The acute phase of your pain will last about four to six weeks.
You can expect recovery to take at least four months.
Eighty percent of people recover without surgery, but surgery might be necessary.
Surgery is invasive and can pose serious risks so it may not be worth it for some people.
A pinched S1 nerve seems to be the issue with
related muscle spasms and inflammation,
and if I can just avoid compressing my spine,
I can escape most of the pain.
Now how does one do that?
Right now I'm lying on my back on the floor
with the computer on my stomach, and
it's not too bad. but the more I lay around
the less mobility I have.
Driving a car makes me sweat and swear
and think about running down innocent pedestrians
for a little relief, as I try sitting on my right hip
looking through the passenger's side of the windshield.
While standing in the neurologist's office
waiting for the exam, I picked up a copy of
a neurology periodical and opened to an
article on chronic pain and suicide.
Not surprisingly, a very high percentage of people
experiencing chronic pain consider suicide as a means
of pain relief at some point, then the physician is left with
the risk calculus: likely addiction to opiates or elevated
risk of suicide.
The patient seems, to me, screwed either way,
That's not me though - not yet - no suicide, no opiates.
but I am in a new relationship with pain
and am headed back to elementary school to learn
how to cope with it.
And I have a new and hot
disdain for, and defiance of,
the omniscience of physicians
and the sentences they impose
with their off-hand time frames..
You can expect recovery to take at least four months.
Eighty percent of people recover without surgery, but surgery might be necessary.
Surgery is invasive and can pose serious risks so it may not be worth it for some people.
A pinched S1 nerve seems to be the issue with
related muscle spasms and inflammation,
and if I can just avoid compressing my spine,
I can escape most of the pain.
Now how does one do that?
Right now I'm lying on my back on the floor
with the computer on my stomach, and
it's not too bad. but the more I lay around
the less mobility I have.
Driving a car makes me sweat and swear
and think about running down innocent pedestrians
for a little relief, as I try sitting on my right hip
looking through the passenger's side of the windshield.
While standing in the neurologist's office
waiting for the exam, I picked up a copy of
a neurology periodical and opened to an
article on chronic pain and suicide.
Not surprisingly, a very high percentage of people
experiencing chronic pain consider suicide as a means
of pain relief at some point, then the physician is left with
the risk calculus: likely addiction to opiates or elevated
risk of suicide.
The patient seems, to me, screwed either way,
That's not me though - not yet - no suicide, no opiates.
but I am in a new relationship with pain
and am headed back to elementary school to learn
how to cope with it.
And I have a new and hot
disdain for, and defiance of,
the omniscience of physicians
and the sentences they impose
with their off-hand time frames..
Pain is one of the shortest and most hated words in dictionaries, always sad to see somebody in a pain, especially sciatica pain, horrible! just wish you fast and full recovery! defy and endure mon ami!
ReplyDeleteand sciatica pain is manageable and curable, haven’t heard it can lead to suicide! so weird!
ReplyDeleteMerci, mon ami! We shall prevail. Pain cured the depressive funk I was in prior to this episode. I just hope to learn the lesson of appreciating and living fully every day I have without pain in the future. Pain is one hell of an effective teacher.
ReplyDelete