ADVICE NEEDED! Anybody suffer from sciatica?

[redhen]

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I am scared to death to go to a chiropractor. The last time I went and had my neck adjusted, it set off rapid fire migraines. Eventually without any more adjustments the migraines stopped. The other day I got out of bed and felt and heard my neck pop. Instant, intense migraine. First one I'd had in more than 16 years. Lasted three days. Doc said next time I have one, if I have one, I should take a valium that he prescribed specifically for those times and get my butt to the ER asap. There I'll be given the old standby - a shot of demerol and phenergan.

I've had that happen before! I never knew what it was though...
Sometimes if i move my head just right i'll feel/hear a 'pop' and then this hot shooting pain in my head, usually up the back of my head.
Everytime it happens i swear i'm gonna die or am having a stroke or something...

The pain, for me, only last a few minutes though... I couldnt EVEN imagine it lasting days... No way i could even function at all..
Thankfully it dosent happen too often to me!
Poor Gritty... ouchie!

 

[FarmerJamie]

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On my old insurance, it was a $25 copay, but under the "improved" package, it's not covered, so I haven't gone lately. I think the office visit was around $150.

 

[EweSheep]

OUCH! But thanks LOL!

 

[FarmerJamie]

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This was at a nationally respected spine clinic, not a strip mall shop.

 

[Qi Chicken]

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On my old insurance, it was a $25 copay, but under the "improved" package, it's not covered, so I haven't gone lately. I think the office visit was around $150.

I'm an Acupuncturist. In Iowa you can self refer and so you don't need to be referred by an MD. Some insurance plans actually do cover acupuncture, especially on the coasts. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, several companies have added acupuncture to their plans, you have to check. Blue Cross and Blue Shield covers acupuncture in many states but not here. Sometimes it matters who does the acupuncture. You want someone who is NCCAOM certified. ABSOLUTELY. Many chiropractors can get licensed by the Chiropractic board in acupuncture. The course is 100 hours (less than 2 weeks). To be a licensed by the NCCAOM (National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine) it is 4,000 hours or 4 years. I'm sure I could learn to adjust a neck in 2 weeks but I sure as HECK wouldn't want me to do it.

Anyway, I treat sciatic every day. Usually with a lot of success. I charge 78.00 for a first appointment and 55.00 for follow up appointments. (This is cheap though!) You should get results in 4-6 treatments, sooner if the pain has not been going on for more than 3 months or so. Your acupuncturist would decide how often. I usually do once a week but truthfully 2x a week is better, I just can't get people to pay for it!

I don't have people do xrays blood work etc. I have them bring everything they have but the diagnosis in Oriental Medicine is based on Chinese Medical Theory. Western Med tests aren't really going to tell you something that will change your treatment unless they show that your treatment will probably be ineffective. Like completely torn rotator cuff or ruptured disks. It is my opinion that you need to know what you have before you know how you should treat it. I prefer that people know what their spine is doing, what their options are, surgery, injections, chiro, acupuncture, what they are not willing to do, ie: surgery. That way they know what their options are.

Anyway, good luck to you. Sciatic pain can be brutal.

 

[TCollier]

When I had it it was cause by pinched nerve in the very base of my back. It was suggested to me to get an inversion table. Lock you legs in it and hang upside down a little at a time and it realigns everything. You must keep using it but it worked for me.