There's lumberthing I want to tell you

[lumberjim]

I experienced sciatica yesterday for the first time. Holy shit batman.

That fucking hurts.

I have several theories on why. First, I tweaked my back on that side when the mulch came. Simply tossing the tarp over it. Was sore for a couple days, then was better. Then I spent 3 of the next 4 days shoveling, carting and spreading it (7+ yards). Was sore, but no real pain. Took 2 or 3 days slow due to weather, then power washed front and back porches in one shot (4-5 hours). Over the next 2 days my back started getting stiff right where I had tweaked it at the beginning of this long paragraph. Thinking that as muscle re grew, it crowded that nerve and inflamed the area.

Yesterday, it got so tight, I couldn't sit on a chair. Started getting little muscle spasms in my right thigh. Kind of like a twitching eyelid... Or like bubbles coming up from boiling water. Pop pop pop....(these went on all day... Like having hiccups for 12 hours)... Tried walking it off. Then the pain started to bloom in my right femur. Got to the point where it felt like a bad tooth ache inside that whole leg. It was far worse than the back pain.

From about 1pm to 9 pm I could not stand up for more than 4 minutes. Ice packs, heat, ibuprofen, aleve, pot, rum... Nothing helped. Well the pot helped me disassociate from the pain, but it was still thrumming.

Finally, at Amandas insistence, I laid on my back on the rug, and put my calves up on the ottoman for as long as I could take it. That actually got me around the corner. I could sit up again. Still pretty shaky and sore this morning, but much much better.

Another theory is that I haven't had my wallet in my back pocket every day, and Thursday I went out, and had it there.

I have shit to do and it's a gorgeous day. This is inconvenient.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

Started getting little muscle spasms in my right thigh. Kind of like a twitching eyelid... Or like bubbles coming up from boiling water. Pop pop pop....(these went on all day... Like having hiccups for 12 hours)...

If you ever end up having to describe these to a doctor down the line, I'll save you some time: they're called fasciculations. The key distinction is that they're happening in tiny shreds of muscles that you couldn't willfully isolate and move on your own. They're one of those annoying symptoms like "fatigue" that happen with a lot of conditions, and can be either super serious or no big deal.

(Awhile back I had them in my whole body for months, leading to a slew of tests from my neurologist to rule out new seizures, ALS, MS, etc. before we finally got them under control. Now I only get maybe 1-2 twitches per week, plus I get them steadily in both thighs for about 20 minutes after I exercise.)