sciatica worse post WLS.. how do you handle it?

I am curious how many WLS folk have experienced worsening symptoms of sciatica, or spinal stenosis symptoms? I have noticed a marked increase in sciatica discomfort since my surgery, and my family doc says its likely due to the fact I am more active and so it causes aggravation of the sciatic nerve..and I have lost a lot of fat off my butt.. so, it seems I am getting more nerve pain in my buttocks than previously. The sciatica pain has gotten to the point that it causes sleep quality problems nightly. I had spinal xrays that showed degenerative discs in lumbar-sacral spine and spurs on most of my vertebrae, and arthritis in my vertebrae.

 I have used cold packs with minimal relief, hot packs with a bit more relief, deep massage with some relief, and TRAMACET for pain relief. Due to RNY I cannot use NSAIDS and I find the topical gels like Voltaren Emulgel are not effective in relieving the inflammation discomfort.

So.. I have to ask.. what do any of you who have sciatica pain and/or spinal stenosis symptoms do to successfully lessen the pain? I would give the world for a full night's sleep instead of 1 or 2 hours of poor quality sleep, then reliance on the hot pack or heating pad and pain pills and pacing the house til the pills kick in and I get dopey enough to settle back to sleep with the pain slightly lessened. I have the sciatica pain in my buttocks and down my legs DAILY.. and its maddening. At first it was my left butt-hip-leg and now its moved to my right butt-hip-leg.

Any hints or tips to help me live with this would be appreciated.

Hi,

I have sciatica pain and the only thing that worked was co-gabapanten it's a nerve medication, it calms the nerve so thus reduces the pain, as your doctor, you take it daily it's a miracle, I was able to live.

Good luck Sue

have you tried a chiropractor?

A combination of Lyrica and Amytriptiline can provide effective for pain relief associated with sciatic and other nerve pain.  Helps with night time sleep as well.

Hi Suzy,

(sorry for the long winded reply.)

 I also have very bad sciatica, same type of pain down the leg and butt. After my MRI it showed I had  a large herniated disc in L3-L4 and stenosis at L4-L5 and spondylolisthesis at L5-S1 with a compression of the nerve root. In other words my lower back is a mess. I am still pre op and I am very concerned about the surgery. I had to postpone my bariatric surgery twice because the pain was too severe I wound up in the emerg screaming the pain was so bad, and I was taking way too many drugs to go ahead at that time.I was up to 8-10 percocets per day plus about 40 mg of Oxycontin. The pain has now lessoned.probably because I am inactive now. I am awaiting back surgery scheduled for next May when they will remove the herniated disc, do a nerve decompression and then put some rods and pins to rebuild the bottom of my spine. Both surgeons agreed that it is better for me to go ahead with the bariatric surgery to lose the weight which will help me with my recovery from my back surgery.

I also have fibromyalgia. I take 4 capsules day of Lyrica which helps that. I tried Cymbalta (another treatment for fibro) and it made me feel so good mood wise, but it gave me a racing heart at night and scared the heck out of me so I stopped taking it.

For the pain medication for my back I have been trying to cut back on the amount of opiates that I am taking prior to my surgery. I am taking Oxycontin. They worked extremely well for the sciatic pain but the side affects are a bit embarrassing. They cause you to sweat and be totally drenched  at any time. I could be out shopping and be soaked when I get to the cash. All opiates will do that to you. They are strong narcotics and cause physical dependency. If you have psycological problems you can become addicted to these drugs.  When  you want to stop you need to do it with a slow reduction, which is what I am doing now. I have reduced from 20mg twice a day to 10 mg Oxycontin twice a day (sometimes 5mg) and oxycocet (aka percocet) as needed usually just one pill a day. But I am not working now, nor am I able to walk too well as the compression on the nerve resulted in a pronated foot (foot drop) that affects my gait and it hurts to walk. I cannot go up stairs now either.

I tried the tramadyl (similar to tramacet) but found that it didn't do anything. It is in the same league as the oxycocet but without the serotonin kick. It is a synthetic version of oxycocet which is from opium which is why it is called an opiate (just like heroin only in a pill form). 

I also have arthritis in my knees and use pennsaid. It is a liquid that your rub on and it seems to help. 

For sleeping at night I take ativan (Lorazapan) half of a mg pill which knocks me out and gives me a good solid 6 hours. It is only by prescription. I have used this for years.

Every three months I would go for an epidural cortisone injection in my spine. I don't know where you are located but if you are interested PM me and I will give you the name of the doctor that does the injections. He is an anesthesiologist who works out of Queensway hospital by Sherway gardens in Etobicoke.That used to help me very well when i was still working but when my pain got really severe it stopped working.

You may want to have your family doctor give you a referral for an MRI on your spine just to make sure that it is not a herniated disc that has just occurred due to your increased activity. Once that is done the doctor can then refer you to a either a spine clinic or orthopedic surgeon or neurosurgeon for interpretation and recommendations for treatment. But it sounds to me like you definitely need some better pain meds. I was never able to tolerate any of the NSAIDS so i had to go directly to pain meds which I haven't heard the bariatric surgeons object to. I am going to call my doctors office on Tuesday just to make sure though.

I wish you luck.. Let me know how you are making out. Sciatic pain can be so debilitating.

Hi Suzy

I too suffer from severe back pain. It got worse post-op. My doc attributed it to my change in posture, gait and less fat for cushioning while sleeping and sitting. I had to increase my MS Contin dose for a while to get over the hurdle. Once I dropped another 20 pounds it seemed to get alot better. I did see a physiotherapist and massage therapist during my flare up.

Sometimes I get down on myself for not being as active as some people at my stage, but I have to remind myself that I can't over do it. My weight loss has slowed, but I am not in near as much pain.

In addition, I get cortisone by epidural every six months. This is pretty extreme, but the only way my pain is managable.

I feel for you. Not sleeping just seems to make it worse.

Hang in there. Thinking healing thoughts.

Kristie

I was thinking I was getting sciatica as that's where it really hurt -this was about 100lbs lower than my top weight. I started doing daily hip stretches and found that really helped. Not a cure all I know but I think with the lower weight I started walking differently and the muscles in that area got upset. Maybe worth considering? And added flexibility is never a bad thing.

Hijack!!

Love your new tag line Deb!!

 I have Sciatica and Osteo Arthritis in both knees ankles and my feet, as well as heel spurs, walking was very hard 6 months ago, i was also using a walker and Cain to go any where so for the most part i just  didn't want to go out at all being young 47 and using those aids ppl just looked weird at me and i felt bad, i was also taking oxy Cotton 2x a day as well as many per cs just to function in my  home since i couldn't get up and down the stairs very well and hurt when i did i ended up with a porta potie on the main floor of my house ... how embarrassing is that ...and yes very disgusting when ever company was here so i didn't use it much and just held on as long as i could just to avoid going up the stairs.

Since surgery Feb 26 2011, and losing all the weight i have the most important was i have lost much more inches off my entire body from head to toe, i am still having lots of issues but i am managing,
Pain is still there some days are very  bad days and others I'm doable with the percs, i weaned myself off the oxies as they were just a time release and i didn't want to double the dose for them to work as that would mean 1 tab every 4 hours so i am glad i am off them but i have to use more perc then i was so just a lil' bit of a down fall there. my goal is to try and get off them as well.

The bad issue i have from WLS is low iron, low potassium , low zinc but are all fixed with over counter pills, The good of WLS is i am walking almost every day farther then i ever have with out my walker and Cain, going up and down stairs now and I'm back to dancing once or twice a week but those are the days i do up my percs and then i have to relax for the next  day  for my  body to recover from my over doing dancing but i really am grateful for all my new accomplishments despite the pain and meds i need to take.

Listen to ur body and always keep an open communication with ur GP and the Barractric team.

all the best to you and good luck,

Joy