# deep leg/nerve pain



## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

A year ago my sciatic nerve started to act up BADLY. The doctor put me on gabapenten and it worked beautifully. No side effects..it just stopped the nerve pain. 

But now the pain in the right leg is getting worse again. It's there all the time if I'm standing or laying down...sometimes when I sit, but sitting USUALLY isn't bad. 

The pain is in the thigh..on the front side...and deep. Sometimes going up and toward the backside. I do have 4 herniated discs and facet degeneration, which gets steroid injections every 6 months. 

Sorry this is so long.  anyway. Does anyone have other remedies for this kind of pain? vicodin doesn't touch it, neither do any of the normal analgesics. 

(sigh...I hate getting old. bursitis in a shoulder, back pain, leg pain...what happened to that active happy person I used to be, eh?)


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

I would see a neurologist about it. I have a lot of nerve damage in my left leg and some muscle loss. I ended up having back surgery in May and they discovered something that didn't show up on any of their tests, I have something simliar to a varicose vein growing up through my spinal column and all the nerves were entwined in it. If they had not taken care of it I would have eventually lost the use of both my legs.


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## Tirzah (May 19, 2006)

Hey Ann,

I'm sorry to hear that you are so much pain. I deal with shoulder, neck, back and hip pain, so I am not a stranger to pain too.

I have been dealing with alot of neck and shoulder pain lately and Aleve and Advil have not touched it. I did start to get a headache so I took some Excedrin and that took care of the neck and shoulder pain too.

What helped me with my Sciatica Pain is using a recumbent bicycle. I was shocked when I actually got some relief. Stretching exercises help too.

Maybe you could find a bike on Freecycle or Craig's List. Hope you will be feeling better soon.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

Have you tried a chiropractor? They do wonders for pain that originates in the back like that.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

Stretching exercises I can do  I think I can borrow a recumbent from a friend who no longer bikes at all.

Sonshine..that just sounds NASTY! Next step for me, if the injections start to fail, is surgery. I sure hope they don't find that in MY back. Somehow it sounds VERY much like a SCI-Fi horror movie!

Mekasmom: I'm not allowed to do a chiropractor this close to the back injections. But if the pain is still there in a week, I may go that route. 

Neurologist (saw her last year when this particular problem started) was able to see (MRI) that the area at the base of the spine where the nerve goes out into the leg is narrowing some, and has er...bumps. She theorized that the nerve is becoming caught in one of those bumps when I lay down. Originally this pain was only if I laid down..and it was vicious. 

Hopefully what has happened is that as the steroid injections wear off, and the lumpy/bumpy facet joints start irritating the nerves..this nerve is just one more of them. AND when I get my next injections, this will go away. Thursday will tell the tale on that. Until then, I'm hoping to find something that will dull this pain. It wakes me up at night and makes standing or walking almost impossible right now. It's at the point now where I sometimes find the leg collapsing under me. 

As a note: One of the reasons that I think this is part of the bigger problem, and not something new, is that it came on just a few days ago...about a week after the back pain started showing up again. It's right on schedule for my injections to wear off....Every 6 months.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Once you have been on gabapentin for a while you will find that the dosage needs to be increased. I struggled after mine working wonderfully, to being in pain again. Dosage was increased and all is good.

Hope this helps. Pm me anytime.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

I've started taking the gabapentin during the day this week. It does help. I'll have to ask my doc to up the dosage for the next bottle of them. Since there are little to no side effects on the medicine, she'll be fine with it. thanks for the info, Olaf


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

No problem. It works for me. Hate to increase meds, but hate to be in pain even more. 
I have Trigeminal neuralgia and Fibro, and feel 10 years younger since being on this med.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

I want to suggest a chiropracter again. We were in an auto accident several months ago, and my husband's neck was injured. He wore a brace, had several CTs and MRI. Did steroids, pain killers, etc. He was going to a massage therapy team at the hospital and a neurosurgeon. 
In desperation he went to a chiropractor before having neck surgery. One trip...... $15, and he was fixed. The pain and numbness went away in his arms and fingers. He stopped having headaches. He was fixed. And that was after months of regular medical care for the broken bone and ruptured disks in his cervical spine. 
I would really, really suggest you at least talk to a chiropractor. It changed my husband's life for $15 after there were almost $100,000 in medical bills from western medicine.


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## Suzyq2u (May 17, 2010)

I'm on gabapentin as well. I had to up my dose to get things under control. Don't like taking it, but hate the sensations more. Hope that works out for you!!


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

Mekasmom, that's quite a wonderful testimonial! My SO goes to a chiropractor when he's feeling back pain...I've been to one in the distant past and it helped then. I will make an appointment in the morning. The worst that will happen is that he'll say "nope. can't help" 

Suzyq2u, I'm not a pill taker by nature, but I agree...gabapentin is a god send. Nothing else seems to touch the nerve pain. I've upped the dosage now, and things are better. Doc had given me the okay to go up to 2x my normal dosage before I have to see her again...so I am taking the normal amount at night, and then another dose in the mid-morning.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

I take a Gabapentin dose before bedtime and again in the morning. I can take a third and a fourth during the day if need be, and she wrote a script allowing this, which means I have plenty in stock (thanks to a doc who is a prepper too  )


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## Suzyq2u (May 17, 2010)

I take mine 3x/day I still have some dizziness if I don't eat with it, but it seems to be doing the trick. I have paresthesia issues, no diagnosis. Now taking the meds, I really notice how much I was putting up with when I miss a dose. I too seem to have an endless supply! They upped my dose, so I now take 2 of the lower dose, haven't even touched the new bottle, lol. 
Sorry for the thread wandering of my own issues!


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## Explorer (Dec 2, 2003)

I try to avoid pain pills. I use a 'Empi Tens Select' unit very successfully. It is battery powered and electronically dulls or eliminates my back pain. I use it about every two days for 20 minutes.


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## Rocky Fields (Jan 24, 2007)

Front of the thigh could also be a circulatory problem.


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## varanandy (Nov 29, 2012)

Varicose Vein can be present in other places and it can harm it when it will not properly prevented. It is not advisable to go with self medication because it can harm you. Try to visit your physician for advice.


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