Numbness, tingling, spasms in leg long after sciatica diagnosis

Hi everyone - thanks for all the posts here... this is the best discussion of sciatica I have found.

Been dealing with it for a year and a half now... not so much the pain, but numbness and weakness all the way from my lower back and hip to my foot. The numb foot is hard to move, and makes walking or standing excrutiating. My biggest fear is that I am going to trip. My foot feels cold, but then hours later it is fine.

Listen... here is what is helping me... Pilates... not a group mat class, but privates sessions with a reformer table and an instructor who is familiar with sciatica. It works on core strength and alignment. The chiropractor helps too, and I got some orthodic inserts for my shoes. So.. things HAVE improved... but I am not better yet, and it is so frustrating. I don't know what to do next, and some days I am so discouraged.

Thanks for all the posts here, it is such a relief to find people who understand this.... but... it DOES go away, right?? I keep hearing it will. Will it?

Making myself MOVE and push through the pain and discomfort DOES help.

Hi, I'm not saying that I am glad you all seem to have what I have as I wouldn't wish this on anyone but I'm glad I've found fellow sufferers.

I had a car accident 2 years ago and since then have had sciatica, down my left leg. I crashed at 40 mph (into a silly woman who decided to pull out of a side road without looking into the main road that I was travelling down !) with my left leg outstretched and rigid as I pressed on my clutch and brake.

I have been side stepped and ignorned by the medical profession which is so disheartening. I have seen a couple of consultants, one ortho and one neuro. At first I was told that within 3 months I would have made a full recovery, that then changed to 6 months, then 12 months and now it is 2 years. Well the two years are up in a few weeks and guess what ..... it's still here.

If someone told me that if they cut off my left leg the pain would go I would have it done in a heartbeat.

I've read all your advice and tips and will return to the neuro and my GP on Monday armed with all your facts and stories.

Keep your chins up. Anyone wishing to contact me with advice etc please send to helen@molesworths.co.uk

Nellie

I am a 39 year old male and have been diagnosed with sciatica resulting from an irritated piriformis muscle. This is the muscle in the butt that pulls the leg outward from the body. The sciatic nerve runs adjacent to it (and in some people through it). I pulled my piriformis while doing some field research (I'm a biologist) and have been in severe pain since. The doctor told me the piriformis is inflamed and putting pressure on the nerve. The pain radiates down the back of my left leg and is literally the worst pain I have ever felt. My left three toes on the left foot are numb as is the bottom of the left half of my foot, which is almost more annoying than the pain. I am on pain meds and muscle relaxers, but they no longer seem to be helping. I was also on steroids for the first six days following my diagnosis and they seemed to help a little. The pain is no longer debilitating, but still fairly severe. I workout regularly (or used to anyway) and am in really good shape which makes this that much more irritating. I can no longer weight train my lower body because I know the pain would be excruciating. I have found that stretches can relieve the pain for a short while. I also recently discovered that if I spend about 15 minutes on the elliptical, the pain literally disappears for several hours, but the numbness never goes away.

I'm going back to the doctor today and am hoping for a referral to a neurologist. I really hope this is not something I am just going to have to live with because it really sucks! All this while I am about to turn 40 does wonders for my emerging age issues.

It's nice to hear that others can relate to my situation. My wife has never had this problem and she really doesn't get it, which is frustrating.

Good luck to all.

I have had sciatic pain off and on since my first pregnancy 16 years ago, and NOTHING helped it much... until I started using magnets. I haven't seen anyone mention this in their posts, and it was the only thing that would numb the pain, especially since you can't take high pain meds while pregnant. It would hurt so much I couldn't move in bed until I took "Mag rollers" and rolled it over the painful area until it would literally go numb. I also have the "Mag steps" in my shoes and wear them daily. I would really recommend looking into this method, I really don't know how or why it works, but it did for me. I still have sciatic pain, and now am experiencing muscle spasms in my left leg -- which I guess could be related... I also bought a magnet mattress for my bed, and use a magnet back pad for back pain, stomach cramps, even on my chest to aleve coughing. My kids all use the magnets as well. I don't know how many brands are out there, but I use Nikken, check out their website... and no, I don't sell these. If you decide to try these, have a representative give you a demo, and see if they'll work for you. Also, drink ALOT of water when you start using magnets. Good luck to us all!

I am having similar symptoms after a back injury almost 3 weeks ago. I do transcription work for orthopedic surgeons from my home office. I lifted a heavy metal rack by myself and didn't realize I had hurt my back until I sat it down and turned around. That's when the pain struck, shooting sharp pain down the center of the left buttock (sciatic nerve) to my heel. I had bad pain for about a week but went to my family physician first and he put me on pain pills and muscle relaxants and I take ibuprofen 800 mg two times a day which helps as much as the hydrocodone and Naproxen. Anyway, now my left calf is so sore (feels like I had the world's worst cramp and it's caused severe soreness) This is particularly bad in the early morning hours and usually the only relief I can get is to get out of bed. My left foot is also dragging a bit and the two toes next to my big toe feel like they are burning, associated nerve pain, I imagine. I am not crazy about the idea of back surgery. Have seen too many bad results for this I guess. I realize I need to go to see one of the orthopedic surgeons I work for, but feel I may just be opening a can or worms. I am hoping in time it will get better. I do have stretching exercises to do which definitely stretch the sciatic nerve but was wondering if I might be aggravating it. Anyway, I have similar symptoms and realize I will never be able to do any heavy lifting. Just wanted to join the club.

ivye wrote:

I am not even sure if this is how to use this site but I need help fast. I have been in chronic pain for yrs and my stomach started giving me trouble about a year ago. I'm having new pain now in my lower back radiating into my buttocks with pain and tingling. it feels as though the gas builds up by my tailbone giving me pain. about a month ago I awoke with my left leg totally numb with constipation. the doctors has given me enimas and I take lactose,senokot,stool softeners,and a herbal laxative I am currently taking 360mg Oxycontin plus breakthrough meds sleeping pills Valium estradiol estrogen patch 75mg due to a hysterectomy also take emerge for migraines that are horrific and have red blood spots and swelling in my feet and legs please help the pain in my back feels like it could be because i felt something move when i was lifting heavy.The lower back is crazy pain and is unrelenting. are my bowels doing this?

hi i too have the symptoms that you are experiencing, i just wonder without being too personal why did you have a hysterectomy, i have a pelvic disease called endometriosis, i first started to experience severe pain in my left leg, buttock, hip and around my waist which all felt like a severe sharp pain, it felt like my tailbone was beign pumped up all of the time like i was sitting on a balloon and still happens from time to time. My foot used to feel hot then cold with the skin going purple and numbness in my toes, an MRI scan showed that i have a buldge between my discs L4 and L5, but the orthapedic surgeon has said that there is no reason that i should have the pain down my leg, stomach and buttock, so i was left not being able to walk on my leg for about a year as i couldnt put my foot on the floor as the pain was hell. It ended up that my stomach pain and pain underneath me was getting so bad that my doctor sent me to a gyneacologist who found that i had endometriosis which is a disease that grows on the outside of the womb, ovaries and anywhere in the pelvis but mine was so bad that it had gone deeper in the pelvis, anyway i had 3 operations to get rid of most of it but i still have some, after the operations i started to feel better which i do now but still have pain in my buttock, leg, spine, tailbone, i also have headaches down left side of head and at the top of my spine, i do have injections at the pain clinic for sciatica and they work for about a year of so but it does,nt get rid of it completely and the top of my leg seems to get stuck sometimes like it is catching on something i dont know if this is a symptom of sciatica its when i have been sitting mostly. The pain in my stomach i get everyday and have had colonoscopy a look inside the bowel but they cant find anything and i suffer from bad constipation too and burning acid in my gullet and have severe pain in the left side of pelvis that goes through to my back, so i really dont know if the pain like you i suffer from is down to gyneacological problem or a orthapedic problem, also i was getting swollen feet, ankles, legs, face, the doctor said it was like water retention fluid but worse so he put me on a fluid tablet which works wonders so i would ask your doctor about this as this could be due to the fact that you have had a hysterectomy, but one thing that i would like to ask anybody out there is that does anyone else with back problems suffer from pain down below on one side women or men ?