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PMR flareup in my buttock or sciatica?

Posted , 11 users are following.

rapha
rapha

Yesterday I started with a pain in my buttock and was convinced it was sciatica.  I have had it now and then over the years and it has always gone with diclofenac after a couple of days.  I did not have a good night with it last night and as today has worn on it is excruciatingly painful. I have only been taking paracetamol for it.  Even when I pull my my jeans it is AGONY!!!!!  As though raising my arms is sticking a knife in my right buttock.  QUESTION!  Does PMR make sciatica much much worse OR could this be a flare up although it is much worse than the pain I had in my buttock pre diagnosis?  

1 like, 67 replies

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  • rapha
    rapha

    Posted

    Well it was Tuesday when I sneezed and started this blog on Thursday......I have kept taking the codeine phosphate and senna (no earthly good need dynamite now!) and am still in agony.  I am only pain free when my knee is pulled up onto my chest very hard to function as you can image and when I am bent over looking at the floor!!! My osteopath friend has chatted to me over the phone about it all but I guess I will have to have a visit with him to see if he can cast a light.  I have been resting, using frozen foods to sit on and on my lower back now hurts cause I am bent over all the time.  My left buttock now also hurts because I have to sleep all night on that side (except for 2 nights ago when I had to sleep on my knees stacked up on pillows!  When will this ever end? If this is inflammation due to a pulled muscle as the doctor and my friend think it is then why is the pred not controlling it I wonder, I am still on 20mg a day? 
    • EileenH
      EileenH rapha

      Posted

      Get that oseopath on side - asap!!!! Before it gets worse because of being lop-sided - because that just adds to it.
    • faye______00403
      faye______00403 rapha

      Posted

      sure sounds like sciatica to me.....sorry I can't give you any

      reassuring info.  Sciatica is so painful and I could only lay

      on my right side with right foot a certain way to ease the pain.

      Try to stretch out leg that has the most pain in butt.  Naturally

      if anything hurts worse don't do it.....I think time is going to

      be your only salvation.  My 6 weeks pretty much in bed.

      was hell....getting up to go to the bathroom was horrible.

      Doc gave me hydrocodone but I can only take half a pill

      or get sick.  Half a pill three times a day helped but did not

      stop the pain.....good luck.,   I feel for you......

  • barbara75814
    barbara75814 rapha

    Posted

    Kind of doesn't sound like PMR....? I have had bouts of sciatica in the past and managed to use simple exercises to get rid of it--nothing fancy, but if you think it might help, you can get info on the internet. Best of luck, Barbara
    • rapha
      rapha barbara75814

      Posted

      Thanks Barbara but I CAN NOT lie on my back to do any exercises, infact can't lay at all.  Sleeping propped up on pillows lying on my good side which aches like hell in the morning because I have been on it all night.  Also when my body is bent over frontwards I am great no pain and when my leg is raised straight in the air no pain (that's the only way I can lie on my back is to have my leg raised)!
  • Kassie_beetle
    Kassie_beetle rapha

    Posted

    Oh dear you need to get hands on help not phone advice.  Are you getting pain going down your thigh  and down your leg? If so this sounds like sciatica which is nerve pain and the codeine won' be of much help. How did your GP come to the diagnosis of muscle damage? Did she do any tests?

    Massage is a good idea as others have suggested. See your osteopath ASAP and return to the GP to have a review.

    If this is sciatica there are other Meds that could help

    Take Care

    Kathy

    • rapha
      rapha Kassie_beetle

      Posted

      Hi Kassie no pain in my thigh just my right buttock and late yesterday felt it below my knee at the front!  Doc says its not sciatica because I can raise my leg up straight with no pain, in fact it is better off up in the air!!!  The only thing that has worked so far is the Senna!!!!!

       

    • EileenH
      EileenH rapha

      Posted

      Very possibly piriformis syndrome - the sciatic nerve runs through the muscle in some people, spasmed muscle = sore sciatic nerve and the pain refers into the leg. 
    • Kassie_beetle
      Kassie_beetle EileenH

      Posted

      Hi Eileen 

      Do they treat the piriformis syndrome with valium to help relax the muscle?

    • EileenH
      EileenH Kassie_beetle

      Posted

      No - stretches are the best way to deal with it. Physical therapy may be slower - but fewer side effects!

      Google piriformis syndrome and the therapy rooms uk for a really good description - and explanation of the difference between piriformis syndrome and sciatica - it explains why rapha finds lifting her leg a help.

    • Kassie_beetle
      Kassie_beetle rapha

      Posted

      How is the pain going? Any better? Have you had any massage yet? Leg up in the air conjures up images of Faulty Towers " Don't mention the War episode and John Cleese doing the Goose step. You gotta laugh. Try the massage it sounds like it may be the way to go. Hope you get to see the Osteopath soon.

      Cheers

      Kathy

    • rapha
      rapha Kassie_beetle

      Posted

      Here is the latest......the doctors decided to have me xrayed for mastastises (I have had breast cancer twice and both breasts removed),maybe it could have gone to the spine but all is clear thank the Lord!  My pelvis is fine but my lower back shows degenerative issues, no slipped disc, prolapse or anything like that.  I can now stand up so I am being referred to physio as my right leg keeps 'caving in' as I try to go up and down stairs  The physio will be able to tell if it is all to do with the piriformis muscle, whatever the doctors think the sneezing fit was the straw that broke the camels back!  Basically today I am much better, standing up straight is wonderful just a wee pain in my buttock but knee and halfway down my calf still painful.  It turns out my calcium level is just below normal, as I said in another post I have stopped taking Al acid until I have a dexa scan (waiting for it to come through), could stopping the Al acid have contributed to my calcium lowering?  Look forward to hearing from you allx
    • EileenH
      EileenH rapha

      Posted

      I don't think so - taking bisphosphonates will lower blood calcium levels which is why it is important to check blood calcium levels before putting a patient onto AA or the level may be reduced too far which can be dangerous. If you had still been taking it it might have been even lower!

      Glad to hear things are looking up a bit!

    • rapha
      rapha EileenH

      Posted

      Thanks for the reassurance Eileen.  Yes, things are looking up a bit.  I hate to say this but this past 10 days pain was worse than the GCA/PMR when I was diagnosed...I was really ready to go to heaven!  Hopefully now I will get back to 'normal' and can reduce the pred in 5 weeks time ie after 20mg for 8 weeks.  
    • EileenH
      EileenH rapha

      Posted

      Yes - when I had the massive sacroiliacitis I was so glad to be admitted to hospital. PMR made me stiff and uncomfortable but there was never the excruciating pain with that!
    • bronwyn97278
      bronwyn97278 rapha

      Posted

      Morning Rapha;   you have just Made my day....it is sooooo good that your "worries' (and no wonder you were worried, I would have been too, after having been through breast cancer), are now over !!   And if you,  in yourself,  are feeling soooo positive, you are on the mend....physio will help, maybe slowly, but surely.....week by week we will get an update, and we will all be really pleased when you are back to "what was normal: before all this started.  Many smiles..smile.............Bron
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