Sciatica - was the bane of my life!
Hi Roch,
I have been away from CD'ing for a few months now and have gained all that I lost, a good four stone etc. The only thing that has really motivated me to come back apart from the obvious wanting to be slim again, is the fact that i can feel my sciatica retuning.
3 years ago, I felt a dull ache behind my right knee, I was a bit concerned but being very overweight, I assumed it was all part and parcel. To cut a long story short, once it progressed and it did, I suffered agonising pain for 2 years, many many visits to the docs, crutches, bedridden, sick with pain,sick from the painkillers (all the horrible side effects that go with them) and most humiliating of all, after calling out an ambulance cos I couldn't even pee due to the pain, I was too heavy for them to manouever round our stairwell, I had to walk,supported, doped upto the eyeballs with morphine, sweating because of the pain, downstairs to the ambulance. After a scan, they said that I would have to have an op to remove a disc and for them to manipulate 2 others back into place. I had to lose a couple of stone for the op which was hard work. Although the docs/surgeon etc were excellent, I always felt and still feel that they thought I was wastinf valuable resources as I had done all that to myself, which I had really. However, the relief after I had the op was immense, NO MORE PAIN!!
Why am I telling you all this? Because I can understand exactly where you are coming from with the sciatica/painkillers etc and having been through it all and out the other side, i refuse to let it happen again. Demand a scan from your doc, tell them how bad it is, don't try and put on a brave face and pretend it isnt as bad as it is. I know how bad it is, demand to be seen! Even if the waiting list for an MRI scan is long, be put on it. I know how hard it is to muster up the energy to do anything bar comfort eat because you need all your energy to concentrate on the pain, as daft as that sounds. But it can be done and you would benefit from it so much Roch. Get decent pain relief for a start, after having tried many different pills, I was eventually put on strong Codiene tabs along with strong paracetamol (combined in the body it makes morphine) I also used heat pads and a tens machine. Once your head isnt muddled up with all the pain, you will begin to think a bit more clearly!
I'm sorry if it seems like Im going on, but reading your posts was like reading what I went through. Please let me know how you get on.
Take care,