Nerve pain problem

[cj75s]

I’m a 67 yr old man. I was injured at work over 7 yrs ago. My injury basically consisted of mechanicsl damage to my S1 L5 part of the spine.

Further investigation confirmed damage to the sciatic nerve down my right leg. Aldo the Nerve specialist thought there could be damage to neck nerves etc. he did not want to probe them with needles though!! I now feel, further on, that this damage is affecting my left hip and leg also as they are now taking up the slack so to speak. I am on a fairly good dose of Gabapentin mixed with Naproxen. It does keep the pain bearable, but I know its there.

should I ask them to increase my Gabapentin. I’m on 2700mgs per day and 500mgs of naproxen per day.

iI do feel though that my anxiousness is increasing. I don’t know why. I worry a lot about what will happen if my left side decides to cave in too I guess.

I haven’t told my doctors about my left side problems, perhaps I should. I do tend to forget a lot tho, get confused when I visit them.

[calliejx]

Hi sorry to hear about your pain. I had an op on S1 L5 and I've been left with sciatic pain in my left leg worse than before - I too feel that my other leg is over compensating for my bad leg. I can't get on with gabapentine so rely on cocodamol or Oramorph plus heat. I too have neck probs. I sometimes make a list so I don't forget to say a concern I have before going to the Doctors. I'd be honest and see what he can suggest. I understand your anxiety bless you x

[cj75s in reply to calliejx]

Thank you you calliejx.

I’m sorry to hear of your pain also. I think the sciatic nerve, being the longest in the leg, is probably the worst one to damage. I was told by the nerve specialist it can take between 7 to 10 years to repair itself and then only up to about 70% .

Not a good thing to think about!

And yes I will be writing down my concerns before I go to the doctors next.

Thank you do much.

[calliejx in reply to cj75s]

Yes that is a sobering thought! 7 to 10 years 'ouchy' as my grand daughter would say. Keep warm lovely x

[cj75s in reply to calliejx]

thankyou.

[rabbits65]

before you go to the doctors take with you a written note of everything you need to talk about that’s on your mind. I do this and it’s a big help.

[cj75s in reply to rabbits65]

thank you rabbits65, I shall be doing that from now on.

[PainConcernHelpline Moderator Community Champion Pain Concern in reply to cj75s]

Hello cj75s, sorry to hear about your problems. Here's a link to our Navigator Tool that some people find useful when they see a doctor. Hope it's helpful. painconcern.org.uk/the-navi...

[Bidgie]

You can take 2 Paracetamol with the Naproxen.In total up to 8 a day That sometimes works better. Try it for 2 weeks. You could ask to go to a pain clinic

All the best

[cj75s in reply to Bidgie]

anks for that Bidgie. I used to take paracetamol with the first naproxen but it made me feel spaced out so I stopped it. I think i will try it for a fortnight as you suggest. My mind might get used to it and not feel so high!

[Bidgie in reply to cj75s]

Perhaps you should start with 1 Paracetamol with it for 2 weeks

[cj75s in reply to Bidgie]

yes that sounds a good precaution.

Thank you Bidgie.

[Hidden]

Hello cj. I have the same issue as you. For many years, I would start my day with 800 mg of Ibuprofen. After contracting an autoimmune disease and having kidney disease, I can't take NSAIDS anymore which includes Ibuprofen, Aleve, Naproxen, etc... As Bidgie in the comment above suggested, I started going to a pain clinic in 2020. Because of my CKD, the doctor put me on low dose Hydrocodone and I began a series of steroid injections to alleviate the nerve pain. You can have up to 3 steroid injections a year and they last about 3-4 months. This past year, she did a procedure on me called radio frequency ablation (RFA). They ground your body then use electrical probes on the sciatica nerves to deliver short pulses of electrical stimulus. It somehow causes the nerves to go dead and supposed to last about 9 months. So far it seems to be working for me. I want to caution that taking any NSAID for long periods can cause major kidney damage so be careful with that. Just my opinion but I do not believe Gabapentin is going to do anything for sciatica pain.

[cj75s in reply to Hidden]

hi LLWegeners, thanks for that info.

I know about the kidney problems and they are keeping an eye on it. I did get one steroid injection right back at the near beginning of my problem and it did help. Maybe I should ask for more. Thats something else to add to my notes to take to docs. That RFA thing sounds good.

I was told by a nerve specialist that the nerve would grow back in maybe 7 to 10 yrs. how would RFA affect that? Interesting though.