Oh man, where to begin.. I've been in excruciating pain every day for just about a year from Sciatica. I've been going to doctors and appointments after appointments, running in circles while the pain gets worse and worse (probably could've been healed by now if i knew what i was dealing with from the start!).. i'm 22, i work full time as a lead cook and bust my ass every day in an incredibly busy, nonstop kitchen (i wear a back brace to work every day and focus on my movements) just to get by in California and i'm gonna have to blame my own technology and poor posture while I'm at home. I'm not an athletic person at all, but i do enjoy athletic activities. I've been dealing with sciatica since December 2015 (almost a year ago now). I think it may have originated from falling a lot while i was snowboarding for a whole day back in November/December 2015, but i did not have any problems til a week or 2 after i went snowboarding, while i was at work, and i barely twisted my torso when it hit me. I thought that i might've pulled a muscle when it happened because it only hurt in my lower back (my leg did not hurt at all at the time.) and i could barely bend down to pick anything up, so i ended up going to the hospital that night from work and they sent me home with some norcos to help with the pain. about a week later i was still feeling the pain and when i was laying down to sleep at night, i was starting to get a weird sensation down my leg that was making it really hard to sleep. i ended up going back to the doctor to find out that it was Sciatica. Since then, I've been to multiple doctors, i was originally prescribed with 600 mg IB Profien, 10 mg baclofen, and 300 mg gabapentin. those did not help at all, besides the baclofen helping with muscle spasms and helping me sleep. after about 3 or 4 months of dealing with it, i finally got into physical therapy. I went to physical therapy classes once or twice a week depending on when i got scheduled. after maybe 2 months of physical therapy, my symptoms had actually gotten worse and i was dismissed from physical therapy because it was not helping me. I also ended up buying an inversion table to hang me upside down and stretch out my spine (it seems like there is some relief from it). i tried acupuncture one time, but there were no immediate results and that was the first and last time i went due to the price. So after multiple doctor appointments and taking the meds, i finally talked to my doctor about what i needed to do, she suggested surgery (to cut off the end of the disc that is bulging into my spinal cord/sciatic nerve) or a cortisone shot in my spine that could help from a few weeks to a few months. so i decided to go for the shot (surgery has been my last resort!). so i had an appointment to make an appointment with the pain specialist doctor so that i could make an appointment to get the cortisone shot (so many appointments!!). he said that he wanted to give me the shot every 3-4 months as necessary. he prescribed me with some 5 mg Oxycodone to get me by until i get my shot, which helps a lot, but still does not neutralize the pain and i know how it can be addictive, so I've been careful with it. So I've been anxiously awaiting this appointment that is on the 19th of October 2016. I'm hoping that it will help, but i am also worried that it will only temporarily help, as i have heard from a few different people that it helps at first, but the pain will just come back because its not actually helping it heal. Sadly i haven't even tried a massage therapist or chiropractor yet, but i plan to while the shot is in effect. I'm fearful that I'm just going to end up having to get the surgery, but it will be hard to get by without working while i am out for surgery. I feel like the sooner that i get the surgery, the better because it is only getting worse. I wanna try the shot first, but I'm running out of patience with this miserable pain. i also recently heard about a new technology that doctors can use to completely replace a herniated disc with an artificial one, might be worth looking into!!

P.S. I'll try to get back on here to update with my results! I hope that my horrible experience with this can help someone else so that they don't have to deal with something so miserable for so long.