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Thread: Acute pain - sciatica?

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    Veteran Member Fionaver's Avatar
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    Default Acute pain - sciatica?

    Okay - not looking for a diagnosis - just putting this out there.

    I woke up Thursday with acute pain from behind my right hip bone, down my outer thigh, over my knee, down my outer lower leg, through my ankle and into the arch of my foot. I've had problem with carpal tunnel in both my arms for the last 6 years due to a back injury 7 1/2 years ago after falling off the pole while doing an invert.

    I'm 2 inches shorter than I was before.

    Since I only enough to pay my bills and I was dumb with my money (poor choices in men), I didn't have insurance and didn't go to a doctor until 4-5 months afterward. I'm within 'notmal parameters' on an MRI. I've faced permanent long term memory loss and pretty much constant back pain. Massage therapy tends to exacerbate my problems.

    I was in physical therapy for quite a while when the first nerve problem developed - to be honest, I'm really lucky to be alive after my accident. But I don't know the full extent of my injuries.

    My questions follow:

    a) Has anyone had a similar experience (serious fall, concussion, lasting injuries, nerve problems)?
    b) Does anyone have any idea how I should approach treatment? (Most of my money goes toward doctor bills.) I'd like to spend my money effectively.

    Thanks.

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    Default Re: Acute pain - sciatica?

    I know I'm probably going to get flamed for this answer, but I think you should just go to the doctor and get every single last treatment you need regardless of cost. You can always file for bankruptcy which is really not that big of a deal (especially when you work in a cash industry assuming you're a dancer), and all your bills would be completely gone ~3 months later. That is, if there are helpful treatment options out there for your issue.

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    Default Re: Acute pain - sciatica?

    Quote Originally Posted by Fionaver View Post

    I woke up Thursday with acute pain from behind my right hip bone, down my outer thigh, over my knee, down my outer lower leg, through my ankle and into the arch of my foot. I've had problem with carpal tunnel in both my arms for the last 6 years due to a back injury 7 1/2 years ago after falling off the pole while doing an invert.

    I'm 2 inches shorter than I was before.
    If I understand you correctly, you are two inches shorter than you were before your accident due to damage to your spine? That seems pretty extreme for a fall from a pole, although I suppose it would depend on how high you were and how you landed.

    What your describing sounds a lot like radicular pain (pain resulting from inflammation of the nerve roots as they exit the spine), particularly if it has a shooting or "electric character". That sort of pain wouldn't be particularly surprising after a spinal injury that affected your height to such an extent, although it is rather odd for it to be starting 7 1/2 years afterward.

    If it is radicular pain, the best treatment for it (the only treatment proven to be effective, in fact) is corticosteroid injections into the facet joints of the spine, which seems to calm the nerves down and significantly improves symptoms in most patients. Unfortunately, the effects typically last for only 3-6 months, after which time you need to get injected again. It's nice and profitable for the pain specialists who do the injections, but not so good for patients without insurance.

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    Default Re: Acute pain - sciatica?

    Could a chiropractor help? If you already have xrays on hand to shoe him or her you could find one who specializes in physical therapy for long term adjustments and stretches. Depending on your area you could find treatment
    for 35-50 a treatment, start off at 2-3 visits a week
    and hopefully taper off to once a week andmaybe even once a month.
    Ungoogle yourself:


    Also, now offering phone sexins!

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    Default Re: Acute pain - sciatica?

    I've been through every back treatment out there except for spinal fusion & microdisectomy. I was a very competitive gymnast & when I was 16 I fell off the bars & fractured my L-1 & L-3 vertabrate. I have severe degenerative disc disease in my L1, L2 & L3 discs which basically means there's no cushion left in those discs & before the treatment I've had now on it, it was bone rubbing on bone. I can't even begin to describe how painful that was. I was on oxycontin for 6 yrs & having to listen to doctors tell me I was faking the pain to get drugs. Anyway, shortly after I started dancing I met a chiropractor who worked as a bouncer at night to pay off his student loans. We got to talking & I was telling him my situation. He told me there was this new thing out that he thought would help me. I honestly didn't think it would because I've been through epidural steroid injections, trigger point injections, sacro-illiac joint injections, IDET, Nucleoplasty, Ablasion where they cauterize the nerves and an implantable nerve pain stimulator and Vax-D. None of it gave me any pain relief. The only thing IDET helped was with my hip, leg & arm pain that I would get, it was a painful tingling. Anyway, he told me if this treatment didn't work, he'd give me back my money. My insurance at the time didn't cover it, it was $4000. I went through the treatment, no needles, no drugs. It's call Disc Decompression. It was developed by NASA and it involves putting a belt on you, hooked you up to a computerized machine and slowly (like 20 sessions) pulling & stretching your back out. Same concept as traction but way more precise & advanced. I can happily say that I don't have back pain anymore and I'm off all the narcotic painkillers I was on. I don't even take advil for my back pain! I had spine surgeons urging me to go thru fusion & it turns out if I would've gone thru with it, they would've removed the wrong disc! Now, I don't know if this would help you, I'm only sharing my experience. I would recommend you at least go for a consultation with a chiropractor who offers Disc Decompression to see if you're a candidate. With you saying you're shorter now makes me wonder if you also have degenerative disc disease. (my 3 discs were completely collapsed). Before you go thru tons of shots, pills, scans,etc. I'd recommend you go for a consult with a chiropractor who does that treatment. If you're a candidate, it will be the easiest, most painless way to go. I wish I had known about it when my back pain got bad. I went thru hell for those 6 yrs, actually 8 if you want to include detoxing off oxycontin. I had tons of injections and wound up getting a spinal headache on 3 different occasions (it's when the doctor goes in too deep & pokes your cerebrospinal fluid membrane & your cerebrospinal fluid (which is there to cushion your brain) leakes out into your body. It was horrible! If you have any other questions, you can PM if you want. I hope you get to feeling better, I know what's it's like.
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    Default Re: Acute pain - sciatica?

    Quote Originally Posted by leogirl876 View Post
    I've been through every back treatment out there except for spinal fusion & microdisectomy. I was a very competitive gymnast & when I was 16 I fell off the bars & fractured my L-1 & L-3 vertabrate. I have severe degenerative disc disease in my L1, L2 & L3 discs which basically means there's no cushion left in those discs & before the treatment I've had now on it, it was bone rubbing on bone. I can't even begin to describe how painful that was. I was on oxycontin for 6 yrs & having to listen to doctors tell me I was faking the pain to get drugs. Anyway, shortly after I started dancing I met a chiropractor who worked as a bouncer at night to pay off his student loans. We got to talking & I was telling him my situation. He told me there was this new thing out that he thought would help me. I honestly didn't think it would because I've been through epidural steroid injections, trigger point injections, sacro-illiac joint injections, IDET, Nucleoplasty, Ablasion where they cauterize the nerves and an implantable nerve pain stimulator and Vax-D. None of it gave me any pain relief. The only thing IDET helped was with my hip, leg & arm pain that I would get, it was a painful tingling. Anyway, he told me if this treatment didn't work, he'd give me back my money. My insurance at the time didn't cover it, it was $4000. I went through the treatment, no needles, no drugs. It's call Disc Decompression. It was developed by NASA and it involves putting a belt on you, hooked you up to a computerized machine and slowly (like 20 sessions) pulling & stretching your back out. Same concept as traction but way more precise & advanced. I can happily say that I don't have back pain anymore and I'm off all the narcotic painkillers I was on. I don't even take advil for my back pain! I had spine surgeons urging me to go thru fusion & it turns out if I would've gone thru with it, they would've removed the wrong disc! Now, I don't know if this would help you, I'm only sharing my experience. I would recommend you at least go for a consultation with a chiropractor who offers Disc Decompression to see if you're a candidate. With you saying you're shorter now makes me wonder if you also have degenerative disc disease. (my 3 discs were completely collapsed). Before you go thru tons of shots, pills, scans,etc. I'd recommend you go for a consult with a chiropractor who does that treatment. If you're a candidate, it will be the easiest, most painless way to go. I wish I had known about it when my back pain got bad. I went thru hell for those 6 yrs, actually 8 if you want to include detoxing off oxycontin. I had tons of injections and wound up getting a spinal headache on 3 different occasions (it's when the doctor goes in too deep & pokes your cerebrospinal fluid membrane & your cerebrospinal fluid (which is there to cushion your brain) leakes out into your body. It was horrible! If you have any other questions, you can PM if you want. I hope you get to feeling better, I know what's it's like.
    I would personally get a lawyer and go on disability since I doubt you'll be able to dance while being treated (surgery). Use the government insurance to cover part of the costs of all treatments, and discharge the rest in bankruptcy. Fake your pain and make it sound way worse than it is to doctors (trust me on this) and bring with you old medical records, etc. Then after the bankruptcy clears, go back to dancing if you can, or try to live with a relative or roommate and cam or stay on disability until you're healed enough to go back to dancing. I kind of went through a similar situation.

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