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Chronic Pain

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
Salix has a new friend. Sciatic nerve pain.

While I can separate myself from the pain on occasion, I struggle with it in regular temporal daily activities such as sitting, driving, and sleeping. While musculo-skeletal pain is an old friend that I've learned to deal with, nerve pain is a new experience.

If you live with chronic nerve pain, how do you do so?
 

Rival

Si m'ait Dieus
Staff member
Premium Member
I'm sorry to hear this Salix. Everyone I know who's had it says it's a complete *****.
 

dianaiad

Well-Known Member
Salix has a new friend. Sciatic nerve pain.

While I can separate myself from the pain on occasion, I struggle with it in regular temporal daily activities such as sitting, driving, and sleeping. While musculo-skeletal pain is an old friend that I've learned to deal with, nerve pain is a new experience.

If you live with chronic nerve pain, how do you do so?
It's absolutely no fun at all.

I take gabapentin. That works. I don't 'do' percocet because I'm a red head and opiates don't really work for me. In fact, ibuprofen and acetaminophen work better. Mild excercise...stretching and stuff help. Swimming does. If you can, a lot of hot tub activity and some good physical therapy. You MIGHT get an opinion from an orthopedic surgeon; there are surgical options, sometimes. kyphoplasty (where they inject a cement like substance between the two vertibrae which are rubbing against the nerve causing the problem...it's actually an outpatient procedure, believe it or not) there are other surgical options which are more 'invasive,' but won't keep you in the hospital more than overnight.

What you don't want to do, if you can avoid it, is take habit forming opiates. Not because you'll get addicted, (though that is a possibility), but because you can get USED to them, and have to take more and more until they simply stop working. THAT is a problem.

GAbabentin and surgery are the options I think you should discuss with your doctor. I'm not a doctor, and I can't give you medical advice, but I've been there...I am there...and I know what I had to do.
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
While we discussed Gabapentin (I'm familiar with the drug from my daughter's fight with cancer and a friend's degenerative disc disease), my doctor decided to go with prednisone and some physical therapy to see if we can get the pain under control.

Gabapentin concerns me due to the side effects as well as the body's natural tolerance/resistance to it resulting in the need to increase dosage on a regular basis.
 

BSM1

What? Me worry?
Salix has a new friend. Sciatic nerve pain.

While I can separate myself from the pain on occasion, I struggle with it in regular temporal daily activities such as sitting, driving, and sleeping. While musculo-skeletal pain is an old friend that I've learned to deal with, nerve pain is a new experience.

If you live with chronic nerve pain, how do you do so?


I love her...hahahaha...sorry, I couldn't resist. I do feel for you, though. My wife has RA, and before they finally found a medicine that worked she was in horrible pain. Keep being a 'pain' to your doctors so they'll work extra hard to keep you off their backs. Good luck.
 

BSM1

What? Me worry?
While we discussed Gabapentin (I'm familiar with the drug from my daughter's fight with cancer and a friend's degenerative disc disease), my doctor decided to go with prednisone and some physical therapy to see if we can get the pain under control.

Gabapentin concerns me due to the side effects as well as the body's natural tolerance/resistance to it resulting in the need to increase dosage on a regular basis.


Careful with that Prednisone, it's a silent killer. Seems most doctors prescribe it to act like they're doing something.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
I decided, Salix, to give you a "winner" rating for having developed sciatic pain. I trust you of all people can appreciate the irony. I do not have sciatic pain, but a few months ago, some neck arthritis began pinching a nerve -- leaving me with some "amusing and creative feelings" now and then running up and down my left arm. My best friend has sciatic pain. I would not wish it on anyone.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
I second for try to avoid opiates. I've found what helps my pains more than anything is exercise. Keeping the body and muscles strong may go a long ways in helping to manage chronic pain.
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
Careful with that Prednisone, it's a silent killer. Seems most doctors prescribe it to act like they're doing something.

I know. I take anti-infammatories on a regular basis, and it's not touching the pain. He wishes to do this along with physical therapy before he brings in the heavy hitters like Gabapentin.
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
I second for try to avoid opiates. I've found what helps my pains more than anything is exercise. Keeping the body and muscles strong may go a long ways in helping to manage chronic pain.

I really don't think opiates would do much but disable me from my daily activities...I don't think they do much for nerve pain anyway, at least in my experience. I'm exercising, but I'm concerned that it's too little too late.
 

InChrist

Free4ever
I dealt with sciatic nerve pain during a period of time several years ago. I don't usually have pain anymore, sometimes just slight tingling down my left leg or in left toes.

For a short time I used Naproxen.
My number one treatment was ICE, 20 minutes on- 20 minutes off. I did this often throughout the day when the pain was intense. Along with that, I used MSM, glucosamine and chondroitin (if you have a shellfish allergy you may have to use a shellfish free brand), and B vitamin complex. B vitamins are especially useful with nerve damage issues. I also keep up on stretching exercises and go to the chiropractor every couple of months o so.
 

dianaiad

Well-Known Member
While we discussed Gabapentin (I'm familiar with the drug from my daughter's fight with cancer and a friend's degenerative disc disease), my doctor decided to go with prednisone and some physical therapy to see if we can get the pain under control.

Gabapentin concerns me due to the side effects as well as the body's natural tolerance/resistance to it resulting in the need to increase dosage on a regular basis.

Well, steriods deal with inflamation, and that can be a very big part of sciatica. It works, too...just be aware that while you are taking steroids, your appetite for all things, er, chocolate, will explode and you will NOT be able to get rid of any weight you gain. ;) Trust me on this.

I have to say that my situation is a bit different. If *I* get addicted to something, so what? The condition for which I take habit forming drugs isn't curable, and I won't be around for decades, so big whoop...and since opiates don't really work on me, there's more chance that I will become addicted to diphenhydramine (benedryl) than opiates. Oddly enough, nobody is worried about that. Thing is, I have...according to the charts, outlived my 'use by' date by about two years, and I'm still here. So I'm not worried a bit about getting addicted.

However, you are in a far different situation. I'm with your doc; try the steriods. Did he tell you that it might take two or three months? 'Cause it might.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
While we discussed Gabapentin (I'm familiar with the drug from my daughter's fight with cancer and a friend's degenerative disc disease), my doctor decided to go with prednisone and some physical therapy to see if we can get the pain under control.

Gabapentin concerns me due to the side effects as well as the body's natural tolerance/resistance to it resulting in the need to increase dosage on a regular basis.

Prednisone is good stuff. But it is a steroid that they cannot prescribe indefinitely. I wish you the best of luck. Is there physical therapy that will help? Better to fix the cause of at all possible.
 

Quagmire

Imaginary talking monkey
Staff member
Premium Member
Hope things get better for you Scott.

According to WebMD, "80%-90% of people with sciatic nerve pain get better within a few weeks".
Slideshow: How to Ease Sciatic Nerve Pain

There's some other (what looks like) useful information in the article, cooberated by the Mayo clinic website: Sciatica - Diagnosis and treatment - Mayo Clinic

Something I've realized over the course of dealing with my own recent health issues is that it's never a good idea to put too much faith in doctors, especially in any one health professional. Nobody is going to care about your recovery as much as you do, so it's a really important to do your own research, explore options your doctor might not of mentioned to you and mention them to him/her.

It may be months before I'm fully recovered from this last surgery, and if I hadn't come up with a way to deal with some of the after-effects on my own; that is if I had settled for the options I was being presented with by my doctor and the nursing staff at the hospital, my day to day life would be a much bigger ***** then it is now.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
Salix has a new friend. Sciatic nerve pain.

While I can separate myself from the pain on occasion, I struggle with it in regular temporal daily activities such as sitting, driving, and sleeping. While musculo-skeletal pain is an old friend that I've learned to deal with, nerve pain is a new experience.

If you live with chronic nerve pain, how do you do so?

My methods involve the usage of a medicinal herb that is currently only legal in some states, due to the fact that taking 2400mg of GABApentin and 160mg of Propanolol was making my epically drowsy, and unable to concentrate, while managing my pain and migraines.
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
Salix has a new friend. Sciatic nerve pain.

While I can separate myself from the pain on occasion, I struggle with it in regular temporal daily activities such as sitting, driving, and sleeping. While musculo-skeletal pain is an old friend that I've learned to deal with, nerve pain is a new experience.

If you live with chronic nerve pain, how do you do so?

Sorry to hear about your neuropathy. It's far from fun to live with.

I loathe talking about it nowadays, but I'm hoping it can be helpful for your thread, so I'll do it here. I've been living with nerve compressions in both hands since 2011. Specifically, I have cubital tunnel syndrome in both arms, although it's worse in my right (dominant) side. I also probably have carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand, since I feel pain in my wrist as well.

I live with it by doing my best to avoid putting pressure on the areas of compression: I don't usually carry heavy things, I try to type in an ergonomic position, I don't sleep on my arms, etc. While I sometimes slip up and don't always manage to stick to these precautions, they definitely work well enough to make the pain tolerable.

Before I did my research about these nerve issues, the pain sometimes reached the point of keeping me up at night. Nowadays it's more like a dull annoyance in the background--except for when I mess up badly about following the above precautions or become distressed because of the physical limitations I have to live with.

Good luck with your nerve issue. I hope you can get good care and management for it. :)
 

Dawnofhope

Non-Proselytizing Baha'i
Staff member
Premium Member
Salix has a new friend. Sciatic nerve pain.

While I can separate myself from the pain on occasion, I struggle with it in regular temporal daily activities such as sitting, driving, and sleeping. While musculo-skeletal pain is an old friend that I've learned to deal with, nerve pain is a new experience.

If you live with chronic nerve pain, how do you do so?

I don't have chronic pain but I have seen many people who do, mostly as patients. Apart from the pharmaceutical advice, there is often a significant psychological component. Distraction and staying active works best. Sitting around and ruminating often doesn't help. I imagine you will cope well. All the best.
 

Deeje

Avid Bible Student
Premium Member
I suffered with sciatic pain for years before a friend recommended a chiropractor in my area who had helped them. He traced the problem back to a fall as a youngster and it had compressed the discs in my spine, impinging the sciatic nerve. The pain was sometimes unbearable. I put up with it for 20 years thinking that I would be stuck with it for life. All the doctors could do was recommend pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs, but my body did not like them. This chiropractor worked on me for a couple of weeks and released the nerve, resulting in a complete cure. In 30 odd years, I have never had it back.

If I had not taken the advice from my friend, I might still be suffering. It saved me a lot of suffering.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Salix has a new friend. Sciatic nerve pain.

While I can separate myself from the pain on occasion, I struggle with it in regular temporal daily activities such as sitting, driving, and sleeping. While musculo-skeletal pain is an old friend that I've learned to deal with, nerve pain is a new experience.

If you live with chronic nerve pain, how do you do so?
I have no useful advice.

But after reading this thread, it occurs
to me that if you invent a remedy,
then I have a possible name for it....
"Nixahertin"
 

Thief

Rogue Theologian
Salix has a new friend. Sciatic nerve pain.

While I can separate myself from the pain on occasion, I struggle with it in regular temporal daily activities such as sitting, driving, and sleeping. While musculo-skeletal pain is an old friend that I've learned to deal with, nerve pain is a new experience.

If you live with chronic nerve pain, how do you do so?
I 'popped' my spine about a year and a half ago

I swallowed 10,000 mgs of aspirin that first 8hrs
(not all in one dose)

but I am a black belt
and understanding what I did......Stretch……!!!!!

lay to your back a lift your knees.....by hand.....to your chest and hold it
then relax

as time goes by change that gesture
SEEK the range of movement you wish to regain

stretch to that direction.....GENTLY
I do not advise spinal manipulation
other than your own range of ability and will
 
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