Sciatica Experiences ?

[Libra]

Im not new to Sciatica, ive had flare ups over 20 years but this one started 4 weeks ago and I could barely walk for 3 days..Lower right side of back down to back of hip (dull aching feel), nerve type pain in calf and foot and cramping feeling.. Its eased to the point I can walk upright but if I sit too long or overnight it gets troublesome again for a while.
Could you tell me what your pains were with sciatica and where they were centered please..

[Traceypo]

I've had it before, luckily not to point I couldn't walk, my pain was from my right hip all down the outside ending at my foot. It was more a numbing pain down leg, hard to describe but a bit like pins and needles.
My friend had it and he was literally crawling along the floor so I think there are different levels to how bad it can be.
I was prescribed a pain med which I could only take one a day but to be fair I didn't take them and stuck to ibuprofen.
Xx

[countrygirl]

Sciatic pain can be felt in alot of places in the leg or all the leg. I have a friend who only has pain from her knee down and no pain in her back or upper leg but constant nerve pain from knee down. My husband gets it in side of upper leg, knee and in foot. I have had it in back of upper leg and in foot. My neighbour who burst a disc in her back:scared15: had excruitiaing pain in her calf and nowhere else but she was totally incapacitiated with it and stated to lose the use of her leg so they have to operate but she was the worst case scenario and not your normal sciatica.

If you have a look at a dermatone map ( think this is whats its called!) of your body on the net it shows you the position of the main spinal nerves and the areas they cover.

[MyNameIsTerry]

For me it was lower left back, left hip, rear of left leg, left calf, left foot and into the toes. When it was worse it was all of them, otherwise it was more the back, hip an calf. Bending felt very tight too.

My dad has had bad sciatica a few times. He once was at work (landscape gardener) and his back went and he was crawling alone the floor for most of the week after that. I came home to find him crawling around.

He tried the pills, the physio, etc and none of it worked. In the end I heard about TENS machines (they were still pretty new) and thought it worth a try for £15. It sorted his sciatica out. He has used it several times since and it always helps him.

With mine the TENS machine worked on the worst of it but then I reached a plateau where it did little or anything. It slowly got a bit better. In the end I bought some magnesium chloride oil to see if that helped. This has helped me loads and not just with sciatica (which is now gone) but also with aching hips, knees and my right wrist (:blush:) which developed aches at different times over the 18 months the sciatica was daily.

[Libra]

Thank you for your replies, very helpful.. Terry, the Magnesium Chloride oil? Ive bought some Magnesium spray is that the same thing ?... Im getting the discomfort mainly now first thing in morning in lower calf and into foot , ankle.Also first thing out of bed it feels like top of thigh bone is a nervy kind of feel which makes me have to rub the thigh to get things going...and stand up without hobbling too much.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, it should be. In the ingredients it should say magnesium chloride.

There are different ways of refining it from the research I did. One way is used in the US and Jordan where they refine it from the brine in the top layers of a lake to get it, but this means it has impurities that have weakened it so this form is seen as inferior. The best form is the one refined from the Zechstein Sea which is an underground sea that's ancient and so this form is pure as it hasn't been touched by the elements or anything else due to how deep down it is.

So, they tend to indicate if they are from the Zechstein Sea since it's a big selling point. I've tried two of the cheaper ones I could get so far and both were from this.

Another issue is the potency per sprays as I have found this can differ. Many products don't say how much mg it delivers but some have it on the labels or on their websites. This is important as you need to know what you are getting since we tend to be magnesium deficient anyway.

I started out at 4 sprays on the top of each foot. 6 months of this and I felt nothing really. When I increased it and targeted the areas I was having issues with, I noticed much better effects but I was now adding 4 sprays to each trouble area which for me was both knees, lower back, right forearm, both hips which was on top of still applying it to the feet.

It can sting. This means you have applied it to a deficient skin area. It goes off pretty quick and it's not much of a sting. If you spray on your feet (the soles too) it won't sting however I think you may not get enough that way and in the right places. It will be transported around the body but it makes sense a local deficiency may benefit earlier due to the proximity. (I haven't looked into that, it's just a theory)

There are rules about better absorption e.g. applying to larger areas. There is plenty online about this.

[Libra]

Many thanks for that info Terry. I have sent for some and will definitely give it a try.. It just seems so random with my pains.. Yesterday wasn't so bad at all then all I did was pop outside with the dog at 10pm for few minutes and pain went right to my lower shin and foot..so I think that's the area I might target first.. Strangley though, if I gently massage the area on outside of knee I can feel some light tingling and the pain in shin/foot subsides.

[MyNameIsTerry]

How is your mattress? (how about that for a rubbish chat up line :winks::roflmao:)

You mentioned that it seems worse when you wake. Perhaps you need to get a better mattress? My mattress was knackered so this was not helping my back. I bought one of the memory foam toppers and it has helped me.

It might take a bit of time to get real results if the magnesium helps but I found it did start helping a little earlier on and then the bigger changed just seemed to happen after a while. Magnesium deficiency is supposed to take some time to rebalance anyway in people doing it for those reasons so I think it's the same for these types of issues too.

The oil is a little greasy. It may make your clothes sticky but you can wash it off after 20 minutes. You can get gels & creams too which are less greasy but make sure to check the content because I think some of those aren't as strong as the oils.

If you find the oil helps, you could even try making your own, it's very easy to do.

You could also supplement with the bath flakes. These are higher potency because of it going into water rather than direct on the skin. I've not tried this but it's the same principle as Epsom salt baths just with magnesium chloride (Epsom salt is magnesium sulphate and not as good but it's an old fashioned treatment for sores muscles, aching joints, etc).

[Libra]

:roflmao:haha that made me smile...After a totally sleepless night and nothing at all to do with my sciatic....Doggy decided to play poorly so been up with her all night and while shes now happily snoozing im flagging !! Anyway, thank you for your detailed info which has been great help..Should have the spray delivered today and hoping it will help. I'll let you know.:)