I have always heard after ending a long-term relationship to be careful of the rebound. Popular sitcoms show how bad rebound relationships can be. Apparently my body did not listen and decided to get over Arnold by developing sciatica in the hospital!! So even though I have not given this new ailment a proper name, it is completely dominating my recover and my life, it is definitely a rebound.
It took me four weeks to figure out what the heck was wrong with me let alone to get treatment. It actually started in the hospital as just a tightness in my left buttock. One of my day nurses provided one of those disposable heat packs that afforded relief. I figured once I got home to my own bed it would be fine. Boy was I wrong.
I spent the next few weeks trying to "fix it" on my own. First I thought maybe I just need to stretch, my hamstrings feel tight. Again wrong, the condition worsened. I tried other stretching, exercises, a massage, even ignoring it. With every new thing I tried it would get worse. Even if I did not do anything it seemed to get worse. Finally I made the pain progress down the back of my left leg. Once I started telling people the pain goes from my rear down my leg, the word "sciatica" started popping up.
So what is sciatica? Well, of course I googled it and came up with this from webmd: http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/guide/sciatica-symptoms
Sciatica is a common type of pain affecting the sciatic nerve, a large nerve extending from the lower back down the back of each leg.
Common symptoms of sciatica include:
- Pain in the rear or leg that is worse when sitting
- Burning or tingling down the leg
- Weakness, numbness, or difficulty moving the leg or foot
- A constant pain on one side of the rear
- A shooting pain that makes it difficult to stand up
Sciatica usually affects only one side of the lower body. Often, the pain extends from the lower back all the way through the back of the thigh and down through the leg. Depending on where the sciatic nerve is affected, the pain may also extend to the foot or toes.
While I do not have all of these symptoms, points 1 and 4 definitely describe what I have been experiencing: I was fairly certain this is what is going on. I am also thankful that my pain only goes maybe halfway down the back of my left thigh. I could not imagine how awful this would be if it went all the way to my toes. As it is, my days are spent managing the pain. I wake up in pain, so that gets me out of bed. I move around and sometimes it will feel ok if I am standing. I can not sit without pain. When standing gets painful I lay down. However, laying down is painful too. I have to be laying with heat on my back and bottom, then I am comfortable for a short time and often can fall asleep.
When I asked my primary care doctor and my neurosurgeon's nurse practitioner how to treat this, they both basically said anti-inflammatory medications (ibuprofen), heat and or ice. Not much to go on. Thankfully I had already been working on getting in to see a physical therapist before I had self diagnosed. I knew something was wrong and that I needed expert help anyway. It took almost a week to schedule my first appointment. So by then, it was four weeks after my surgery.
I am surprised by how common this condition is. Almost every one that I have spoken to and mentioned I have sciatica know exactly what I am talking about. Often, they will tell me they have had it or someone very close to them has had it! It is always comforting to know so many other people have had it, it goes away, and yeah while you have it, it sucks.
My first PT appointment on Thursday 5/16 was disappointing. My PT asked me questions and did an examination. I did not tell her I think I have sciatica to see if she came to the same conclusion. She said I was having pain from nerves in my back (or something like that) so I mentioned sciatica and she said yes, that's it. So she then gave me two exercises and not much else for managing the pain. I did not know what to do when the pain came on. I did not have a routine of things I could do to actively lessen the pain. I had 5 days until my next appointment. That is a lot of waiting.
My second PT visit on Tuesday 5/21 went better. She worked on some of my muscles and showed me how tight I am in my glute and back. She said we need to work from the bottom (literally) up. So first, we need to get the muscles in my glute to loosen up. She gave me one more strengthening exercise and two stretches. She also approved me to use my foam roller at home and/or a tennis ball to work out some of the tightness. We also decided to try ice on my back to see if that helps. Leaving the appointment I was much more pleased with the routine for home.
The very next day (Wednesday 5/22) I had my first follow up appointment with my neurosurgeon, Dr. M. That meant a car ride to San Francisco. To compound things, I found the ice made the sciatica worse. I seem to tighten up and have a lot of pain. So, the car ride was brutal since I only just figured this out that morning and had tried to ice. Thankfully I found an old lacrosse ball in Clio's (that's my dog) toys and was able to use that to roll out some relief.
The doctor's visit was almost comical. Most of the visit was spent addressing the sciatica and very little on how I am recovering from the surgery. I did get to see my scans; I look free and clear of any tumor. Dr. M did tell us a story that he presented my case at a radiology conference as an excellent candidate for radiation, then proceeded to tell everyone that they operated anyway! He is ordering a scan of my lower back to see whether the lumbar drain caused the sciatica or not.
So for now, 600mg of ibuprofen three times a day. Follow the exercises and stretches prescribed by the PT. Do not over do it, and when I start to feel pain, just rest and heat. Hopefully soon I will start feeling normal.
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