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In 2008 I graduated from West Virginia University and began working at Deloitte as an IT Consultant. My first project was in Austin, TX. After it was cut short I was sent to work in Pittsburgh, PA. During this time you could say I was a bit ‘stressed‘.
Trying to figure out how to be an adult while juggling personal relationships with a high demanding job. I remember the first six months of my job being so overwhelming. I would wake up in the middle of the night to check my phone to see if I was missing an email or something that I had to do.
Amongst all the work and jealous partner fights I began to feel the stress wearing on my body. I started getting sharp pains that would shoot all the way down my left leg. If I moved it even a little bit the pain would be agonizing. It would come and go and there really wasn’t a rhyme or reason for the pain. I would be sitting and when I’d go to stand up I’d have to take a second to compose myself because it would hurt so bad! Laying in bed I’d have to stay completely still because one slight movement would cause my body to tense up in pain.
My first step of action was to go to the chiropractor. He’d adjust me, I’d feel better and then the pain would come back. It was a vicious cycle. Finally he suggested that I go see an orthopedic doctor. Since my previous doctor didn’t deal with hips I found another doctor in his practice and off I went! I remember being so worried that something would be terribly wrong and then I’d need hip surgery. Just what I needed! Ahhh
The doctor came in, asked a few questions, did a few tests and said it was nothing more than sciatica and that I should go to PT. It was a relief that it was nothing structurally wrong, but I was annoyed that I would have to go to PT. Since my job required me to work late I had to schedule my PT sessions for as soon as the therapy office would open. So for about 3 months, 3 times a week, I would go at 7am and work out my piriformis muscle.
After a few weeks I wasn’t getting much relief and I asked if there was anything else I should be doing. My PT suggested going to yoga in addition to my daily exercises I was doing. I was afraid to go to a regular yoga class because I couldn’t move as freely as I’d like to. I looked for a ‘gentle’ yoga class and one saturday I attended. I walked in and was the youngest in the class by about 30-40 years. The teacher looked at me and asked if I was lost. I said no, I was having extreme hip pain and I was on about the same speed as everybody else in the class. She laughed and welcomed me in. Some of the other ‘yogis’ got a kick out of being able to do more than I could. haha It was comical at the time.
Once my PT visits ran out I was still in so much pain. It had helped a bit, but honestly it didn’t get rid of the pain or even give me answers to how I could alleviate the symptoms. I was frustrated and angry and just decided to suck it up.
Looking back I really can’t remember when the pain stopped. I know that for a good year I lived with the pain, but one day it just vanished and never returned. I don’t even remember exactly when it happened because I just kept going on living and never really thought about it again!
www.drugs.com
Fast forward 5 years to today and I wonder if it really was sciatica? Could it have been my psoriatic arthritis flaring up in my SI joint? After seeing the picture to the left and reading more about sciatic on drugs.com I’m really starting to think that it was my Psa and I wasn’t aware of it! All I know is through the chiropractor, PT and yoga nothing helped ease the pain I was feeling.
I guess I’ll never know! For those of you who have Psa- have you experienced pain like this? If you have had a flare up in your SI joint, what did it feel like? Write in the comments below!
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Wishing you a PAIN FREE day!
Sacroiliac joint dysfunction
Yes yes yes. I can relate to all of this. I have no disc issues but sciatic pain like no tomorrow.
Ahhhh it hurts so much! Sending you lots of healing and positive vibes for a good (and hopefully low pain) day! <3
I know this blog was written several years ago, but it completely resonates with me. I have had PsA for 6 years. I have SI involvement for about 4 years. I have recently begun to have the SI pain with hip and full leg involvement. Thank you for sharing your experience.
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Hello Fellow Hurting Peeps!
I am new to the board. Currently I am on the couch, waiting for my husband to go out to lunch. He never knows whether I can fix a lunch or that the pain is so much I cannot fix a simple lunch. My sciatica or whatever cause of pain this is has settled in on the left side. I know that I have a disc that is “degenerative disc between L5 and S1.” Had xrays for a rheumatologist the finally get the diagnosis of both osteo and psoriatic arthritis. (Went to lunch in here ) How much is out there to drive the nerves crazy, I don’t know. I have done a round of PT exercises off the internet for about a month. If anything, it seems worse.) The odd thing is I have had “moments” when I am walking that it is like I don’t have anything wrong. It is wonderful. I have minutes when it seems like it isn’t there at all. The psoriatic arthritis — reared its ugly heard when I was in graduate school and had TMJ — still have it, but the pain has moved elsewhere. I can sit and lie prone and there is no pain. It comes when standing and walking — pivoting is out of the question. Severe pain. I go through bottles of Advil to cut the pain in other areas and that seems to suffice. There is nothing I have found to cut the pain of Sciatica, if that is what it really is. I hope to have a MRI coming up tomorrow to see what is really going on with my leg and groin ares. Today when going to lunch I was balancing myself on anything handy, including a car in the lot and the newspaper boxes. Because it is in the left leg, I usually start at the the far left a where I want to go– and as I walk I am much like a car and I end up right, where the door is. Seniors frequent this restaurant, so they understand my misery — some of them share their experiences with it as well.
I have three grow children but they are living far away. One is a university librarian, another is a research science lab technician, and another does logistics for a big trucking firm (a Berkshire Hathaway company). Of this group, both daughters have the fight with psoriatic arthritis. For some reason, my son didn’t get the genetic code for this.
First on the agenda is to make my leg operational again. It happened suddenly when some tornado sires went off in the middle of the night. I must have done something getting out of bed because after that, I was not going anywhere — especially the basement. That was almost 8 weeks ago and no med, no therapy, no doctor or surgeon — to date, this is what it is. As I go through this, I will post to tell you how it goes. This is my first doctor that will see me with this — she thinks it is my annual physical. Surprise!!!!
The gabapentin is doing stuff with my eyes again, so I best take a nap to negate this stuff. Sometimes I look at something and there are three of it Triple vision — if only I could open my wallet and see Ben Franklins in there and not George Washingtons. Triple vision with this drug means I have to leave it alone for a couple days. It does allow me to sleep, so I hate losing its use. Nice to know there is a place here that I can write. I hope to find some relief, starting tomorrow.
Hi, I have been diagnosed with PsA for about 4 years, which explains many of the aches and pains I was suffering for years before that. In the last 10 months I have been in debilitating pain when I walk. Any tilting of the pelvis, twisting, striding in the wrong position…..you name it……sharp shooting pains through both buttocks and down to the calves. It started only as a minor niggle in the sacroiliac area. I kept exercising (running, gym etc) until I couldn’t do it anymore. Now I struggle walking.
My PsA specialist has been treating me with Humira for this new pain but that hasn’t worked so I am starting another drug soon. In the meantime I have had an MRI and am waiting for the results. I have had lower back issues for 20 odd years but looking at the films, it seems there might be a few bulges. I will now have to wait for my specialist to view the films.
In the meantime I just get on with life. I try not to take painkillers as I already have enough drugs in my system. I can’t exercise, struggle walking the dogs around the block, am in pain at work and in bed. My pain just doesn’t subside !!!
Hi, I was diagnosed with Psoriasis when I was around 3 years of age – and diagnosed PsA about 7 years ago when my fingers became twice the size of normal. I have managed OK up until just recently. Earlier this year, not sure if it has anything to do with my flare up, I came home from a holiday in Vanuatu with Dengue Fever. I have also noticed that I am beginning to move into the early stages of menopause, so not sure if this combo has contributed to my flare up but I suspect that it has. Currently I have been also experiencing some sciatica pains in my right leg. I’m not usually one to complain about pain and stiffness but now that I am experiencing issues with both lower and upper back, (shoulders and neck) pain and stiffness as well as the sciatica, it has become quite unmanageable and beginning to really leave me very exhausted by the end of each day. I have made an appointment with my rheumatologist and am seeing him today to try Simponi monthly injections – really hoping I can get back to a bit of normality after this.