Agonizing sciatica, but no spinal cause?

Posted , 2 users are following.

Hi there, I will keep this as short and sweet as I possibly can!

For about 3 months now, I have had a really bad attack of sciatica, and lower back pain. However I have been religiously doing exercises meant for lower back pain, and as of today, my back pain has gone!. I have gone from being in level 10 pain, to no pain at all, I am really chuffed with myself for helping that!.

Another long story short, I am on a Subutex program for OTC Codeine dependency, which I am now reducing and getting off. This means I cannot take conventional pain relief, and I am allergic to Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. Naughty me, not sure if I am allowed to mention this here, but a certain prohibited herb has really helped some of it, and is the only thing I can safely use for pain right now.

However this attack of sciatica is not going anywhere. I do not have sciatic pain if I sit down, sometimes I do if I am in bed, can be very painful, and three when I walk, the pain comes on really badly after about 5 minutes of walking.

Now, I have been in touch with my GP, but because I have high functioning Autism, and very high anxiety, they are brushing me off, and nobody wants to physically examine me. I have persevered with the exercises rigorously, because even if they do not help, they won't do me any harm, and might help tone those muscles up regardless, because I know your piriformis can cause sciatica if it spasms or becomes inflamed.

Another curious question I would like to ask is, if I had an ovarian cyst, or a fibroid, maybe about the size of a golf ball, or a chicken egg perhaps, and it was in the right position, surely that could compress nerves in your pelvis and lower back?. I have had NO abdominal pain at all though, in fact even my horrendous period pain is a bit better these days. The back pain and the sciatica are both ten times worse at period time. This could be the hormones relaxing various muscles etc, but I also wondered if a cyst/uterine fibroid could become irritated or inflamed at that time of the month as well?. Cysts are very common in our family, breast and ovarian, a close family member had an ovarian cyst that ruptured, and caused her a lot of abdominal pain. I have no abdominal pain. I have had brown spotting in between periods, but GP reckons that is normal for me now as it has gone on for so long and I have no sinister red flags. I am going to get my smear done soon, last one was clear so I am sure everything round my cervix is fine lol. I may have a word with the nurse when I get my smear done, see if she thinks I might be onto something.

It's odd because I can do ALL the slipped disk tests, I am very mobile, I can do snake hips and press ups and lift my leg sky high!. Not a slipped disk. That is pretty much ruled out. Any ideas would be welcome because this pain is NO joke! 😦

I am also being investigated for raised prolactin as well. I have been suffering frontal headaches for a long time too. We shall see, I will report back here as the investigations go on!. I have almost been in A&E a few times with it, but I do not want to go there unless I really really REALLY need to as there is still a risk of Covid.

Thank you! 😃

0 likes, 1 reply

1 Reply

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.