I used inversion therapy to help heal a slipped disk years ago. It saved me from having to go the surgery route, and possibly have my vertebrae fused together.
The best thing to do with an inflammed Sciatica is to take 800mg Ibuprofen every 4-6 hours, and ice your lower back down 20 minutes every hour.
DO NOT apply heat! That will simply increase blood flow and by extension, inflammation in the area. You do NOT want to apply heat.
If you can, have someone bring you a chair and help you lift your legs up, bending at the knees, resting on the chair. This will flatten out your spine and should provide relief. (You can also do the same using a couch, etc..)
Whatever else you do, limit your sitting. That places too much weight on your lower spine and won't help. Lay down with knees bent. When you need to apply ice (20 minutes and hour) have one of your family members put the ice up against your lower back and use pillows as necessary to hold the ice in place and support your back at the same time.
Patience.
I have had several issues, including one mystery hip problem.
Started with majore NSAIDs meds (like yours) and soon after had to get PT. For several months, and it made all the difference, especially keeping up with the last exercises on release.
Word to the wise - don’t take months of NSAIDs if you can help it. I think it drove me to my next medical problem, acid reflux disease.
I empathize with your pain as I have been through what you are dealing with many many times. There has already been some very good advice given. The Ma Roller can work wonders and requires minimal effort to use. The very best stretch you can do some others have described and I’ll give my version. If you are unable to do it yourself you can ask another to help you do it. Lay flat on your back with your arms outstretched at your sides. Pull up one knee at a time and when that one knee is up as high as you can get it, pivot/roll that raised knee to the opposite side of your body, keeping the shoulder blades flat on the ground, and just hold it there. It will hurt, but that is because you are stretching the tightened muscles that need to relax. After you have done one side, do the other. Repeat this a few times and do it a few times a day. Like I said, ask someone to help hold your knee up as you roll it over.
Be careful with the Tylenol. It can and will damage your kidneys and liver at those doses for any prolonged length of time. Naproxen works FAR better. I also suggest a Valium to relax and if the pain is bad enough get some oxycodone. Both are highly addictive, but they work! Being in pain is NOT conducive to healing. Just make sure to quit taking them ASAP!!! (Or you will either lose everything, or end up in some sort of recovery program) best of luck, and ask God for healing. I’ll pray for you as well!
I had sciatica years ago. The local doctor told me that it was caused by the back muscles being stronger than the belly muscles and pinching a nerve.
He told me to do a series of sit ups to strengthen my stomach muscles.
IT WORKED! I have been free from sciatic pain for 40 years!
Biofreeze.
Many years ago I had sciatica from a pinched nerve in my spine. About a dozen trips to the chiro helped. About a month ago I had similar pain but it was in my butt down my leg to the ankle. This time it is a condition called, piriformis syndrome which involves the piriformis muscle pressing on that sciatica nerve. The two are very similar. Here again I made a few trips to the chiro. Stretching that muscle has helped a lot and for the most part the leg/ankle pain thing went away., just some mild pain in that muscle. Google that syndrome for some good stretches. Good luck.
2 words, Mariner- Heating. Pad. I’m one of those people who has to feel like I’ve got a brain tumor to take a Tylenol, but I would be immobile without mine. And it’s gotten to the point- after years and years, that I can go for weeks without it.
Hope this abates for you soon!
Prayer list ping
Try walking it out. I had a horrible case of this in 1989 after a very serious fall breaking two vertebra’s. The pain was almost impossible to endure. Now, other than the aches and pains of getting older I no longer have it.
I would avoid at all costs having anyone manipulating your back. That only exacerbated the problem. After I quit that quackery, it eventually abated and I no longer have the problem.
Believe me, I feel your pain. I really do.
Don’t do anything you have read here until you have an MRI done on your lumbar vertabrae and the images read by a neurologist. I tried the other route and after going to a chiropractor at the insistence of the workmen’s compensation people, I could not get off the floor for a month. Then we did the steroid shots and PT. The entire time my right leg just did not work and for the first 2 months felt like somebody had hollowed it out and poured hot charcoals in it.
A year after the injury I finally got approval to see a neurosurgeon. 3 hours after surgery I was walking around with tolerable pain and a leg that actually worked. But because the ruptured disc had impinged on the sciatic nerve for so long it screwed up some of the circuits. For instance, the outer layer of my leg has no feeling at all from knee down. Now that’s no biggie but it could have been avoided by an earlier surgery.
Surgery isn’t for everybody and they told me 1 in 500 people return to work with the surgery and rupture I had. Well I have been back to work for 5 years now and I pay the price if I am doing heavy lifting or ladder work but meds take care of that and it beats the hell out of living on the living room floor. :-)
The only thing worse is a gout attack. I’ve had both (not at the same time!).
You’re probably dehydrated. Your discs fill with water, when there’s not enough, there’s pain. So try lots of water, and then lean forward, bracing yourself with your hands on a chair, and feel the discs “inflate” while you hold a very gentle forward stretch.
Also to reduce inflammation, try a half teaspoon of baking soda mixed with two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water a few times a day. Ease off on the coffee, cola and tea, caffeine is dehydrating and those drinks are acidifying. Acid = inflammation.
Heard from a friend today that someone she knew had a really bad lower back pain. Dr. made him take his wallet out of his back pocket. Said sitting on that wallet throws everything off alignment.
Book: Dr John Sarno “healing back pain”
A shot of steroids from your Doctor would fix it. Then go for some physical therapy to strengthen back.
Go to WalMart Get Vitamin B-12 sublinguals, 5000 unit size. Put one under your tongue and let it dissolve. Takes a few seconds. If you get no relief take two the next day. B-12 is the doctor prescribed treatment but the doctor wants to bring you in for shots probably twice a week. You don’t need shots of B-12. Experiment with the sublinguals for dosage. My daughter uses them for her sciatica. So does my favorite waitress at the Waffle House after I told her about them. She had been going to the doctor for that shot twice a week. She prefers the WM stuff. I don’t think you can overdose on B-12. Athletes take up to 20,000 units before a game.
I used inversion therapy to help heal a slipped disk years ago. It saved me from having to go the surgery route, and possibly have my vertebrae fused together.
You really need to see a Chiropractor. Preferably one who also does Acupuncture or the Cold Laser treatment. Medical doctors will kill you, and you will be in pain until you die.
when you can, walking is probably one of he best exercises to realign your muscles, nerves....
when I had pain down my hip into by thigh, I found it helpful to place a little folded hand towel or even smaller under the upper thigh on the affected side.....don't know why that worked for me but probably sort of an acupressure point....