulled muscle or strained muscle, achey feeling. It feels like my knee wants to go into spasm; maybe I pulled my quad muscle pulling myself up off the couch the last few days? I am just hoping it's ALL been pulled muscles and that I WILL be my normal, somewhat active (albeit I suffer from mild lower back arthritis from a roller skating injury when I was a kid) self soon!

You take care! Thank you for the valuable info! When I look sciatica up on line, I don't THINK that's what I have, but one never knows....

mel1977

I hope for you it is as simple as soft tissue or muscle pain. Those will heal pretty easily. As we know, the quads and hamstrings do affect the low back area, and the knee areas. So, if I were you, I'd head to a doc I am wondering if my knee issues (weakness) are back related or if it is related to an old hyperextension injury. So, when this back stuff gets fixed, if I still have knee pain-it is off to a new doc, all over again!

Rampage

I have sciatica, and it's more like a muscular strain for me. Mine is caused by my piriformis muscle, not a disc.

This can affect my buttocks, the back of my thigh, and even down to my middle toes. The way my doctor diagnosed it was by injecting an anesthetic into my hip (greater trochanter) where the muscle attaches. If the pain or numbness dissipated within about 3 hours, then the piriformis would be identified as the cause.

Hope this helps...and good luck!

__________________
Rampage
Accident '00
Sciatica, L3-4 Tear, Spinal Stenosis, DDD L3-S1
IDET '04
Laminectomy '06
Fusion (BMP) L4-5 '11
Anterior Fusion (BMP) L3-S1 '13

retired01

Annie, your pain sounds similar to mine, especially the part about how uncomfortable it is to sit. I went to the doctor today. He feels it is sciatica and I go for a lower back x-ray tomorrow. The pain affects only one leg and is felt in my buttock, rear thigh, behind the knee and calf. It is very painful to turn over in bed, get out of bed or raise my leg to get in the car. The pain or ache in my calf and thigh feels like the lingering ache after a bad cramp but there is no cramp.

Linda