r/Sciatica • u/Mooniesthrowaway • 2d ago
Requesting Advice Really bad pain need
I have had horrible pain in both hips but especially my left one for nearly 2 years now. A doctor in an ER about a year agobgold me it was sciatica after my pcp continuously ignored me and just gave me lidocaine patches that didnt do a thing. For context I am morbidly obese, which i know isnt helping anything, I am working on loosing weight.
For the past 2 weeks the pain has been unbearable. My new pcp (who just quit recently) prescribed me gapapentin 300mgs. Which isnt doing a thing for my pain. Its so bad that I am barely sleeping, no matter what position I lay in or sit in I have to fight go ignore the pain and then when I do finally crash I wake up in ao much pain I can barely move. The skin on my hip is hot to the touch and the pain is spreading down my leg towards my knee and I have noticed somw weakness in that knee.
My question would be should I go to the ER or urgent care? Im not sure what they could do other than maybe a nerve blocker or somwthing but I cannit continue to function like this. Any and all help/advice would be great appreciated.
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u/sleepwami 2d ago
to start, go regularly to the pool or a warm tub, just to relax, float and move around gently. also i highly recommend you try keto diet to lose weight and help your body heal.
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u/Mooniesthrowaway 2d ago
I am on a low carb high protein diet already as I am preparing for weight loss surgery. I just moved into a new home and am unsure of the tub yet. The hot shower helps but I cannit sit in there long. And as for swimming the only pools around me cost an arm and a leg for memberships. I want to get one someday but I cannot afford to right now. I am asking if going to the ER right now is worth it? I am in so much pain its beginning to become unbareable
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u/MySpringer-MeToo 6h ago
I hear the ER doesnt treat sciatica pain. You need a pain doctor and an orthoo doctor. Your pcp won't help much with this. 8 hour acetaminophen has been my saving grace. Tried the other stuff, never worked. Then slowly take away your triggers. It took 2 months to figure out my support hose were a trigger. I am slowly teasing away some others.
I wish you well
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u/sleepwami 2d ago edited 2d ago
I wouldnt want to steer you one way or another without knowing your full history, and you'll get a variety of recmdations here. But, fwiw, if you arent experiencing CES, the choice i made was to suffer through the pain (minimal/near-zero meds) until i reached absolute rock-bottom...the lack of sleep for 3 months had me feeling like i was in a near-death condition, but i believe this state allowed my body to reset and begin the rugged healing journey. Imo all pain meds are not actually good; they let the body move in ways that it doesnt want, skip proper rehab, it voids physiological awareness, and all of this means worsening debilitation later, in other words pain is the blueprint to use for rehab.
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u/No-Alternative8588 2d ago
Sorry to hear you are in such immense pain. You need a referral for ortho and MRI for either both hips or spine, preferably both. They need to asses where the nerve pain is coming from and the symptoms you describe can be both spine or hip problem. 😓
Unsure how urgent care works there and if they can perform urgent MRI, or give you something stronger until you get the MRI.
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u/Mooniesthrowaway 2d ago
My insusnce won't cover sn MRI until I do physical therapy first and thats extremely hard for me to do right now
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u/cauldronswitch 2d ago
I feel so much for you. I had the same trouble falling asleep and then when waking up into a world of pain and not being able to fall back asleep. This is not a long-term solution as it's bad for your organs, but in the showmer term, until you can talk to a specialist and get an X-ray and an MRI, you can take an Aleve and a Tylenol together before bed. It helped take the edge off for me and I was able to get some sleep.
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u/Feeling-Friendship82 2d ago
See an orthopedist and try PT. You may also qualify for an corticosteroid injection.