My symptoms can all be lumped under the heading of “sciatica.” However, I don’t get the crazy intense pain that most people think of when they hear that word. (I’ve had that sort of screaming sciatica pain before. It’s terrifying and difficult to endure, but different from what I experience on a daily basis.) Instead, this is what I get:
- I have strange sensations starting in my low back, curving through my hips and then running down my hamstrings and calves to my feet. It feels like there’s a length of wire twisted inside my legs.
- Usually, there’s an electric current pulsing through the wire.
- Often, I get twitches and spasms in my hip and leg muscles, especially when my leg muscles are relaxed.
- Often, I feel like I’m being pricked by a hot poker or needles, especially in my feet.
- Sometimes, there’s a sensation like someone is pulling the wire and trying to yank my leg off.
- I get intense Charley horses in my foot, leg, and hip muscles. Sometimes my entire leg from my hip down to my feet will cramp.
- My right leg is worse than my left, but I have symptoms in both legs.
I still haven’t completely figured out the patterns to my symptoms, but I’m fairly confident in these associations.
- Sitting (and otherwise keeping my legs in a bent position) will be uncomfortable and cause symptoms while I’m doing it. But the real reason I avoid sitting is because it leads to horrible Charley horses afterwards when I try to relax.
- Carrying a heavy backpack or doing exercises such as squats that place weight on the spine aggravate my nerve.
- Walking and stretching (particularly doing hamstring stretches) are the most effective therapy I’ve found.
- Using an elliptical machine makes the problem worse. However, the sort of pain I get from using the elliptical machine improves if I hang from a pull-up bar.
- I’m very sensitive to dehydration.
- Caffeine makes me worse, even if I drink plenty of water.
- Alcohol will improve my symptoms in the short term. However, since it also makes me dehydrated it’s usually not worth the trade-off.
- My symptoms get better in the winter and worse in the summer. Ice packs will sometimes help in the summer.