Symptoms of sciatica can be different for
everyone. You can feel lower back pain while
someone else may have a pain down the back
of the thigh, and another may feel excruciating
pain driving down their entire back and side
of their leg. And when you have another episode
you may have pain in another area. Pain can
become so severe that it can make walking
impossible, but on another occasion, you may
only have a bit of tingling in your leg and
foot.
You cannot predict when symptoms of sciatica
may appear, they may come on gradually or
suddenly out of the blue. If the attack is
caused by a herniated disc, then you may feel
some aching in your buttocks with some pain
in lower back. Then the ache can grow into
more pain in your lower back. You could be
walking around feeling great, then sneeze
or cough and instantly have a sciatic attack.
If you have been sitting for long periods
of time without much movement can also bring
one on. If you know you will be sitting for
a while, get up and walk around intermittently
to keep things stretched and loose.
For example symptoms of sciatica can be pain
with a tingling sensation that may run through
your buttocks, down the back of your leg through
the back of your thigh. It can also go down
as far as your calf. As I mentioned earlier,
sitting for a long time seems to aggravate
it and can bring on some shooting pain. But
when you get to that point, you may not be
able to get up and walk.
Pain relievers like Ibuprofen can help relieve
some of the painful symptoms of Sciatica.
But for the episodes that last longer, you
really should visit your doctor to make sure
there aren't any other underlying causes.
Extreme weakness in the leg or foot is one
of the less common symptoms of Sciatica, making
it difficult to lift the leg. You may also
experience numbness that can last for a short
time up to several weeks. And in very rare
cases, there can be incontinence problems
with the bladder or the bowel. If you experience
any of these symptoms of Sciatica, you need
to contact your physician immediately.
Usually the symptoms of Sciatica can last
from days to months, depending on how severe
the episode is. The typical cases seen are
4 to 6 weeks before the pain is totally gone.
The pain is at its worst in the beginning
then tapers off as time goes on.