Chronic Sciatic Pain

[Mary1956]

Thank you for your time.  I am a 52 yr. old female and have suffered with "sciatica" for more than 20 yrs.  It began with pain most noticable in the area of my left knee, but I knew it was coming from my hip.  I began asking my husband to "pull on my leg".  I felt if he stretched the leg it would take pressure off my nerve.  Now, it is constant and excrutiating all along the sciatic nerve from the hip down to the outside of my foot, and my calf muscle is quite noticably smaller.  I have an MRI on my back, knee and hip which showed no disk problems, or anything else, but a nerve conduction test showed "significant damage to S1".  I had a series of 6 steroid epidurals in both S1 and L4-L5 because my pain appeared to be in both.  I thought it was not effective because the pain was still with me, but in the last two weeks the pain has increased substantially so it must have done some good, but not enough.  Problem is I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE.  I have taken 150mg of Benedryl every night (and have for years) just to sleep.  Some nights I can, other nights I can't.  Anyway, in an attempt to give up the Benedry I have begun taking Ambien.  After weaning myself down to 75mg of Benedryl I find that though the Ambien puts me to sleep quickly, I awake after about 4 hrs. due to the pain.  I went up to 100mg, and it seems to do the trick for a 6 hr. night, which is doable if not optimum.  Doc, I can't live with this any longer.  I have 4 children, my youngest only 8 yrs. old, and he needs a mother who isn't in constant pain and hobbles like an old lady.  I am too young for this.  Please, please, what can I ask the doctors to look for.  There is something major going on, but it seems to me that since they can't find any disk problem, then "oh well".  I promise this isn't a case of a low threshold for pain.  This hurts to the point of wanting to die, only my precious son needs me (the others are grown or almost).  He was our "late life surprise", and a joy and gift beyond words.  He needs a vibrant mom who wants to go and do.

[bcastellano]

An easy way to test if a short leg is the problem is to try an Evenup device.  See www.evenupcorp.com

[JMcCormack]

Usually if you ask your doctor to get a leg length discrepancy x-ray he/she will refer you to a facility that can accommodate this request.  Should the results show positive there would be a quantifiable difference between the 2 legs given this knowledge if you take a copy of the report to a pedorthist they should be able construct a lift for you.  Anything over 1" has to be on the outside of the shoe.  But if it's under 1" you should be able to get the job done inside the shoe.

Also if possible the opposite shoe given enough depth may be excavated to even out a discrepancy without having the built up shoe look.

Good luck

[Mary1956]

Thanks J,  
Actually I haven't had a test, but there's no doubt my left leg (the bad one) is shorter than my right. I know from how my pants fit.  Right pants leg too short, left too long.  I mentioned this to a doctor friend of mine and he scoffed saying everybody's legs are that way.  I say this because I have always wondered if that could be it.  Who would be the best doctor to go to for something like that?  I can't believe it, but if a lift will fix this I'll do it.  I'll just throw vanity right out the window.  YIKES!!

[JMcCormack]

Have you ever had a leg length discrepancy x-ray taken.  Sometimes a 1/2" to an 1" may lead to chronic sciatic pain...

Just a thought, if so do you wear a lift on the shorter leg?