I don’t sit down. Ever.
Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, because I still haven’t figured out a way around sitting during takeoff and landing during flights. Perhaps it’s safer to say that I only sit down when I’m legally required to, which is not very often.
When I do sit down, I get muscle spasms and cramps starting in my lower back and hips and winding down through my legs and feet. (You can lump these symptoms into the sciatica bucket, though I rarely get the excruciating pain that most people associate with sciatica.)
The truly horrible thing about these spasms and cramps is that they don’t go away when I stand up. They persist for days, and get more intense the more I relax the muscles. When I lie down it feels like my sciatic nerve is hooked up to an electric current and someone keeps turning the dial. It’s not particularly easy to rest, and sleeping becomes an exercise in futility. It’s much easier to avoid sitting down.
When my health first started spiraling out of control in 2017, I was terrified by what was happening inside me and my body’s apparent attempt to sabotage itself. My doctors didn’t seem to have any answers and, while sciatica and back problems are shockingly common, I couldn’t find any accounts of people who had gone through the same things I had. I started this blog so that others with sitting disabilities and sciatica would know they aren’t alone.
I don’t have a cure. I’m not selling any miraculous products or supplements. I don’t even have a solid diagnosis or explanation for why I am the way I am. But I can suggest some resources that I’ve found helpful, share details of how I manage my symptoms, and offer tips for lifestyle modification.
Hopefully you find some of the information on this site useful. At the very least, I hope there’s some small comfort in knowing you’re not alone.
If you have questions, suggestions, or just want to say hi, feel free to reach out to me.