I am 36 and have sciatica. Recently had mri results to confirm. I work for a well known builders merchant and i am a yard supervisor / relief driver. I do love the driving aspect of my job but also like the yard and other duties i do (adds varity). I may have a chance of moving to tipper work as i am sick of being in pain. I am a little worried weather this is a good move. I am able to move about all be it in pain but i dont want my condition to worsen. if i go for tipper work will it be an out the saucepan into the fire kind of thing.
Has anybody else got this condition? If i have to give up driving then so be it. I know i cant stay in my current job. Its ok for now but what about in 6,12,18 etc months. My health means more to me and if i have to do a complete career change then thats what will happen.
I am posting here just to see if an answer comes along that i have not considered. Its ok asking friends and family but non of them drive lorrys nor work in a builders merchant so how can they tell me anything that i have not considered.
I haven’t been told officially I have sciatica but I hurt my lower back in Feb. I’m similar age to you, late thirties. I’m pretty sure I slipped a disc. I’ve never seen anyone about it. It was sore and very stiff for a while but went away. However after going road running a month or so later I noticed discomfort returning in my lower back. Probably the impact. It ebbs and flows.
Sitting in the car for long drives seems to bring out aching and some stiffness. I’ve read most slipped discs recede and the pain slowly goes so I’m hoping that’s the case. I’ve carried on running on the treadmill and seems to have been ok this week touch wood. I’ve avoided lifting weights as I’m nervous of making it worse. I’m just trying to give it time to heal as understand it takes time. If its still there in 6 months I’ll have to go see about it.
People slate the nhs but we did not have it i can honestly say this would be costing me a small fortune. ok i have to pay for prescriptions but thats about it. Its a long drawn out process to get answers and i feel i have hit a wall. Physio, acupuncture, massage etc really does not work that well considering the price. there must be something i have not thought about hence the post.
Good luck with your health and i really do hope it pans out better for you that it has me
I had sciatica about thirty years ago I went for acupuncture had six treatments and never had it again It cleared it up. maybe you should give the acupuncture a go. It is not painful I never felt the needles going in. It worked for me maybe it could work for you. I had a friend who got spinal epidural injections every three months and they helped him. Ask your doc about that.
midlands-lad:
I am 36 and have sciatica. Recently had mri results to confirm. I work for a well known builders merchant and i am a yard supervisor / relief driver. I do love the driving aspect of my job but also like the yard and other duties i do (adds varity). I may have a chance of moving to tipper work as i am sick of being in pain. I am a little worried weather this is a good move. I am able to move about all be it in pain but i dont want my condition to worsen. if i go for tipper work will it be an out the saucepan into the fire kind of thing.
Has anybody else got this condition? If i have to give up driving then so be it. I know i cant stay in my current job. Its ok for now but what about in 6,12,18 etc months. My health means more to me and if i have to do a complete career change then thats what will happen.
I am posting here just to see if an answer comes along that i have not considered. Its ok asking friends and family but non of them drive lorrys nor work in a builders merchant so how can they tell me anything that i have not considered.
Thanks in advance guys.
Do yourself a favour and exhaust every possible avenue to get your health back on track. I ignored d for years what I thought was simple back pain from doing manual labour the likes of loading, hauling pallets etc but it turned out I’d 3 prolapsed discs.
I’m now disabled and can’t work ever again, I’ve had 3 operations to try and fix the problem but no joy. So my friend get down to docs and pester the life out of them to get yourself sorted. Best of luck whatever you decide to do.
IF your sciatica is down to a disc issue, then the NHS is the way to go. If it’s down to vertebrae being misaligned, (and it can be), then a trip to see an osteopath may be a good bet, imho. Soft tissue damage needs particular types of treatment and needs time. Similar pain can result from misaligned vertebrae and that can be treated as well. I don’t know which one it is for you cos you don’t say in your post. If you’ve been told it’s a disc issue, then all I can do is sympathise. If there’s a chance it’s not, find an osteopath near you. I picked something up on the twist while delivering a week last Monday. Berk. Painkillers for a couple a days before I gave in and went to see an osteopath I’ve known for donkeys. One day off work to attend the appointment, (agency, no issues), small (imo) fee and back to it the next day. B&Q home deliveries that week.
Good luck, mate.
volvo2:
I had sciatica about thirty years ago I went for acupuncture had six treatments and never had it again It cleared it up. maybe you should give the acupuncture a go. It is not painful I never felt the needles going in. It worked for me maybe it could work for you. I had a friend who got spinal epidural injections every three months and they helped him. Ask your doc about that.
Sorry I hadn’t seen you had acupuncture.
Accupuncture cured me.3 sessions with a very competent New Zealand practitioner here on the Isle Of Wight,l think the key thing is to be ultra relaxed when those pretty painless needles go in,i think tensing up too much can be detrimental to good energy flow though.
Good Chinese medicine predates western by centuries but a lot of bogus stuff predominates alas.
Sumsmeister:
IF your sciatica is down to a disc issue, then the NHS is the way to go. If it’s down to vertebrae being misaligned, (and it can be), then a trip to see an osteopath may be a good bet, imho. Soft tissue damage needs particular types of treatment and needs time. Similar pain can result from misaligned vertebrae and that can be treated as well. I don’t know which one it is for you cos you don’t say in your post. If you’ve been told it’s a disc issue, then all I can do is sympathise. If there’s a chance it’s not, find an osteopath near you. I picked something up on the twist while delivering a week last Monday. Berk. Painkillers for a couple a days before I gave in and went to see an osteopath I’ve known for donkeys. One day off work to attend the appointment, (agency, no issues), small (imo) fee and back to it the next day. B&Q home deliveries that week.
Good luck, mate.
Is Osteopathy a good way to go,compared to Chairopractory,as i tried chairo once,cost me deep in the ■■■■■ for zero results.I have stenosis and have been denied surgery as it doesn’t affect my walking ability,which is the criteria for the surgeons apparently?
Never considered osteo.
Osteopaths work with skeletal problems. If bones are not in the best place in relationship to each other, they are specialists. I don’t have any experience with chiropractors and would not be able to compare and contrast them with osteopaths. My knowledge/experience is quite narrow really, but I would not give anything other than an opinion if I was less than sure about something. My experience has been that osteopaths will tell you when they have reached the edge of their knowledge and will readily refer you to someone else if they can’t treat you.
I had sciatica several years ago. It became so bad I became “frozen” into the driving seat on one occasion. Had to admit defeat and see a doctor.
Well, Ill abbreviate my own story of GPs etc and say that eventually I went privately to a chiropractic. Paid for private x-rays which revealed a twisted spine and a burst disc. The chiropractor manipulated the spine back into place. Or at least helped it there. It took weeks rather than days. Maybe it would have straightened itself eventually, but Ill never know for sure.
For myself with my particular problem, I wouldnt hesitate to go down the same route of chiropractic manipulation. It must though depend on the underlying reason for your own troubles, whether or not it would work for you. As to the job though, make sure your driving posture is a good one. Not like the sloppy laid back one I used to have. Try to straighten up and move about in the seat on a long run. Lots of quick breaks. Keep fit so muscles have enough tone to support the spine. If youre on multi drop with handball there`s probably enough going on to keep you on top of it anyway.
In my case no recurrence for several years now, so I wish you well, and hope you find out exactly what the root cause is for you, and get the correct treatment.
midlands-lad:
I am 36 and have sciatica. Recently had mri results to confirm. I work for a well known builders merchant and i am a yard supervisor / relief driver. I do love the driving aspect of my job but also like the yard and other duties i do (adds varity). I may have a chance of moving to tipper work as i am sick of being in pain. I am a little worried weather this is a good move. I am able to move about all be it in pain but i dont want my condition to worsen. if i go for tipper work will it be an out the saucepan into the fire kind of thing.
Has anybody else got this condition? If i have to give up driving then so be it. I know i cant stay in my current job. Its ok for now but what about in 6,12,18 etc months. My health means more to me and if i have to do a complete career change then thats what will happen.
I am posting here just to see if an answer comes along that i have not considered. Its ok asking friends and family but non of them drive lorrys nor work in a builders merchant so how can they tell me anything that i have not considered.
.
Hello. In 1992 at age 21 I was laid on my stomach having two discs in my lumbar operated on because they’d gone prolapsed. I started driving trucks commercially in 1994. In 2001 the disc above those two failed due to being young and stupid and I had to stop driving for a year when it got to the point I couldn’t walk from the truck to the goods in office. Mine is inoperable and I’ve got it for the rest of my life. I think its safe to say that like some contributors I’ve some experience of this.
Even though the specialist after my last scan said not to do anything involving sitting for long periods, standing for long periods, pushing, pulling or lifting I drive pretty much full time although I do have periods when I have to take odd days off and at one point had to take over a year off. You are going to be limited to what you can do not only for the type of jobs but how long you can work as well. Tipper work is definitely out and will leave you in absolute agony as is anything else involving off road because what happens is as you’re driving down the tracks etc the drivers seat is bouncing up and down and that compresses your spine making everything 10 times worse. I doubt you will last the morning doing tipper work. Work where you have to jump on and off the back of a wagon is out. Work where you’re dragging heavy pallets or trolleys out of a wagon is out. You are even going to find that the type of truck you drive and the types of road you drive on are going to be a problem. I cannot drive a Scania, the new MANs give me back ache but the older ones were fine and if I spend all day on minor A and B roads it gives my back a lot of jip. Mine is so bad that even heaving open doors on a fridge trailer gives me grief and I can no longer do pallet network trunking since they changed over to XL load bearing curtains.
However its not all bad. I drive for Howdens Joinery through an agency and apart from one run involving several strapping down chipboard loads I can do everything else. Night trunking for parcel companies is OK, most general haulage is OK within the limits I said, containers are going to be fine as well.
I would go as far as to say agency is probably the way to go until you can find where your limitations are. You’re not risking losing a job because you have to limit yourself to only working 3 days a week or like I like to do 2 days work, one day off, 2 days work, weekend off. You’re not going to lose your job at an agency because you need to take a day off at short notice.
Also look into claiming DLA or PIP or whatever its called nowadays. If you’re overweight lose some, it’ll take the pressure off your back.
To the OP, I can appreciate how sore you must be when you’re on here looking for possible solutions! I’ve had back trouble on and off for 20 years now, had a discectomy in 2009 due to a knackered disc. Since then I have on and off trouble but a few weeks ago I had sciatic pain down my right leg that had me worried I’d done another disc in. I had a look online and found some info on it, figured I might as well give the stretches a go because nothing else to lose and they actually worked for me! I did the stretches 3 times a day when I was at home, not so easy done once I was back out all week in a lorry but I did what I could and it definitely helped me. The stretches gave me almost instant relief, the pain would come back later, did more stretches and eventually I was pain free more than in pain. Worth a go to anyone with sciatic pain. When I was sore I couldn’t get comfortable driving and was adjusting the seat every few minutes but on week 2 and I realised I was able to keep the seat in the same position.
I’ve had L5 S1 disc rupture twice. Had surgery first time, helped for a bit. 2nd time had steriod injections. They did a better job. But, was off for 7.5 months after trying to sit down 1 sunday afternoon and finding myself stuck half sitting, half standing. Was in a bit of pain for a few weeks before and ended up on morphine after. After the injections, came off the morphine. Get the occasional bit of pain, which Codiene and paracetamol kills (not when at work mind). I deliver Truck Tyres on multi drop. And sometimes do night trunks in MANs.
Like Conor says, find your limits and work with them.
Thanks eveyone. Your support means alot. Never even came into my head to use agencys. I do stretches but i am going to try these ones as they are different. I am at the end of my teather. I am on amitriptyline, dihidracodine, neproxen but it bairly touches the pain so i tend not to bother. Thanks again guys
midlands-lad:
Thanks eveyone. Your support means alot. Never even came into my head to use agencys. I do stretches but i am going to try these ones as they are different. I am at the end of my teather. I am on amitriptyline, dihidracodine, neproxen but it bairly touches the pain so i tend not to bother. Thanks again guys
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Any of them opiates? I found in my darkest hours Gabapentin hit the spot, along with morphine & naproxen. Forgot I still occassionally take naproxen with Codiene.
Oh, I did find Gabapentin worse to come off than morphine . Both times!
Docs try not to give gabapentin anymore due to the addictiveness. Not sure about morphine. I could be wrong but this is what i have been told. Diazapan worked well for me but yet again my doc says no. Wish my doc was the man from delmonte.
I have had sciatica since the late 70’s, now in my 60’s I still suffer from it now and then but over the years have found that I almost always get an attack if I have been driving with the drivers window open or even cracked open, I can close it and drive all day and not suffer.
hmmm. Fair enough. But will agree, Gabapentin is highly addictive. Got some right nasty side effects. Luckily I was off at work at time. Otherwise could have been embarrassing.
I’ve had it on and off for about 20 yrs, one day I could not get out of my bunk, luckily a mate was running with me and helped.
I was given Diclofenac which is a muscle relaxant, and Co. codamol as a painkiller, works for me, and not had it for a while.
May just be coincidence but not had it since we got a memory foam mattress.
robroy:
I’ve had it on and off for about 20 yrs, one day I could not get out of my bunk, luckily a mate was running with me and helped.
I was given Diclofenac which is a muscle relaxant, and Co. codamol as a painkiller, works for me, and not had it for a while.
May just be coincidence but not had it since we got a memory foam mattress.
My pain appears on cold damp mornings. But know now I’ve fudged my spine, I’m always going to have problems.
Perhaps a memory foam matteress is the way forward
Painkillers for a couple a days before I gave in and went to see an osteopath I’ve known for donkeys. One day off work to attend the appointment, (agency, no issues), small (imo) fee and back to it the next day. B&Q home deliveries that week.
. Both times!