I am so sorry for your family's loss. As it happens, I am now going through the same thing. The last time I had this was after a hysterectomy, and I was sitting a lot. Now, recovering from shoulder surgery, I am sitting more than usual. Add to that, it is cold, and slippery in Minnesota, so going for walks would not be the safest idea.

The first time, I went to the Dr for this, didn't know it was my sciatica. He suggested some exercises that involved stretching, told me to hold each stretch. He also told me not to sit on cold, hard benches - and from there he sent me down to X-ray, had bronchitis, too, where I sat on a hard, cold bench for 20 minutes. Sitting really does seem to make it worse, so I get up a lot and move around. That does help. The Mayo Clinic site recommends ibuprofin or Aleve, but I am using Celebrex. There is also some information at the Mayo Clinic site.

Hope you find relief soon. I know how uncomfortable this can be. I will be anxious to hear other's who might have some suggestions.

Saw my chiropractor this morning. Drove from South Alabama to South Florida and back over the holidays.

The sciatic nerve is a huge nerve(largest in the body) that combines several nerves from the lumbar spine and then goes all the way down the back of the leg to the toes. So the problem can be anything along that pathway.

Often, it's a bone spur pressing on a nerve or a part of bulging disk or even a ruptured disk in L 2,3,4 or even 5. Or it can be a muscle that has gone into spasm in the buttocks that is pressing on the nerve. A particular muscle, called the piriformis muscle often spans the nerve and is used when you go up and down stairs or up and down from sitting and it can cause a ton of pain.

So since they treat of the most likely first.....and that is a muscle spasm....PT is the treatment of choice to begin with. PT can also help with the disk problem too.

I have 16 herniated disks in my spine including my entire lumbar spine and I have a great PT and even exercises I can do in between trips to PT. Helps a lot.

Definitely worth trying. Good luck!

Jen

Thanks, I will be looking into the PT. When I sit at home, I try to sit on a heating pad. Thanks for the input. I do take aleve but it doesn't seem to help. See my PCP on Jan 20th and my rheumy on Jan 22nd. Should get something going then.
Wendy