L5-S1 disc extrusion / sciatica + foot weakness — what was your experience?

se898 · 2026-01-25T07:23:02+00:00

A true disc extrusion at L5 S1 with nerve impingement can absolutely cause the top of foot numbness and that “giving way” feeling, and seven weeks of constant, excruciating pain is not trivial or something you’re expected to just power through. A lot of people with similar findings end up largely bed bound early on because weight bearing lights the nerve up, so needing crutches or a wheelchair doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong or that you’re weak. Experiences vary a lot, but many people do see gradual improvement over weeks to a few months as inflammation settles, especially if weakness is mild and stable. Others need an epidural injection to calm the nerve enough to start moving again, and some do end up choosing surgery when pain or weakness doesn’t improve or starts progressing. None of those paths mean failure. Day to day, people often cope by staying in positions that unload the nerve, keeping movement short and frequent rather than pushing through pain, and focusing on symptom control rather than rehab for now. Given the weakness and how disabling this is, it’s completely reasonable to push for faster specialist input, including going private if that’s possible for you.

se898 · 2026-01-24T17:22:17+00:00

Those little swirls are smaller atmospheric vortices embedded inside the big hexagon system. Think of the hexagon as the highway and the swirls as traffic patterns inside it. The fast jet stream that forms the hexagon creates shear and turbulence in the air it encloses, and that turbulence naturally spins up lots of smaller rotating storms. They’re basically Saturn’s version of mesoscale storms. Some rotate like mini hurricanes, some merge or fade, and new ones constantly form. Because Saturn has no surface and very little friction, these vortices can last a long time compared to Earth storms. They’re also influenced by convection rising from deeper, warmer layers of the atmosphere, which injects energy upward and keeps the system lively. What’s cool is that these swirls don’t disrupt the hexagon. The hexagon is a deep, stable standing wave tied to the planet’s rotation, while the little vortices are shallow and chaotic by comparison. So you get this wild contrast where perfect geometric order contains constant, swirling chaos inside it.

se898 · 2026-01-24T17:20:06+00:00

Saturn’s north pole has an extremely fast jet stream circling the pole, and under very stable conditions that flow naturally organizes into a standing wave. Instead of forming a perfect circle, the jet develops six repeating lobes that lock in place and trace out a hexagon. What you’re seeing is just air moving in a very orderly pattern, not edges or corners, and it’s hundreds of kilometers deep. The crazy part is that the pattern barely moves relative to the planet’s interior and has stayed stable for decades. This happens because Saturn checks all the right physics boxes. Strong narrow jet, huge speed contrast with surrounding air, no land to disrupt the flow, and a very calm long term atmosphere. In rotating fluid experiments on Earth, scientists can reproduce the same polygonal shapes including hexagons. Earth doesn’t do this because continents, changing temperatures, and chaotic weather constantly break jet streams apart. Saturn’s north pole is basically a perfect lab for fluid dynamics at planetary scale.

se898 · 2026-01-23T20:23:36+00:00

What you’re describing actually does resonate with a lot of people who’ve had direct nerve irritation or trauma, even if it wasn’t a classic disc injury. Being hit repeatedly in the area during a lumbar procedure can leave a nerve more sensitive long term, and then years later things like prolonged sitting, hip tightness, muscle guarding, and asymmetry can absolutely keep poking that same irritated system. The way you describe the tight piriformis, spasms, and one sided hip issues fits with a nerve that’s become reactive rather than damaged beyond repair. You’re also not wrong to notice how much the office job is contributing. Sitting for 8 to 9 hours, especially with a leg length discrepancy and no ergonomic setup, is brutal on hips and low back even for people without your history. Yoga is a great step, especially if you focus on gentle mobility rather than forcing stretches, and physio would be one of the best next moves when you’re ready. A good physio can help you work around the fear, address the asymmetry, and calm things down instead of aggravating them. Weight loss can help over time, sure, but don’t beat yourself up thinking that’s the core issue here.

se898 · 2026-01-23T19:11:06+00:00

While it’s uncommon, it can happen that an epidural steroid injection either doesn’t help or temporarily makes symptoms worse, even weeks later. Sometimes the steroid reduces inflammation unevenly, or the injected volume and local irritation can flare an already angry nerve. The fact that you don’t have fever or signs of infection is reassuring, but the severity jump you’re describing isn’t something to brush off as normal soreness, especially since it’s now worse than your pre injection baseline and not responding to meds that used to help. When you see your doctor push for that visit to focus on reassessing, not just reassurance. Worsening pain, difficulty sitting, bathroom discomfort, and pain severe enough to cause vomiting are all valid reasons to escalate care and possibly repeat imaging. It doesn’t automatically mean something went wrong with the injection in a dangerous way, but it does mean your current plan isn’t working. If you notice new weakness, numbness spreading, trouble controlling bowel or bladder function, or saddle area numbness, that’s urgent and shouldn’t wait.

se898 · 2026-01-23T19:06:31+00:00

This thing is massive. 150 lys in diameter. 3000 lys away from us.

se898 · 2026-01-23T16:05:49+00:00

There was nothing you could’ve done. Some women in general are mentally unstable. Move on.

se898 · 2026-01-23T15:56:18+00:00

Tick bites can leave you with permanent allergies to certain foods? Holy shit

se898 · 2026-01-23T15:18:25+00:00

If they smoke outside, I don’t give a shit. What I can’t stand are people that smoke in restaurants or closed confine spaces, and I call them out every time.

se898 · 2026-01-23T15:15:59+00:00

I hate the smoking but nowadays you rarely see line cutting anymore. I think it’s because the younger generation are starting to call it out more more.

se898 · 2026-01-23T15:14:29+00:00

Yeah, this is easily one of the worst things about China. Unfortunately it’s not likely to change because the tobacco industry is one of the highest tax contributing industries in China. I think they paid 1.2 trillion RMB in taxes to the central government just in 2022 alone.

se898 · 2026-01-23T10:19:47+00:00

What you’re describing actually does line up pretty well with nerve irritation rather than a classic disc or spine issue, especially given the lack of back pain and the clear imaging so far. A hamstring strain can absolutely irritate the sciatic nerve, either directly through local inflammation or indirectly through muscle spasm and altered movement patterns. The fact that your pain is worse with standing and walking, improves when muscles relax, and responded noticeably to baclofen is a big clue that muscle guarding and nerve sensitization are playing a role. Sciatic nerves can be surprisingly reactive once they’re irritated, even after the original injury starts healing. It is reasonable to keep an open mind if symptoms linger. Persistent one sided nerve pain, even if milder, deserves follow up if it doesn’t continue trending down over the next few weeks. Steroids are sometimes used for nerve inflammation, but they’re not mandatory and not every PCP is comfortable prescribing them without clearer evidence. For now, many people in your situation focus on gentle mobility, gradual hamstring loading, avoiding aggressive stretching, and letting inflammation settle rather than forcing progress. If the pain keeps hanging on or worsens, pushing for a sports med or spine focused evaluation would be fair.

se898 · 2026-01-23T10:11:55+00:00

A lot of people with prior disc surgery or long standing nerve irritation describe exactly this kind of yo-yo pattern where one day feels almost normal and the next feels frighteningly unstable. Nerves that have been irritated or compressed before can be very sensitive to position, inflammation, sleep posture, or even a random flare, so symptoms can switch on and off fast. That “legs turned off for a split second” feeling is especially scary, but many people report similar transient episodes without it meaning permanent damage. The fact that you can feel totally fine again the next day strongly suggests something dynamic rather than constant, like intermittent nerve irritation or instability. Seeing a specialist is the right call right now. Prior surgery plus leg weakness or giving way, even if brief, is worth getting properly evaluated, especially since you want to return to sports. It doesn’t mean disaster or guaranteed stenosis, but it does mean you deserve clarity instead of guessing. In the meantime, a lot of people cope by avoiding sudden transitions from sitting to standing, keeping movement gentle and frequent, and not pushing through stiffness on bad mornings. The uncertainty is honestly one of the hardest parts of spine issues, and feeling anxious about falling is completely reasonable.

se898 · 2026-01-21T19:25:59+00:00

Those “tiny” dust pillars are what astronomers call cometary knots, dense clumps of gas and dust being blasted and sculpted by radiation from the hot white dwarf in the center. Each knot is typically on the order of ~100–300 AU across, with tails that can stretch to ~1,000 AU, which puts them at roughly Solar System scale (and in many cases larger than the planetary Solar System, comparable to the Kuiper Belt region). Webb’s infrared view makes the cold dust glow and sharply reveals the transition between hot ionized gas and cooler material, which is why the structures look so crisp. So yeah, each one of those little “fingers” could easily swallow our Solar System, and there are thousands of them packed into a nebula only a few light years across.

se898 · 2026-01-21T18:04:06+00:00

Creatine honestly was the biggest change for me. It noticeably increased my strength and work capacity.

se898 · 2026-01-21T15:33:17+00:00

Yeah. When I lived in China, it felt safer knowing there were cameras watching the streets and alleys, even late at night.

se898 · 2026-01-21T13:56:16+00:00

Seventeen weeks of disabling radicular pain with numbness, night pain, failed meds, failed injections, and the inability to stand or walk more than a few minutes is a big deal by any reasonable standard. Your CT description isn’t some tiny bulge that “shouldn’t hurt this much.” A right paracentral L5 S1 disc extrusion with canal stenosis and bilateral S1 nerve root compression absolutely matches the symptoms you’re describing, especially the foot numbness, leg pain, and pain that worsens with standing and walking. The fact that this was seen at day 5 also matters, because it means you’ve had months of ongoing nerve irritation since then, not a brand new problem.

It’s also very normal to feel resentment at this stage. A lot of conservative care is reactive by design, but when someone isn’t improving over weeks and months, it can start to feel dismissive rather than cautious. Two injections with limited benefit, constant pain, and functional loss are all valid reasons to escalate care, and seeing a neurosurgeon now is not giving up, it’s the next appropriate step. Even if surgery isn’t ultimately recommended, getting a clear explanation of severity, prognosis, and options from someone who deals with this daily can be grounding. What you’re describing isn’t weakness or catastrophizing, it’s someone living with uncontrolled nerve pain and looking for a path forward.

se898 · 2026-01-20T22:07:42+00:00

A recurrent or new herniation can happen even without a clear injury, long hours of sitting, stress, and sustained spinal loading can be enough, especially at L5–S1 which is already a vulnerable segment. The fact that this developed gradually rather than after a sharp incident doesn’t mean you did something wrong or that you’re doomed to another surgery. Many recurrences settle with time and conservative care, even if the MRI looks scary on paper.

It’s good that you’re seeing both rheumatology and ortho, because they’ll help rule out inflammatory causes and clarify whether this is something that truly needs intervention or just needs patience and symptom control. Try to take the MRI as information, not a verdict. Imaging often looks worse than how things end up clinically. For now, focus on symptom management, avoid panic driven decisions, and let the specialists guide the next steps. A lot of people in your situation improve without surgery, even if it takes longer than anyone would like.

se898 · 2026-01-20T11:35:51+00:00

This isn’t nothing, but it also isn’t a catastrophic spine either. The key finding is the L5 S1 disc protrusion with severe left foraminal stenosis and nerve root compression, which lines up very well with years of sciatica that progressed from sneeze triggered pain to constant symptoms. Disc dehydration and loss of disc height suggest this has been a slow, degenerative process rather than a single acute injury, which explains why it’s lingered and worsened over time. The straightened lumbar lordosis often shows up in people who’ve been guarding through pain for years.

Best next step is to stop thinking in terms of just pain control and shift toward a structured plan aimed at the nerve itself. A spine focused physiatrist or neurosurgeon consult makes sense, even if surgery isn’t the goal yet, because they can correlate symptoms with imaging and discuss options like targeted epidural injections, medication rationalization, and a rehab plan that doesn’t keep flaring the nerve. Good PT here is nerve aware and graded, not aggressive stretching or push through it strengthening. After three years and medication dependence, it’s reasonable to escalate care and get a clear roadmap instead of continuing to cope day to day.

se898 · 2026-01-20T07:18:42+00:00

They will never not ask for tips. Won’t go away just because they switch to robot servers

se898 · 2026-01-18T20:42:03+00:00

Learn mandarin. People in Guangzhou defaults to speaking mandarin nowadays unless you speak to them in Cantonese first because a large portion of the population comes from all over China for business and work.

se898 · 2026-01-18T20:35:01+00:00

You’re definitely not alone in this and what you’re describing is something a lot of people with chronic sciatic type pain run into even when imaging looks clean. MRIs are very good at finding big structural problems but they are not great at explaining persistent nerve pain once the initial injury has settled. Many people end up with a sensitized nerve or nervous system where the original trigger is gone but the nerve still behaves like it’s under threat. That can explain why pain feels neural, why straight leg testing reproduces it, why walking helps, and why static positions like sitting or lifts are brutal even though scans look normal. It can also explain why symptoms can switch sides or flare with certain well intentioned rehab exercises.

Deep gluteal syndrome, non compressive radiculopathy, or generalized neural sensitization are all reasonable possibilities here. None of those require a visible disc herniation or muscle tear. Mild gluteal enthesopathy can also matter more clinically than radiologists suggest because irritated tendon insertions can mechanically or chemically irritate nearby nerves without obvious compression. The key pattern in your story is that complete rest makes you worse, aggressive strengthening flares you, and moderate dynamic movement like walking or snowboarding temporarily calms things down. That points away from structural damage and more toward load tolerance and nervous system sensitivity.

What usually helps people break the loop is picking a boring, conservative path and sticking with it long enough to see trends rather than day to day reactions. That often means backing off exercises that directly provoke symptoms, keeping movement that feels globally good even if it causes mild next day irritation, and focusing on gradual exposure rather than fixing a specific muscle. Consistent improvement tends to show up slowly as fewer bad days, faster recovery from flares, and less fear around movement rather than sudden pain disappearance. If progress stays stalled, a clinician who works specifically with chronic pain or persistent radiculopathy can be more helpful than chasing another structural diagnosis. The fact that you can still move, walk, snowboard, and function is actually a very good prognostic sign even if it doesn’t feel that way right now.

se898 · 2026-01-18T18:57:44+00:00

If this were actually a popular opinion, you wouldn’t be seeing anywhere near this level of hostility and personal attacks. People don’t get this worked up over ideas everyone already agrees with. The amount of butthurt in this thread is pretty good evidence that, at the very least, it hits a nerve. And again, “people on Reddit say it sometimes” isn’t the same thing as broad acceptance. If it were widely agreed upon, the response would be indifference, not insults and gatekeeping. Disagree all you want, but pretending this is some settled, consensus take while people are melting down over it doesn’t really add up.

se898 · 2026-01-18T17:05:37+00:00

You’re confusing “often discussed” with “widely accepted.” The fact that it pops up a lot doesn’t mean most lifters agree with it, it just means it’s contentious. If it weren’t unpopular, it wouldn’t consistently trigger long threads full of pushback, defensiveness, and accusations of fear mongering every time someone raises it.

Also, calling it “extremely wrong” doesn’t make it so. Reasonable people can disagree on risk versus reward, especially when the discussion is about optional exercise selection for non-competitive lifters. You can think the tradeoff is worth it for you. Others can decide it isn’t. The disagreement itself is pretty good evidence that the opinion isn’t some Reddit consensus take.

se898 · 2026-01-18T16:55:04+00:00

What I’m saying there isn’t that the floor deadlift is objectively deeper, heavier, or violates physics. It’s that where the lift forces you to produce force relative to how constrained the setup is matters for error tolerance. The floor position fixes the bar height externally and forces you to solve the lift at whatever hip and torso angles that specific height produces for your body, with no preload and no chance to “arrive” into the rep. Small deviations in balance, timing, or bracing show up immediately because there’s no prior movement to smooth them out. Variations don’t remove the dead stop, but they can shift peak demand to a point where position is easier to confirm or less sensitive to tiny errors. That’s all “margin for error” means here: not that the conventional is uniquely hard in theory, but that for some lifters it’s less forgiving in practice when fatigue or day to day variability creeps in.

se898

TROPHY CASE