Sciatica Attacks---Poor Olivia John
Without Prejudice
I hope you never get it, Sciatica. It is one of the most debilitating, irritating, annoying pains in the derrière ( literally ) you will ever have.
I am an idiot as I " did " my back for the first time about five years ago. I ended up in hospital that time in tears and ready to do myself in. The pain is like water torture, it just keeps needling at you in a relentless drip of ow, ow, ow.
You never realise how much you use your back daily until you injure it. Lying down doesn't help. Pain killers don't help, Gentle exercise helps when the injury is finally on the mend, but, mainly, it just takes time. Time that these days we never seem to have.
We live in a hurry up world, constantly invaded by emails, texts, phone calls and then there is just normal life of family, friends to contend with. We are exorted to live in the moment, exercise, eat, sleep, think, help out others, the list is interminable and are told that even good stress is stress.
So into that messy wonderful ( at times ) world we dwell in add constant pain. You too will want to jump off a bridge in a very short space of time. In fact, add in Sciatica.
What is Sciatica I hear you ask ?
Here is some of the information I discovered trawling the inter web, it's not all, but the articles can run pages long and as we live in a hurry up world, will probably bore you to sobs. Trust me.
I found the articles fascinating as I didn't know what sciatica was and really wanted to find out.
The answer: Sciatica is the term used to describe pain that radiates along the sciaticnerve, which exits from the lower vertebral bones (lumbar spine) and runs from the lower back, through the buttocks and down each leg. When the sciatic nerve is pinched, it can lead to symptoms of pain, burning or numbness.
I had a portable air conditioner that I wanted to move as soon as I thought it was safe to do so. Summer had finally seemed to have burned it's way out, preps were off to school full time, not half days and that usually signals the end of long hot sticky days.
The said air conditioner was the first one I had bought. I ended up with 3. One for my daughters house which was brand new and a great size. Perfect for her big family. Mummy always comes up with the goods. She has been air conditioner less for 12 years and suffered through 12 Summers with cranky kids and one cranky partner.
Now cranky partner is gone and we have happy kids. They love the air con.
I had " discovered " a fantastic air con for myself that was English and didn't need to be vented. So in my roomy one bedroom unit that meant air con in the bedroom and lounge. Bliss. The first Summer I lived in the unit I had just a water cooler and fans. I will gloss over that time which included showers every half hour and a lot of moaning.
So as its a " tiny house " space is at a premium and I decided to move the lounge room air con. It was a big aircon which had once been on wheels. But over six years the wheels had come off and were flimsy to say the least for a heavy air con. So I thought, being impatient, I will just slide the a/c on to the top step of the weeny porch, bump it down the stairs.
I could have waited for someone to help me, but no, I am impatient. Always have been, and am hoping this year to become more patient, but that day my prayers and focus on patience had disappeared. If only I had listened to instinct.
I wanted the a/c gone so I could fulfill another goal of my three goals for 12 months. More organisation. So with a willing heart and at the time an undamaged frame I tugged at that air con carefully. I bent at the knee and did all the right things except for the last moment when I had to get it upright at the bottom of the stairs and bang. I felt something rip in my lower back.
The next morning I woke up with a fine back and a pain in my hip as if someone was stabbing an ice pick into it. The pain was intense. I thought I'd just rest it and it would be fine in a couple of days. Ha bloody ha. The pain became worse and it actually felt as if my hip bone on the outside was swollen. I walked like a duck that had shat itself.
A young man came around to fix my oven, a young Irishman, very friendly and chatty. I
told him I would sit while he was there, as it hurt to stand.
" Sciatica " he said.
" Huh ?" said I.
" You have sciatica. I know because I get it, and I'm really careful with my back "
So after he left I trawled the Internet. I found out it's a huge nerve that runs from hip to toe. Nothing helps much and it just takes time to get back to normal.
I tried Ibuprofen, Paracetamol, hot packs, cold packs, Deep Heat, anti inflammatory cream, nothing, zip, zilch, Nada. Pain still there and now it seemed to be radiating down the outside of my leg.
Lying in bed was excruciating, ( if I slipped up and lay on my sore side.) I could only sleep on my stomach and would stretch my legs towards the bottom of the bed. I read that I could lie on my back with a pillow under my knees. Or lie in a foetal position, with a cushion between my knees.
I tried the foetal position and tucked a cushion firmly between My knees. The shiny cushion slipped out of the knee grab at a rate of knots, rocketing across the room and hitting the elderly grumpy cat and using up at least one of his nine lives.
I lay on my back with my legs hooked over a pillow and felt claustrophobic As my unfettered boobs threatened to asphyxiate me.
I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat properly. The pain traveled into my bum. My calves ached, my feet swelled. My shoulder ached and went out in sympathy. I still have it now and it's been four weeks. I've looked up miracle exercises that no matter what I do, hurt. I've stretched and stretched. I've stretched so much I should be at least 6 ' by now, but sadly remain 5' 1 inch.
I may stretch but can't touch my toes unless I spread my legs wide and ever so slightly bend my knees.
It's awful, the whole thing so Olivia Newton John has my sympathy
She's had vgvgfgtt
I hope you never get it, Sciatica. It is one of the most debilitating, irritating, annoying pains in the derrière ( literally ) you will ever have.
I am an idiot as I " did " my back for the first time about five years ago. I ended up in hospital that time in tears and ready to do myself in. The pain is like water torture, it just keeps needling at you in a relentless drip of ow, ow, ow.
You never realise how much you use your back daily until you injure it. Lying down doesn't help. Pain killers don't help, Gentle exercise helps when the injury is finally on the mend, but, mainly, it just takes time. Time that these days we never seem to have.
We live in a hurry up world, constantly invaded by emails, texts, phone calls and then there is just normal life of family, friends to contend with. We are exorted to live in the moment, exercise, eat, sleep, think, help out others, the list is interminable and are told that even good stress is stress.
So into that messy wonderful ( at times ) world we dwell in add constant pain. You too will want to jump off a bridge in a very short space of time. In fact, add in Sciatica.
What is Sciatica I hear you ask ?
Here is some of the information I discovered trawling the inter web, it's not all, but the articles can run pages long and as we live in a hurry up world, will probably bore you to sobs. Trust me.
I found the articles fascinating as I didn't know what sciatica was and really wanted to find out.
The answer: Sciatica is the term used to describe pain that radiates along the sciaticnerve, which exits from the lower vertebral bones (lumbar spine) and runs from the lower back, through the buttocks and down each leg. When the sciatic nerve is pinched, it can lead to symptoms of pain, burning or numbness.
I had a portable air conditioner that I wanted to move as soon as I thought it was safe to do so. Summer had finally seemed to have burned it's way out, preps were off to school full time, not half days and that usually signals the end of long hot sticky days.
The said air conditioner was the first one I had bought. I ended up with 3. One for my daughters house which was brand new and a great size. Perfect for her big family. Mummy always comes up with the goods. She has been air conditioner less for 12 years and suffered through 12 Summers with cranky kids and one cranky partner.
Now cranky partner is gone and we have happy kids. They love the air con.
I had " discovered " a fantastic air con for myself that was English and didn't need to be vented. So in my roomy one bedroom unit that meant air con in the bedroom and lounge. Bliss. The first Summer I lived in the unit I had just a water cooler and fans. I will gloss over that time which included showers every half hour and a lot of moaning.
So as its a " tiny house " space is at a premium and I decided to move the lounge room air con. It was a big aircon which had once been on wheels. But over six years the wheels had come off and were flimsy to say the least for a heavy air con. So I thought, being impatient, I will just slide the a/c on to the top step of the weeny porch, bump it down the stairs.
I could have waited for someone to help me, but no, I am impatient. Always have been, and am hoping this year to become more patient, but that day my prayers and focus on patience had disappeared. If only I had listened to instinct.
I wanted the a/c gone so I could fulfill another goal of my three goals for 12 months. More organisation. So with a willing heart and at the time an undamaged frame I tugged at that air con carefully. I bent at the knee and did all the right things except for the last moment when I had to get it upright at the bottom of the stairs and bang. I felt something rip in my lower back.
The next morning I woke up with a fine back and a pain in my hip as if someone was stabbing an ice pick into it. The pain was intense. I thought I'd just rest it and it would be fine in a couple of days. Ha bloody ha. The pain became worse and it actually felt as if my hip bone on the outside was swollen. I walked like a duck that had shat itself.
A young man came around to fix my oven, a young Irishman, very friendly and chatty. I
told him I would sit while he was there, as it hurt to stand.
" Sciatica " he said.
" Huh ?" said I.
" You have sciatica. I know because I get it, and I'm really careful with my back "
So after he left I trawled the Internet. I found out it's a huge nerve that runs from hip to toe. Nothing helps much and it just takes time to get back to normal.
I tried Ibuprofen, Paracetamol, hot packs, cold packs, Deep Heat, anti inflammatory cream, nothing, zip, zilch, Nada. Pain still there and now it seemed to be radiating down the outside of my leg.
Lying in bed was excruciating, ( if I slipped up and lay on my sore side.) I could only sleep on my stomach and would stretch my legs towards the bottom of the bed. I read that I could lie on my back with a pillow under my knees. Or lie in a foetal position, with a cushion between my knees.
I tried the foetal position and tucked a cushion firmly between My knees. The shiny cushion slipped out of the knee grab at a rate of knots, rocketing across the room and hitting the elderly grumpy cat and using up at least one of his nine lives.
I lay on my back with my legs hooked over a pillow and felt claustrophobic As my unfettered boobs threatened to asphyxiate me.
I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat properly. The pain traveled into my bum. My calves ached, my feet swelled. My shoulder ached and went out in sympathy. I still have it now and it's been four weeks. I've looked up miracle exercises that no matter what I do, hurt. I've stretched and stretched. I've stretched so much I should be at least 6 ' by now, but sadly remain 5' 1 inch.
I may stretch but can't touch my toes unless I spread my legs wide and ever so slightly bend my knees.
It's awful, the whole thing so Olivia Newton John has my sympathy
She's had vgvgfgtt
