Your doctor sounds like mine. No suggestions or help to me - and didn't refer me to a specialist. My x-rays showed mild curvature of the spine and mild bone spurring which is normal for someone my age (50). I have no back pain, but my left buttock is killing me and my leg is weak so walking is difficult. I finally decided to go to a chiropractor. I've gone for 1 week now and unfortunately do not feel much better but will keep trying (especially since I already dished out a lot of money for the adjustments). My next step will be to ask my doctor to order an MRI to see what's going on and possibly see a neurosurgeon. It;s frustrating that my doctor didn't help me and it will probably take weeks if not longer to get an appointment with a neurosurgeon. It's also depressing to be in pain and unable to be active like I used to be. I do find that heat, then ice, then heat again makes me a little more comfortable. Hope you find some relief from your pain and hang in there. I sympathize with you and remember you're not alone as many people suffer from back pain and sciatica.

How are you two doing? Any better?

I had to equate my MRI to that of a picture of a Ruth's Chris' Steak - you can see it, but can't enjoy it. That as opposed to my Xray - where I could see exactly what's going on. Bear with me. In my mind I don't really care about about the exact spot my pain is occurring. I only care about why it's happening. And what is it that's making my disc press on my nerve? I can't say it's my vertebrae because they don't have a say in the matter since bones don't just move on their own. I then asked what makes my bones move? If you can answer that you're practically on your way to getting better.
Once I found a therapy called Posture Alignment Therapy I was then able to take a two your hell of pain, and get rid of it in four months.

I hope this gives you hope, and a different way to look at your situation. Good luck!

My heart goes out to all those suffering from sciatica. I, too, suffered for a long time with this condition before I finally received relief. I went for chiropractic help and actupuncture , but it did not help. ( Also, my medical plan does not cover actupuncture.) Then I went to a pain specialist for a long time, but even the strongest drugs he gave me didn't help. For some reason. my body does not respond to all the opiate drugs on the market, because the pain doctor tried them all on me, to no avail. When I would go somewhere where I would be sitting for a while, I would take an ice pack to sit on the side that was hurting. At the same time that I was experiencing the sciatica pain in my buttocks, my knees were also hurting and I wondered why since I had both knees replaced a few years before. So, I decided to make an appointment with my knee surgeon to have him take an x-ray of my knees to find out why they were hurting. The x-rays came back just fine. Then he said that he wanted to take x-rays of both my hips to see what shape they were in. Well, the x-rays showed that both of my hips were worn out, even though my hips did not hurt: it was my buttocks. He said that I needed both hips replaced and that was what was causing the sciatica pain. That very day, I scheduled a date to have my first hip replacement and three months later, I had the other hip replaced. Shortly after each surgery, I had compete relief from sciatica pain. If I hadn't gone back to my surgeon and had x-rays of my hips, I would still be suffering. It has now been several years since my last surgery, and I am completely pain free. I am 75 years old. I sincerely hope that my story will help others.

Hello marie32

I am not saying this will help you but it worked wonders for me.

I Have been suffering sciatic and lower back pain for many years but after an impromptu visit to an Osteopath while i was on holidays who was next to the chemist where I put in a script for pain killers i felt instant relief.

The first visit was an assessment because he wouldn't touch me until he saw a recent ct scan which i had a month earlier. I got the results sent to him for my next visit

On my second visit he asked me if i minded having dry needling which i knew nothing about, i agreed to having it done. He started and commented on how hard it was to get the needles in. When he finished he asked me to sit up and i felt instant partial relief.

On my third visit he did the needling again, he said it was still very tight then all of a sudden the muscles spasms were incredible and the relief was amazing.

I still have major lower back problems but at least its one less thing i have to worry about for now, If It returns hes only a 2 1/2 hour plane flight to Mooloolaba for him to have another go at it.

All the best to you marie32 I hope your feeling better

Hi, its Ray. I am a therapist and have a free course you can follow to get tips that work to relieve sciatic pain. You can get it here. https://allstressmanagement.com/sciatica-tips/