Hi all, this is my first time posting to this group - just found it
today. (Are there any other good sciatic type groups on Yahoo?) The
reason I'm posting is because I believe I have some sciatic nerve
pain. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being horrible) I'd say that most of the
time my pain is about a 1-2...not a big life-changing deal. However
if I've been "active" for one or two days then the pain jumps to
about a 8-9, it just shoots right down the outside of my right leg.
It's so sensitive and painful that I often have to limp to keep from
putting too much pressure on that leg. Typically I take anywhere from
6-12 ibuprofen/day until the pain subsides enough for me to resume
normal activities - might be a few days or a week until it subsides.

My "normal" activities are to wake up, shower, go to work (where I
sit 90% of the time - office job), go home and VERY gently play w/my
two young kids, then go to bed. I consider my daily life fairly
INactive so I'm not putting much stress on the sciatic nerve. I do
some light stretching and weights for about 20 minutes/day - but I
don't do anything that would cause the sciatic nerve to flare up. But
whenever I get "crazy" like playing a little game of soccer w/my kids
in the backyard, or even going on a 2-3 mile walk, then the sciatic
nerve flares up again.

My doctor also tells me I have arthritis (it does run in my Mom's
side of the family - but usually doesn't kick in until 50+, I'm 34!).
I take Celebrex and that helps the joints some, but I still feel
quite
a bit of stiffness/pain in my shoulders and my left ankle (constantly
swollen and red; also gets worse with extra activity). Recently I
went to a wholistic doctor that told me to stay away from wheat and
sugar products to help w/the arthritis. This was HARD to do (look in
your kitchen and see how
much stuff is derived from wheat and/or sugar!) but it definitely
seems to bring a great deal of relief. But I'm still stuck w/this
sciatic pain. I've
tried several chiropractors - all to no avail. I can't stand the
thought of not being active w/my kids - does anyone know where I can
turn for help? I'm not nuts about going to a "real" doctor about this
because I know he'll probably want to perform surgery - that's almost
always their answer.

Thanks,
Rob