Holy Sciatica!

I woke up on Saturday morning with a pain in my butt.
Literally.
I thought it was muscle related. It went from my rear down to my knee. It got progressively worse through the day. By that night, I was in severe pain. I couldn't sit or lay down. Stretching my leg killed. My husband went to our friends and got some Ibuprofen and a prescription strength muscle relaxer. I took the muscle relaxer and hoped for a great night sleep.

What I got was anything but. It was obviously not a muscle as that medicine did nothing. At 3 in the morning, I took the Ibuprofen and diagnosed myself via WebMD. It was my sciatic nerve in my back. I had all the symptoms:
* Pain in the rear or leg that is worse when sitting
* Burning or tingling down the leg
* Weakness, numbness, or difficulty moving the leg or foot
* A constant pain on one side of the rear
* A shooting pain that makes it difficult to stand up
* Sciatica usually affects only one side of the lower body. Often, the pain extends from the lower back all the way through the back of the thigh and down through the leg. Depending on where the sciatic nerve is affected, the pain may also extend to the foot or toes. For some people, the pain from sciatica can be severe and debilitating.

Mine was in that debilitating category. I "slept" with a heating pad on all night. And I literally had to pick up my leg by my pajamas as I could not move it. I felt paralyzed. Any little movement sent me yelping in pain. I was on the verge of going to the emergency room.

The next day brought more pain. I took Ibuprofen every 6 hours which helped some. Chronic pain sucks and I was ready to find the nearest medicinal marijuana shop. I couldn't even put on socks or sit on the toilet without crying.

Sunday night, my husband called his sister. She's a physical therapist. She had shown David a few exercises to do while we were in California to help his back. David told her what my problem was and she suggested two exercises. You do each exercise 10 times each. On the hour every hour. Except while you are sleeping.

The first exercise counters the 1,000 times a day that I bend over. Seriously, you don't think about it. But just emptying the dishwasher is about 25 bends. All this bending is probably what aggravated my sciatic nerve in the first place.
***Object in picture appears fatter on a widescreen.***

The second exercise is to stretch the area that is hurting. The first time I did this one I cried it hurt so bad. I couldn't even get my leg up on the table. David had to help me. You lean over until you feel a nice stretch, 10 times.
***Setting the timer on your camera will give you this expression.***

So, I did as I was told. Exercise at 7:00. And 8:00. And 9:00. And 10:00. By the last one, I was already starting to feel better. I could get my own leg on the table. The next morning, I was 75% better. I kept doing my exercises all day yesterday, but the routine of my day was countering my good efforts. By last night, I couldn't put on my socks again.

But, I keep doing my exercises. Today, I'm about 90% better. I can't believe that some very basic exercises helped me that quickly. Well I can believe it because they did. And that's why I'm writing this post. Maybe some other poor soul will do a google search at 3 AM and with this info, they'll be feeling like a new person by 7!