Re: hi from noelle (fwd)

[Noelle <http://dummy.us.eu.org/noelleg>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:35:45 -0700
From: Lizzie <http://www.sbcglobal.net/~l>
To: http://dummy.us.eu.org/noelleg
Subject: Re: hi from noelle

Hi Noelle,

Great to hear from you.  I'm sorry to hear about Robert.  If it is
sciatica, which is what I had, what is basically happening is the
disc(s) in between his vertebra(e) is getting pushed out and is
putting pressure on the sciatica nerve which is the longest nerve in
the body.  So, my guess is he's feeling pain from his lower back,
through his hips, down his thighs and probably all the way down his
feet.  It can get so bad that he could end up with a floppy foot which
means his foot kind of goes dead.  This happened to me, and shortly
after that I was on my back for longer than a week, only able to turn
over occasionally.  I actually understand why the dr. did not
prescribe an MRI, and I'll tell you why.  What is happening is that
Robert's core (his stomach and back muscles) is not strong.  Your core
should act as a "corset", it should hold you up.  If it's not strong,
over time the discs between the vertebra will simply get smushed.  So,
he should do his exercises religiously, starting small until the pain
goes away and working his way up to more difficult exercises.
Medication won't cure it.  I went to UCLA rehab and was given a set of
exercises that I have done for two years now (15-20 minutes 4-5x/week
as soon as I get out of bed), and I have not had a recurrence.
Occasionally when I'm bad and don't do the exercises, I take Advil to
deal with the inflammation and get back to it.  Yes, it takes work,
but it pays off, believe me.

On Jun 23, 2009, at 6:07 PM, Noelle wrote:

> Robert is dealing with sciatica now. I got him to see my physical
> therapist and she made an audio CD with exercises to do. But he is
> getting worse. I was wondering if this was similar to your back
> problem with the discs.He hasn't had an MRI, but I think the next
> time he sees the dr she will have to order one to find out what is
> causing this(she just gave him ibuprofen last time).
> I don't know what your schedule is these days, but maybe you could
> call us some evening this week? It would be nice to talk to you, and
> perhaps you could help Robert too?