Hi Leigh!
I've only just caught up with this thread, but thought I must tell you about a revolutionary new piece of equipment that I think you should consider. For the past twelve years I've been in constant pain with two slipped discs, a displaced hip and ruptured tendons and ligaments in my lower back. I've had every treatment known to man, including acupuncture,steroid injections, epidurals and even Philipino Bare Hand Psychic Surgery!! (The last was the most bizarre experience of my life!) Needless to say, nothing lasted for any length of time, and I've just kept the pain under control with a mixture of di-hydrocodeine, amitryptelene and diclofenac. I'm always on the look-out for anything new that might help, and have just bought a little machine called a Micro Doctor. It doesn't work like a Tens machine i.e. it doesn't block the pain signals to the brain, but it sends electrical impulses to the damaged area and actually speeds up the repair process. It is completely non-sensory, and if it wasn't for the little flashing lights on the machine, you wouldn't even think it was switched on. I was extremely sceptical at first, having been so disappointed with everything I'd tried in the past, but I must admit this amazing little machine really does give pain relief and certainly seems to be doing something! Apparently, it was used on David Beckhams foot and was a major contributor in returning him to full health in such a short period of time for the World Cup.
Have a look at www.microdoctor.co.uk, and if you ring up the number they publish, you can speak directly to one of the extremely helpful experts who can advise you whether or not the machine would be able to help your particular problem.
Good Luck~and please let me know how you get on,
Regards
Michele

P.s. If you decide to give it a whirl, you can get it from QVC shopping channel~0800 504030~on a 30 day money back trial, much cheaper than buying direct from the company~Item number 231361.

Hi Michele, thank you very much for the suggestion :-) I am logging all these idea's for future reference.

I did infact take the plunge and go and see a osteopath yesterday. It appears that my pelvis is twisted. Very likely caused by being pulled down the road by my leg, by a 1000cc Kawasaki, 20 years ago! And then subsequent 'abuse' over the years. I must say that I got more sense and advice, out of the osteopath in an hour than I have got out of my doctors over the last 20 years! Time will tell if it has helped, but I can feel a difference in my back already :-)

Leigh

That's great news - I hope it continues to improve :)

Fiona
x x x

Thanx Fiona :-)

Hi Leigh thats good news then! Are you going to go regularly cos I think you may need to see him a few times to get the benefit.
Christine2

Thanx Christine, yes I have to go back next week and make sure it hasn't moved again. I still have constant pins and needles from the sciatic nerve, but the pain has virtually gone now :-) I am amazed at the change in my back. I suppose over the years, I had just become accustomed to it being *tight*. I know it is early days yet, but so far so good. Fingers crossed.

Good news Leigh. And with the way your back was, it could really only get better eh?? :D

Thank you for your help Val and thank that daughter of yours too :-)

My husband said I should have *bartered* with the Osteopath .. They sort my back out ~ I sort their cocker out :D lol

Dear Leigh, firstly apologies cos I haven't read this whole thread but I had a dreadful back problem for years started by slipping and bursting two discs while mucking out horses - hence I now breed and show small dogs instead!!
I had appalling sciatica too. To cut a long story short I used to "do me back in" on a regular basis, sometimes just lifting a coat off a peg would put it out. I always just had to go to bed and do nothing for a couple of weeks and then take things easy for a month and eventually I would get better till the next time. Then the last time, I just didn't get better. 3 months later I could still only stay onme pins long enough to make a cup of tea and go to the loo. I was becoming very depressed indeed and was visited by a friend who was taking a course in homeoptahy. She said she wasn't experienced enough to treat me but was convinced that homeopathy would help me. I put it off for weeks because we were so broke, I couldn't work and Steve had to give up his job to look after me. However I bit the bullet and got the recommended homeopath to do a home visit ( no extra charge). She spent nearly 3 hours with me finding out all about me and my likes dislikes, general personality past health probs etc etc. I have to admit it all seemeed like mumbo jumbo to me. She gave me one pill and told me that my symptoms may well get worse for a few days (which shows the remedy is actually the right one) and then I should improve. For 3 days the pain was awful and I cried and wailed in misery of my life. Then very gradually I started to get better, within a week I could stay up for half an hour, the next week a little longer. I had been off my legs for 3 months and it took about 3 months to get back to normal. I have never had back trouble since, even though I had spent the previous 5 years in constant fear of slipping it , and doing so regularly.The first consulation costs from about £4o depending on where you live, if you haven't seen one yet - please do. It has turned my life around - the doctors only offered me a dodgy op with no guarantee of success and a 6 month wait for physiotherapy. I have had to make alterations to the way I live - I had to give up horses, carrying or lifting heavy weights, pushing cars that wont start, digging the garden etc. But although it took a long time to get used to that - I started in the mentality of:who wants to lug the feed sacks , carry the shopping or struggle with that cage anyway when someone else can do it for me?! One has to accept one's limitations which takes a while, like, never ever drive/lift/hoover/sweep/struggle with ANYTHING if your back is threatening you. Sorry this is so long - you know me!! Hope you improve soon.

Hi WL,
I am really pleased that you have found something to help you at last!
I can *see* myself in you, but I think I am still learning to accept my limitations. I have always been of the opinion that if you want something done, it's quicker,easier and less hassle to do it yourself :rolleyes: My back has been telling me for a long time, that I can't do that any more. Because I am stubborn, I didn't heed the warning and the result now is sciatica as well, so I only have myself to blame. Then again, I think my doctor has much to answer for too!

Thank you for the recommendation. I will definitely keep it in mind :-)

Good News Leigh, hope you continue to recover :-) My pelvis was also out of alignment due to a fall from a horse a few years back when I broke my hip. It was the first thing my osteopath noticed and is always the first thing she checks when I go for my 6 weekly check up.

Hi Leigh,

This is my first message on this website.  After reading about your and other peoples ailments I thought I would stick my neck out here and introduce you to Quantum Touch.

Its nothing silly or sci fi, their website is www.quantumtouch.com.  Please read about this, it is hands on healing and it truly works.  I was extremely sceptical yet just reading the website, ordered the book, it works, I have taken pain away from my nephews bump on the head - instantly.  I have helped my friend who had a bad back for years, after 5 minutes a bone moved back into place!!!!!!!!!!!  Don't believe me, what have you got to lose, me, its the best thing that's ever happened to me.  It's all over America, only a few people over here are getting into it.  By just using breathing exercises and concentrating on energy in your body moving into your hands, you feel heat place on area and voila.  Breath in once through belly, out 4 gradually through mouth and your hand gets hot, lay on pain and just wait and see.  Obviously there is a bit more involved but if you try that I think you might be surprised.  Go on.

Good luck.  Check out website.  It's not magic, all just nature.

Anne.

Hi
i am new to this not really gone on chat or help websites that much. but i have just been told i have sciatica. now i am okay but not brilliant during the day as i am on pain killers etc probably the norm. but they where off at night and i am waking up at 4am with the pain can hardly move and feel like an invalid it is so bad i sometimes end up crying and feeling useless . I dread getting up in the morning as it is such a struggle. i have a six year old to deal with. please any advise gratefully recieved. Thankyou. ZOE.

Chiropractors, hot water bottles and baths as well as pain killers

If the problem persists, keep going back to your doctor!

i started suffering with sciatica after my 1st daughter was born(and i was left in the stirrups for 1 hour)all i get and anti-inflammatries(sp)whcih never work,i use a tens machine which does help quite a lot more than the tablets,have you tried a health food shop as they have the natural remedies and i find these work better than prescibed ones
mel :)

You may also find that chiropractic will relieve this.  It has done wonders for my frozen shoulder.

I've also found reflexology helpfull :)

hi leigh, i hope your back is feeling better, i know how you feel because i started with back pain and pains in my left buttock and down my leg 3years ago after slipping at work. I went throught the system of doctor, chiropactor, physio, hydrotherapy...none of these worked and so i was transfered to a specialist last year. I had an m.r.i scan which revealed a prolapsed disk (slipped)  in my lower back which was pressing on my siatic nerve, hence the leg pain....So the specialist decided i needed surgery but i refused due to the risks, so instead i had epidural injections into my spine, it takes about 10mins to administer and leaves you completely numb from the waist down but the pain relief is great! trouble is the more i had the less time they worked ie: the 1st one gave me pain relief for 5months until the last one i had 6 months ago only lasted me for 3 weeks so now i have given in and am having surgery in january after the xmas period. I live on pain killers i am taking co-dydromal and diclofenic and am sick of it....if your pain continues or gets worse ask for a refferal, i was told mine was a trapped nerve and would heal itself but after the scans realised it wont, dont be fobbed off for years as i have because its not nice having to live with pain. I totally sympathise with you and anyone else on here who has back trouble...:(

Leigh,

Many moons back, after 6 years of trouble - (on/off)pains down my leg etc, lower back etc, until everything seized- I went straight to see an Osteopath, who happened to be a registered physio (managed to get money back through BUPA), who took one look and diagnosed one dodgy back resulting in a trapped sciatic nerve. I was prescribed 3 or 4 half hour to hour sessions on a gravity bed. Strap your ankles down, balance the bed then move your hands over your head and hang like a bat, and stretch; by swinging an arm up you come back to the horizontal, 2 the vertical ... if I remember right. Did me the world of good.

I was a mere 25/26 then ... but (touch wood) nothing as bad since ... bearing in mind that my hobby (dogs aside) is rugby which I play weekly.

Hi leigh
       I too have had saciatic nerve damage...one of the replies suggests Homeopathy..well I didnt use it for the nerve prob but have recently used it for another problem and without me telling him of my previous nerve problem he diagnosed it and like the other person I thought he was talking alot of mumbo jumbo ..but I have got to say he prescribed me some medication which has helped my constant back ache and the other problem I went to see him with...so why not give it a try

My sympathies to all who have bad backs and live in pain daily as I do too, so know what it's like. I have been fobbed off by my doctor too. I had been seeing an osteopath who had done all she could for me but recommended that I have a scan to find out exactly what the prob was. I have been told so many different things by docs, chiropractors, accupunturists phsios etc (all paid for privately) nobody seemed to know what was wrong. I went to my doc and absolutely insisted on being referred, he did so, but very grudginly adding "I don't think they will scan you for one minute" When my appointment came up I never even got to see the the Consultant, only his side kick who fobbed me off yet again. However I did manage to get an X-ray, the side kick told me that I had osteoarthritis, I probably have to some degree, most people have, as this is only a medical term for bone loss which most people suffer from when their bones become worn with general wear and tear, but it doesn't necessarily cause pain. Having read a lot about it, don't believe that it is this that is causing my pain because I can actually find a pressure point on my back that when pressed allows me bend etc without pain. If it were arthritis the pain would still be there no matter what I pressed! So I think it's trapped nerves of some kind causing the trouble. A scan would show this up, but how does anyone get one? If a GP refers a patient for a scan, do they have to go through with it because the GP has requested it? My GP is such a stubborn s*d it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't put a foot note telling them to fob me off!
Anyway, enough of my moan. Leigh and all with bad backs, I can recommend Glucosamine Chondroitin in liquid form for better absorption (1500mg per dose) I buy off the net for tenner a bottle for 32 days supply. Still in pain but has lessened. Will definitely try some of the suggestions put forward on this thread too! thanks everyone. :-)

Back pain I hear ya. Thats gotta be the worse... I fell at work about 5 years ago and landed on my elbow I caught my foot in a pallet.. I must have did something pretty good because my right leg and arm tend to get that tingling feeling (like when ur arm falls asleep) and it also tends to go numb :(  I also cannot lift my arm straight above my head or straight out, it causes head aches and I get alot of pressure in my head as well. I have had x-rays and I guess my spine is a lil outta wack as I call it... I have been to physio and nothing seems to help, given exercises to do but even those I have to be careful. My leg also feels like the hip pops in and out and that hurt... Been living with this now for almost 5 years and it sucks... then to top it off I fell down my stairs on thursday, Iam sure they turned into a ramp and at the last minute jumped back into stairs... I was half asleep and ran down the stairs to let the dog out, well that was the fastest trip down I have ever had... Right now Iam hurtin pretty good :(

My hubby also has back pain, his siadic nerve keeps bugging him and his disc also pops outta place... He was diagnosed with fibromyalgia some years back :(

I know alot of it is probably nerve as well as tissue damage and I don't think they can really do alot, besides say don't work so hard.. Easy for them to say...

Take care to everyone as you all see non of us are alone...Just awful having to live life always full of pain.... Iam gonna read these posts a lil more tomorrow since I just skimmed thro them, getting late gonna head off to bed...

I have been told of a *cure* for sciatica and I know several of us suffer from it :) As mine isn't playing up at the moment, I thought that I would post this here and anyone who is suffering can try it. A very good friend of mine who was suffering badly is now able to run around freely for the first time in a few weeks :)

Quote:
I have had it on and off for years, and have finally found a chiropractor
who has alleviated it completely. and has taught me a way of alleviating it
myself if it comes back (falling off horses tends to aggravate it!) which
works most of the time for me, and has worked for other people. it is very
gentle, and won't do any harm, and is worth a try for the good it does when
it works!

standing up (holding on to something if you need to) cross the affected leg
behind the other leg, keeping all your toes pointing as forward as you
comfortably can. gently and slowly drop forward towards the floor from your
waist, letting your arms dangle, again - as far as you comfortably can.
don't bounce or push it too far.  you should feel a gentle stretch along
the back of your legs/bum - this stretches the sciatic nerve, and can be
enough to calm it down and get rid of the pain. sometimes you have to do it
a few times for it to work, but i promise it does, in all but the severest
of cases requiring manipulation.

bump

I've tried this excercise a few times now and yes, it really does ease the pain. It's one I'll keep doing now, thank you.