:rolleyes: Well, two weeks ago I came down with an earache that had no ache(?)–just fever and dizziness. I went to the "Doc-In-A-Box"and was Rx’d pain meds. Halfway thru that week me back began to ACHE. It felt like there was a solid object in my back over the left hip. Pain all down the left leg. The pain was such that I could not twist to (TMI warning) wipe after bms w/o thinking about it REALLY hard. It was a toss up between just not getting up off the pot and cleaning up to crawl into bed and curl up into a fetal position. You know how when you have a goshawful cold and you forget how it feels to actually breathe through your nose? I forgot how to twist my torso and get really cleaned up.
So last week after 3 days of not being able to walk w/o pain I went to the "Doc-In-A-Box"again received an injection and some serious meds–pain killers and muscle relaxants… Things were groovy until this past Sunday.
Now I have pain in the left leg and weakness in the ankle. NO POSITION is comfy. The muscle in my ankle and thigh are “fluttering” for lack of a better term, probably spasming.
I went to the “Doc-In-A-Box” again. X-rays, pain meds, and anti-inflammatory meds. The edge is blunted by the meds-- but positioning for comfort is still hit & miss. Mostly miss.
The X-rays were good but uninformative.
So now I must see an orthopedic surgeon and get an MRI to see what is wrong with me back. Sciatica is the current diagnosis. My radiologist intern brother thinks it may be a herinated disk [hmm Weird Al tune there] and really advises against surgery b/c of the poor track record of that procedure.
The reALLY strange to note thing is that Dad had something similar when he was the age I am now.
Has anyone else had anything similar? Earache w/o pain-just fever. Or the sciatica. What helped you?
I has the exact same problem down to the left leg. Practically crippled me and I began walking with a cane. The pain was throbbing and debiltating and even powerful pain meds were surpisingly ineffective. It kept getting worse in intensity as time went by over the course of several weeks. .
I was afraid I would have to go in for surgery until I cured it myself one night when I had to move a very heavy piece of furniture and twisted my torso in a unusual postion to put the dresser down.
The pain vanished with a minute. It was (to me) like a literal miracle.
Turns out I had pinched my siatic nerve. I also discovered the “cure” (for me) when it happened again. I laid flat as possible on my back and twisted my left leg over the right hand side of my body. I really pushed on it to the point the muscles were stretched as absolutely tight as they could go before tearing. I also pulled my left leg back over my head and stretched out the bottom hamstring the same way. I had my kids help by pushing slowly on the leg to give it more extension than I could by myself.
These exercises were a painful PITA, but each time they worled to pop the siatic never back into proper alignment and the pain woudl vanish. it was odd in retrospect because I never could never figure out precisly what I had done to pinch it in the first place.
Astro–YOU ROCK!
Poked the male half of this partnership and had him help. Much of the pain-level3.5 (this is after 2painkillers) is down now to 1.5 Going to continue meds and get the medical advice but add this to the daily rountine until solved for total pain removal.
I had a similar, though much less serious, experience. I had a muscle spasm in my lower back that was, while not quite crippling, certainly thoroughly miserable and quite unresponsive to meds. During this time, I aquired a cat, who promptly disappeared somewhere in my then apartment. I searched and searched and finally determined that he had inserted himself into the recliner mechanism of my sofa (I have a double recliner couch - heaven!). This was only accessible from the back of the couch at near floor level.
At this point, as far as I knew, the cat hadn’t eaten or drunk anything in several days, and I didn’t know if he could get himself out (I later determined that he could). So I lay on the floor and tried to get him out myself. It’s not easy when the cat is scared and trying to resist, I’ll tell you! Anyway, I did a fair amount of rolling around on the floor in the course of this, and miracle of miracles, the back improved markedly from that point on!
I don’t know if stretching and movement is always the best treatment for back pain, but apparently in some cases it works wonders! This may account for some of the success of chiropractors.
BTW, ILovCoffee, I think it’s absolutely wonderful that Astro’s advice helped! COngrats to you and vicarious thanks to Astro.
I had a similar pain in college, a shooting, searing pain down my left leg, like someone had stuck a dagger in it and twisted it every time i moved, i could barely walk
i somehow got over to the chiropractor and after the first session, the pain dropped to 50%, the second session to 25% and the third it was gone and never came back
if it is your sciatic nerve, go to a chiropractor, it worked for me, i’ve been pain free for 15 years now
Things were groovy until this past Sunday. 
OMG! Going to try this right now!