Needing help with pain relief

[Sweetpea1157]

Hi everyone, this is my first time here ,

Around 3yrs ago , I had a bad fall and landed very awkwardly, twisting my back etc etc , unfortunately at that time , was unable to get myself to hospital , it took over an hour after falling for me to even start moving and try to get back down stairs , when I did eventually get myself downstairs , i couldn't get hold of anyone to come and help me , family all live too far away and didn't want to disturb friends at that time as it was after midnight . At that point I know I should of called an ambulance , but didn't want to go to hospital on my own as hospitals scare me ,so instead I just tried to ignore it and get on with it , which in hindsight was totally stupid , anyway , getting back to present, since then have been suffering with sciatica in left side ( the side that was hurt when fell ) , but have always felt there was something else going on with my back , kept going back to doctors explaining about the fall and the fact I believed something else was underlying , but was constantly refused an mri, they were indicating that i had fibromyalgia ,eventually I paid for a partial mri scan of my lower lumber region myself , the results showed I had L4-5 anterolisthesis with spinal canal stenosis and narrowing of both L5 foramina , at the time of scan the sciatica seemed to be in partial remission ( this was in Sept 2018 ) .

Over the last several months the sciatic pain has been getting progressively worse , with some good days but mainly bad days, also over last couple of days have had similar pain but more severe on right side buttock , was told last night by gp that I had periformis syndrome, and he prescribed me 500mg naproxin twice daily , as I do have probs with taking anti inflammatory and most pain killers, i have also been trying cbd oil twide daily , but all without having much effect .

Is there anyone here who can advise me on getting some pain relief and perhaps a decent nights sleep which I've not had for months now .

Thankyou for taking the time to read this post 😕

[Hidden]

Welcome.. newbie... have u thought about acupuncture/chiropractic/ and or medical marijuana?

[Sweetpea1157 in reply to Hidden]

Hi hippolove, sorry for taking so long to get back to you , not sure if can get medical marijuana, will be talking to a chiropractor later this week , thanks for replying ☺

[johnsmith]

You have a choice fight for appropriate pain killer medication which in the long run is not going to be helpful. Or to look at the complimentary therapies which will help reduce the discomfort and improve quality of life. They will not cure, but help manage.

Your symptoms suggest that the sciatica is due to muscle behaviour causing pressure on nerve roots. You need to investigate to determine if this is true or not.

I have experience of Alexander Technique and McTimony chiropractic. You will need both. The McTimony chiropractic to deal with areas of tight muscle and the Alexander Technique to reduce stresses due to poor muscle control by improving muscle coordination.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that the medical profession know little or nothing or how muscle control problems can cause a lot of pain.

[Sweetpea1157 in reply to johnsmith]

Hi johnsmith, sorry not got back to you sooner, will take on board all you have suggested , am going to be talking to a chiropractor later this week , thanks for replying ☺

[Hidden]

I have vulvodynia nerve pain and the gold standard is Lyrica for nerve pain. Its patent has expired so now a box costs only £ 3 instead of £ 100

[Sweetpea1157 in reply to Hidden]

Hi maryjane, thanks for getting back to me , not sure I want to go down the road of taking opiate based drugs , as have a bad reaction to most types of pain meds , but will take your advice under consideration ☺

[Sickofpain247]

Hi Sweetpea,

I have suffered with CP for years inc Fibro, nerve damage, arthritis and the list goes on! I have had all sorts of meds and have scoured for a long time to find these guys. Have a look at mypainaway.co.uk these guys are only here for those suffering! Hope it helps and keep me updated 😘

[Sweetpea1157 in reply to Sickofpain247]

Hi sickofpain, thanks for getting back to me , will take a look into that , thankyou ☺

[Mapagab]

Hi, can only tell you about what happened to my husband.

April 2018 something happened to his back.

Have you ever seen a man cry and shout " I wish this pain would go away"

Doctor sent him for MRI scan which didn't show up anything "suspicious" which was a relief. Then an operation was suggested, surgeon said "no"

Doctor had only given him pain killers, strong ones, which made him feel ill and did nothing for pain. All this had taken quite a long time.

In the village where we live is a sports physiotherapist (my husband did not have a sports injury) he decided to go there with the results of MRI in hand. Now this was private, nhs physiotherapist appointments can take months. He had 1 session a week for 7 weeks, a female physiotherapist and cost us £35 a time but he is now free of pain !!! And being as I say "a good boy " does his exercises as instructed every morning.

Hope this helps !!!

[johnsmith in reply to Mapagab]

Can you tell me a bit more about the sports physiotherapist and what she did. This would be helpful to many on this forum.

[Mapagab in reply to johnsmith]

Difficult to tell you what she did, all he said was she seemed to be pushing a lot at the pain area. I know he has done the exercises she advised every morning after getting up goes on to single bed which has quite a firm mattress to do them, think he is too scared not to incase pain reoccurs. MRI showed quite marked spinal stenosis at L3/4andL4/5 and the lumbar area some nerve root entrapment on both right and left sides.

He swears now that the exercises are keeping pain away.

Sorry I can't tell you any more hope it helps.

[johnsmith in reply to Mapagab]

Thanks that is useful.

[Sweetpea1157 in reply to Mapagab]

Hi mapagab, glad to hear your husband is much better , will be speaking to chiropractor later this week , thanks for advice ☺

[Hidden]

You need to see if anything can be done to remove your problem rather than just treating the pain. A sensible way to go would be to ask your GP to refer you to a Neurosurgeon for a possible foraminotomy or to deal with your stenosis. If it possible for your situation, I can recommend the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queens Square, London (part of UCLH) and your GP would need to specify that hospital in the referral.

[Sweetpea1157 in reply to Hidden]

Hi Osidge, unfortunately I live in central scotland, so don't think my GP would be referring me there lol , do you know of any hospitals in Scotland that do that treatment , thanks for getting back to me ☺

[Hidden]

Hi. London might be a journey too far!! This link is to a review of neurosurgical services in Scotland. The largest service of 4 centres appears to be in Glasgow at the Southern General Hospital

scotphn.net/wp-content/uplo...

[Sweetpea1157 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Osidge, i will look into that , thanks again ☺

[poppyb62]

Have you tried amitriptyline at night as I find if I can get some sleep it helps me cope with the pain better. Hope you find something that helps you 🤞🤞

[Sweetpea1157 in reply to poppyb62]

Hi poppyb62, thankyou for the reply , unfortunately I took a bad reaction to amitriptyline and am sorry to say that I have that reaction to most painkillers , i agree that half the battle is to try and get a relatively decent sleep , but am still finding that battle hard to overcome

Thanks once again ☺