Rebuilder's Forum (Archived)

Hi Tecoman Yes, I recognize those cramps as one of the wonderful symptoms of my sciatica. Whenever that arch-cramp did happen, it seemed to help to flex the ankle thru it's whole range of motion, until the cramp stopped. Long-range, the pain become a more and more infrequent occurence as I did my ex...

Hi again Henry In spite of the dire outcomes our negative emotions like depression predict for us, there's nothing like the success of others who have come thru to the other side of this sciatica journey recovered, to remind us that the pain will pass. Keep reminding yourself of your own successes, ...

Hi Amy A lot of us here suffer from the same financial limitations you have .... but Dean's e-books are very cheap and the info in them is very effective. Have you downloaded them yet? While MRIs are the medical "gold-standard" for diagnosis of many back problems ... it's not necessary to have one t...

Hi Kevin Dean does sprinkle some hints of his background in each of his e-books (especially the neck book). So if you haven't downloaded all them, by all means, do so. And if I remember correctly, Dean didn't have sciatica. It just happened that folks who had sciatica who tried the RYB exercises (th...

Hi Henry Yes, I understand your concern about ever being able to sit down comfortably again. I make my living driving a truck ... so not being able to sit down for several months during the initial months of my sciatica was quite a challenge. But I can assure you, yes, you'll probably be able to sit...

Hi JG Impossible to say how long till you're "normalish" again (though there might be some docs/PTs who work with sciatica all the time who might be able to give you some ballpark estimates). I wanted to know, too .... and if somebody had told me it would take me more than a year to get back to norm...

You're right Dean: the long-term solution is simple ... and your offered solution certainly worked for me ... and those of us with the time and discipline to stick to a "do-it-yourself" program. But for some of us, it's not so simple to "forget the contracts". The extreme example that comes to mind ...

Hi Jeff What is your GP recommending you do? Did the GP just send you out of the office with a prescription for some pain med, or recommend getting an MRI, or refer you to an orthopedic surgeon? If your sciatica is the normal kind (not caused by cancerous tumors or diseases needing more aggressive m...

Hi Cassie Has your doctor discussed the possibility of bariatric surgery for you? I've heard it's the most effective treatment for obesity ... and that is your first step, isn't it ... to lose some of that unnecessary weight? Apparently other co-morbidities like diabetes and back pain are reduced fo...

Hi Milt I agree with Ron and Seann that you want to eliminate weird causes like spider bite (or less weird causes like edema from diabetes, e.g.) for the swollen foot, by seeing a GP. But assuming you get the OK from the GP, I would say, just be patient: I suffered from the moderate foot swelling, p...

Hi leftlegdan

Sounds like you've got more than sciatica to deal with .... was stuff broken in the accident that needs surgical repair??

Does your state have medicaid to help you with medical expenses? If not, can you move to one, (like NC that has helped me)?

Randolph

Hi Kim I guess by now you've read some of Dean's articles and books, so you know that bending over at work wasn't the entire cause of the onset of your back pain, that it was the last straw that finally "broke your back", so to speak. That it took years of abuse and misuse of your back to culminate ...

Hi JG Dean answers your question in RYB on your muscle stiffness/pain. Sorry, don't remember where in the book ... but his main point regarding muscle soreness was that there are basically two types. You have to figure out which one applies to you. You mentioned that you haven't been doing much leg ...

Hello dontpassilver I share Ron's opinion that it's best to back off on any exercise that causes too much pain. Certainly, you have to push the envelope a bit to promote healing ... but not too much, or you cause re-injury. You'll find that magic middle ground after the first few times you push it t...

Hi Dan Like Steven posted, driving is hard on you during the early stage of sciatica. But there were things I did to be able to drive my big rig that lessened the hurt. Wearing a back brace REALLY helped. Don't know why, but the simple wearing of a WalMart $30 wide belt worked wonders. Taking lots o...