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Originally Posted by emmaleewhispers
Omg, I am a mess. Not even 31 years old yet and, because of years of smoking and being morbidly obese, I now have a bulging disc in my spine which causes a lot of pain every single day for me. Not only is my back constantly in pain, but now my legs have begun to be affected. The sciatica makes it really hard to even move my left leg when showering, getting dressed, getting in the car, etc. And just a couple days ago my right leg started hurting. I want to cry. I have no motivation to quit smoking or lose the weight I need to lose, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining. It DOES scare me immensely to think I will most likely not live very long, and the life I do have left will be miserable... but I guess it's not enough for me to change the way I'm living. UGH. Just needed to vent. Thanks for listening.
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Hey Emma, I just turned 31 myself, and I have sciatica from a herniated disk too (L4/L5) ! I understand your pain to some extent. My pain is in my right buttock, not down the leg.
Have you seen physical therapists about the pain ? What kind of medical or other treatment have you sought for it ?
I know you don't wanna hear this, but excess weight and improper body posture will exacerbate your pain.
One thing that I have trained myself to do is to squat whenever I need to bend my body, and to engage my abdominal muscles to protect my back.
I also just ordered a book from Amazon.com that explains how to manage Sciatica.
Fixing You: Back Pain: Self-Treatment for Sciatica, Bulging and Herniated Disks, Stenosis, Degenerative Disks, and other diagnoses.: Rick Olderman MSPT: 9780982193709: Amazon.com: Books
You're still quite young ... you can absolutely get over this problem.
I'm here for you if you want to talk more about this or about exercise or anything. I know you can get better, and that's why I'm eager to talk to you about it.
