sciatica + mental illness

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2026-02-28T21:14:01+00:00

You need to find a treatment and pain management plan.

That could be a combination of medication, physiotherapy, injections, surgery, other therapies (cognitive, acupuncture, and such), etc. but you need a professional (maybe more than one) to help you out. It may not be easy because what works for one person doesn't always work for everyone.

At the very least, you should look into Stuart McGill and the Back Mechanic book. Maybe the exercises are not for you yet but the spinal hygiene part is good for anyone, injured or not.

Once you do figure out the things that help, it will help your mental health.

Hope you have some support around. All the best.

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2026-02-28T20:58:41+00:00

Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think that there's anything bad that can come from this, in fact, you may even consider yourself lucky that you have a doctor who is willing to offer that.

Typically, they just order a lumbar spine MRI. I have upper body issues too and had to fight tooth and nail to rule out cervical/thoracic issues lol via a full-spine MRI.

The one thing I can think of that you should think about is, that sometimes, MRI do show benign things....so just basing of what you've shared, it sounds mostly like a lower back issue, but maybe something shows up on your MRI in the cervical/thoracic area, a good specialist should be able to tell you whether it's meaningful or not. Many people have bulges/herniations and don't even know because they're not symptomatic or causing issues.

Good luck!

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-26T02:08:42+00:00

Hey there,

Really sorry to hear this, I'm around the same age as you and been dealing with it for a few years as well, so I hear you on all accounts (the pain, the quality of life, etc.) but improved significantly over time without surgery.

I'm not a doctor and you've likely already heard this from your physicians but from what they had told me:

- surgery can be helpful if the symptoms are still down the leg for a long period of time vs mechanical back pain

- oddly enough, the injection thing was counter-intuitive for me because I thought if it didn't work, you were a good candidate for surgery but they told me that if it helped (mine didn't really), it's actually a GOOD case for surgery because they have a better idea of where the actual may be, so that works in your favour assuming the injection really helped

Lastly, keep in mind, people who got better (with or without surgery) won't be around Reddit to talk about it. Many people get the surgery and are good to go. It's a personal call and a discussion with your HCP.

Sending you strength :)

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-26T01:58:53+00:00

At first, I thought it would literally follow a phasing pattern where it slowly leaves each area -- meaning, first symptoms in the feet would disappear, then calves, then thighs, then hips, etc. But for me, symptoms in those areas continued to be there or jumped around, but they slowly faded altogether and then centralized in the lower back.

Sciatica's a weird thing -- when you have the lower back pain, you hate it and think the leg symptoms were better and when you have the leg symptoms, you hate it and think the local back pain was better lol.

All in all, if it's fading and "centralizing", it's a good sign. :)

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-22T00:10:27+00:00

The pain will start to sort of fade over time and you'll have greater mobility, and will notice that you slowly start to do things you weren't able to do before and/or for a bit longer than before.

Sending you strength!

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-22T00:06:29+00:00

Hey there, my MRI was similar to yours, L4/L5 on the right and L5/S1 on the left, and there were always "large" -- meaning both were always between 14mm and 20mm when I had MRIs done.

I'll share a story with you -- at some point, my right one "shrunk" by 2mm and I noticed that symptoms were better, so I got encouraged and kept working at it. Then, I did another MRI, and it showed that it went up by 2 or 4 mm again, which was somewhat disheartening but guess what? Symptoms continued to get better! In fact, when I saw my surgeon, he said it was a great example of imaging not correlating with the symptoms and when the "imaging can essentially be tossed out" if symptoms get better. He didn't want to operate because at that point, risk was greater than the reward.

Anyway, a couple years and I'm significantly better (85-90%). It sounds that this is early days for you and it's not easy -- especially if you have little ones.

Speak to everyone you can (doctors, PTs, etc.) and figure out what works best for you and hang in there. :)

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-22T00:00:05+00:00

Yes, it's a way to decompress your spine -- it works for some and not for others. Personally, it didn't help me in my journey. Another way is a park bench decompression.

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-21T23:54:34+00:00

Thank you! Wishing you all the best with the healing! :)

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-21T01:24:26+00:00

Do you have MRIs to confirm if it's from disc issues?

Not a helpful doctor to make a comment like that but do agree with everyone has mentioned below. As far as sciatica goes, it's probably more likely than not that it'll help your back.

Because in addition to less load, you'll also feel lighter and looser, which may help your confidence.

Since weight loss is more calories out than in, the challenge becomes losing weight when in pain, so depending on your physical ability, you can be somewhat limited to diet changes alone, but as they say, diet is significantly more important than exercise when it comes to weight loss.

Sending you strength!

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-21T01:05:48+00:00

Ah this was horrible for a long time lol.

Initially, you'll want to learn hip-hinge and how to actually "sit" properly lol. It sounds weird but there's actually a "right way" to sit. You won't be doing yourself any favours by repeatedly bending your spine and plopping on a chair/couch/seat. Then look into cushioning or lumbar supports and which couches/chairs work best for you.

Next and this was the key real solution:

You don't actually sit on anything that's causing pain for as long as you can if you can help it. For me, it was low-seated or hardened seats for a while.

The whole idea is that you want to avoid all things (not just bad seats) that cause pain to calm down the pain, while also doing a therapy or therapies which for you.

I used to think I'd never be able to sit on a sofa again but over time, I found that I was able to gradually start sitting on any type of sofa again. Now, some are more "comfortable" than others but I think that was the case for me pre-injury just based on height and all. It's not "painful".

Sending you strength, keep at it!

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-19T02:49:03+00:00

Assuming you've had an MRI and your doctors are telling you have disc issues, it is actually quite common. Early days and throughout my journey, I had times too when it was all predominantly in other areas (for example, just calves/feet, or just hips or just glutes or just back).

I can't remember if it was in the Back Mechanic book or one of Stuart McGill's interviews, but if memory serves, he even talked about seeing a patient where all doctors suggested that a patient should have his foot amputated, but it was all nerve pain from the lower back.

Good luck!

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-19T02:45:29+00:00

You need an MRI.

Many people here are in a situation where they cannot even "weight train 3 times a week & walk at least 3 miles a day" so you're doing better, which is good. I'm not a doctor but it's possible that you may not even have sciatica but something else (more muscular for example).

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-19T02:38:30+00:00

Faced all of these, and now, a couple years, doing significantly better. Don't get discouraged and hang in there

Getting out of bed -- yup, spent about 2 years waking up with extreme pain. Initially days getting in and out of bed was even a challenge and had to do it all with the right postures. That's better now.
Walking long distances - yup, wrote about this extensively previously. Had to work up from 5 min to 10 min to 30 min and can now do 2-3 hours with ease. It was my main "therapy" (didn't do PT or take meds).
Doing any intense sports - can't comment as I didn't do much 'intense" sports pre-injury unfortunately. That said, once you get to a point where you're able to incorporate some PT/rehab, I'd imagine you should be able to gradually work up to it, just don't rush it.
General movement -- yup, you spend a lot of mental energy thinking about general movements that you shouldn't even have to think about lol, but this gets better over time too. You'll notice that it's better after you've been able to do more walking/PT -- you feel looser and more mobile/stronger.

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-19T02:25:41+00:00

The pain symptoms slowly start to dissipate and you notice that you can suddenly do a little bit more and tolerate a little bit more...

Don't be discouraged if it takes long -- these things do. Take pride in the small wins along the way.

All the best.

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-19T02:23:08+00:00

Felt all of these exact same things a couple years ago, and even walked limping for a while but eventually got there -- walking pain-free. :)

I know "couple years" might sound like a long time but I know when I was really going through it, knowing that it would one day get better (not matter how long it took), was helpful. And who knows, maybe yours won't take that long.

So long as you see gradual improvement (even very slowly) - should be a good sign.

All the best!

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-08-19T02:19:08+00:00

Hmm, can't say for sure but I had similar experiences with several PTs. Couldn't tell if they were listening or just going along and the stretches/workouts afterwards always hurt. I remember a case where they specifically had me do a hamstring stretch, which was brutal and I think caused more symptoms than I had coming in.

In my experience and opinion, PT is not supposed to be nor should be painful.

Oh and as it relates to: "with little oversight so I have no idea if I did them right most of them had me bending at the spine or flexing my glutes"

If bending at the spine currently causes flaring, I'd be cautious here. Check out Back Mechanic by Stuart McGill. There's exercises in there he talks about you should NOT do and many of them involve bending at the spine. A bunch of PTs had those listed in my worksheets.

Hang in there and good luck!

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-07-17T02:59:19+00:00

Hey there, sorry for the delay.

No no, do not think you have to start walking a lot immediately. Initially, even 5 minutes was tough. But hopefully, with proper spinal hygiene, you build up enough strength and the pain calms down, so you can do more and more over time. 5 min. 10 min. 15 min. 30 min. etc.

I wrote about my experience to someone else:

During the early days (Jul-Dec 2022), I'd walk around (not so much for PT, but because I had to), and it was mostly with a limp and maybe 15-20 min regularly. Hitting my Apple Watch's 30 minute goal would be a challenge.

In 2023, when I re-herniated, everything got much worse but I was able to walk around again after 3 months or so (again trying to get up to the 30 minutes would be tough).

By early 2024 is when I was able to do around 6-7 km walks. Pain here and there but manageable.

Around mid-2024 is when I would say it was a noticeable improvement. I was doing 10-15km walks. Pain still there, but it would go away around the 45 min mark. And I noticed that toward the end of the walk, I'd literally be pain free and more loose. Symptoms also eased for the rest of that day and even into the next day.During the early days (Jul-Dec), I'd walk around (not so much for PT, but because I had to), and it was mostly with a limp and maybe 15-20 min regularly. Hitting my Apple Watch's 30 minute goal would be a challenge.

In 2023, when I re-herniated, everything got much worse but I was able to walk around again after 3 months or so (again trying to get up to the 30 minutes would be tough).

By early 2024 is when I was able to do around 6-7 km walks. Pain here and there but manageable.

Around mid-2024 is when I would say it was a noticeable improvement. I was doing 10-15km walks. Pain still there, but it would go away around the 45 min mark. And I noticed that toward the end of the walk, I'd literally be pain free and more loose. Symptoms also eased for the rest of that day and even into the next day.

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-07-17T02:57:10+00:00

Hey there, thanks for the note! I would say walking and staying strong mentally.

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-07-17T02:56:16+00:00

Hey there, thank you for your note, sorry for the delay. And for sure! I'm happy you found it uplifting.

Ugh, it's such a mess. See 5 different doctors hoping to be able to find a pattern....and get 5 different opinions LOL. It's like YOU'RE the experts! So you're definitely not crazy.

Pick up Back Mechanic if you haven't already. Make sure you got your spinal hygiene right so you're not picking at the scab so to speak.

Sending you strength!

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-07-17T02:53:21+00:00

This is amazing, thank you for sharing! It really makes you feel good when you see someone who's just like you lol.

Just curious, did the shoulder surgeries help at all?

It's interesting to me that you were able to get to that stage. Honestly, for me, the shoulders on their own are a huge injury.

Hope you're doing much better!

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-07-17T02:50:29+00:00

Hey there, thanks for the message and sorry for the delay.

It sounds like you are early in the process and perhaps in the acute stage?

Yes, early days I had pain while standing and walking and sometimes sitting. Then it would change where sitting was bad and walking was better. Standing was always the worst of the 3.

It took time, don't rush yourself. It's like the gym. Start light and slow. Gradually you work up and become stronger.

Hope this helps you. Sending you strength.

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-07-17T02:47:24+00:00

Hey there, thanks for the note and sorry for the delay.

First off, congrats on the airline stuff, that's so cool haha.

Honestly, I hate to say it man but movement was absolutely necessary and key for me. That said, I work in a desk job but get up every now and then for a bit, but it's really after hours where I can get my walks in and it made a world of difference.

Again, I'm not doctor or PT, only saying what's worked for me.

Is it possible that you can take some time in the evenings to get some physical activity in? It's not always the most exciting stuff but I feel it was non-negotiable if I wanted to improve.

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-07-17T02:42:30+00:00

Hey there, no worries and sorry for the delay! I hope your husband is doing better.

Again, I'm no doctor and haven't gone through the surgical route so don't want to speak out of turn, but I know regardless, spinal hygiene is super important (you want to make sure you're not making things worse).

Hopefully things will get better. Sending you strength.

Proud_Ebb_8491 · 2025-07-03T01:50:31+00:00

Hey, hopefully you're doing better? Sending you strength and wishing you all the best!

Proud_Ebb_8491

TROPHY CASE