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Sciatic nerve pinches hurt like hell - Update: It's more than just a nerve

OK, I've put this entry in to an extended entry (so it didn't take up so much dang room on my page). Click on the "Read More" link below to read the full post.

Over the last week or so, I slept a bit funny, and woke up with an excruciating pain in my lower back and left leg. The general consensus is that I pinched my sciatic nerve in my left leg. And man, it hurts like a sonofabitch.

The treatment? Well, since I can't afford a chiropractor (I don't have health insurance, and my wife and baby are on the Oregon Health Plan), I've just been compressing it, taking a bunch of vitamin B12 (which my mother-in-law swears works for her), taking a bunch of Advil, and just keeping off of it as much as possible. Long term, I'm going to need to have my back looked at. So feel free to send some cash this way or e-mail me with tips on chiropractors who need some computer/web work done in exchange. I'll drive anywhere in Oregon, if I have to.

(On a side note, you know how long it took me to figure out how to spell "sciatic"? Thank god for Google.)

Update on 7/7: I woke up this morning, and I could barely walk. I used a coupon I got in the mail to go see a chiropractor. Took some x-rays of my back, and it's royally messed up. He popped me a few times, but said it's going to take a while to really fix everything, if he can.

And I don't have insurance. Wonderful.

Basically, what it comes down to is this: My back may have been futzed up this bad for quite a while. The thing was that I was running and working out pretty much full time, competing on a regular basis, etc..., and while I was doing that, I had enough strength to compensate for the crookedness in my back. Now that I'm not working out as much (mostly because of the pain in my back) I'm having the back pain, but I can't get rid of the back pain unless I get my work outs in.

So I'm in a Catch-22, here. So I'm going to need to get some serious pain meds so I can work out and get my strength back.

Update on 7/10: OK, I sat down with the doctor today, and looked over the x-rays a bit more. I skipped work yesterday because I had a bit of a stomach bug, and going in this morning to talk about my messed up back didn't make my already sick stomach feel any better.

Here's the situation: My lower back creates a nice little "S"-curve, and my last vertebrae (is that how you spell that?) is munched down pretty good, and is getting mildly arthritic -- meaning it's only going to get worse. The chiropractor says that he may be able to correct it and straighten things out, but looking at it, he can't guarantee anything. He expects me to come in every other day to get adjusted, at thirty-five bucks a whack, for about a month. So let's do the math: $35 * 3-Days-a-Week * 4-weeks-a-month = $420/month. My wife is due with a baby on the 30th of this month, so most of what money I have will be going to that (thank God my wife is on state-subsidized health care).

He said that, at some point, if this doesn't work, I'll probably need an MRI. What fun... .

So where does that leave me? Screwed. I have a feeling that the chiropractor is not going to be able to get at the root of the problem. They may be able to gradually eliminate the pain, but my back will still be messed up. The doc has said that if after a couple weeks he sees there is nothing he can do, he'll be the first to admit it. The fact that he even said that tells me that there is more to this than either him or I know.

I'm 25 years old, and in the last 3 months, I've had back problems and had to pay nearly $300 bucks for a urologist to stick his finger up my ass to tell me my prostate was a bit infected (something I didn't blog about for very obvious reasons, but there you go). This is all stuff that's supposed to be happening when I'm 50, not two months past my 25th. Christ...

But thanks everyone for the supportive e-mails. I've been a bit under the weather and a bit depressed about all this, so my blogging level has been going down. I apologize for that, and I'll get back on top of things a bit more once I get my strength back -- mentally and physically.

Posted by Jake on 07/09/03 @ 10:50 AM
Posted in Jake | Permalink



3 Trackbacks

Nasty neck II from Neil's World on 07/12/03 @ 07:31 AM:
Remind me not to move my left arm for a while. Every time I do I get a very sharp pain in the neck area and my initial reaction is to waggle my right foot uncontrollably. (Read More)

Nasty neck II from Neil's World on 07/12/03 @ 08:29 AM:
Remind me not to move my left arm for a while. Every time I do I get a very sharp pain in the neck area and my initial reaction is to waggle my right foot uncontrollably. (Read More)

Nasty neck II from Neil's World on 07/14/03 @ 12:52 AM:
Remind me not to move my left arm for a while. Every time I do I get a very sharp pain in the neck area and my initial reaction is to waggle my right foot uncontrollably. (Read More)

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