Saturday, January 3, 2015

Dealing with Sciatica

I've had back pain off and on for years.  I would like to think that a Chiropractor would resolve the problem.  Unfortunately that has not been my experience.  They have helped Michelle, but not me.  I find more relief from stretching.  On Dec. 9th I moved 16 huge bags of leaves to the curb for the yard-waste company to take remove.  By that evening the back pain had kicked in.  I started doing my stretches... but apparently they didn't do the trick this time.  Two days later I woke up in the early hours of the morning with an intense pain down my left leg and tingling in the toes.  I could hardly walk.  I felt like I had to throw my left foot in front of me, then lock the knee before I could put weight on it and move through the stride.

I got an appointment with a Dr. of osteopathy the next morning.  He prescribed medicines to help the muscles relax, a steroid to help with the swelling and a pain killer.  Two days later I went back to the Doctor.  He manipulated the spine, and within a few days, the back pain was gone, but the pain down my leg continues although it certainly is not as bad as the night it woke me up.  Sometimes the pain is more pronounced in the left hip.  In my last visit to the Osteopath he said everything looks good structurally.  It will probably require an MRI to find the pinched nerve.  Hopefully a localized steroid injection in the tissue that's compressing the nerve will resolve the problem.  The Osteopath recommended a specialist.  So I have an appointment with a specialist on Monday to find the pinched nerve.

The most frustrating part of this problem is that I planned on taking vacation several days before Christmas to finalize the shopping for gifts.  Instead of walking the mall, I was home doing battle with the pain in my leg.

Here's where the angelic Michelle came through and made sure Christmas gifts were taken care of.  She made sure I was taking my medicine and patiently put up with me when I failed to control my irritability because of the pain.  Thank you, Michelle.

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