Read on Twitter
I guess that there are a lot of people on Twitter who suffer from sciatica to some degree, from the dull ache in the leg(s) to the "hello carpet" extreme. I& #39;m in the latter category and am two days into a really severe attack and thought I& #39;d share it with you all, especially
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for the benefit of those people of the "Oh, it& #39;s just a nerve twitch, get over it" persuasion. Let& #39;s disabuse people of the "nerve twitch" misunderstanding: I had an anaesthetist, a bright, vivacious, mother of three, who also suffered from sciatica (sitting, twisting and
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bending to administer and monitor anaesthetic equipment for several hours is not conducive to good posture and puts pressures on the lumber discs that they weren& #39;t designed for). She used to say that everybody should have to undergo one day of sciatica, especially women who
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say that they& #39;ve given birth and nothing beats that for pain, just to experience what real pain is. The sensation of having a red hot, 3 foot long nail being hammered up through your heel to your buttocks. Once there, someone gives it a friendly swipe with a mallet every
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minute or so. It can last for a really short period but, most likely, having got to the carpet communing stage (leg just gives way and you get to inspect the carpet from ground level), it& #39;s going to hang around a while. My longest bout was just over three weeks.
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I was genuinely suicidal by that time, but two things stopped me; I couldn& #39;t stand to reach any med& #39;s or method of inflicting damage upon myself and I had a neighbour who came in twice a day to get me a couple of flasks of coffee and water. I couldn& #39;t repay
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that kindness by allowing her to find a corpse in place of a patient. I& #39;ve had over 52 years of suffering sciatica attacks, experiencing this irregular hell (it really does have a mind of its own about when to make an appearance) during which I& #39;ve developed a tolerance
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to painkillers far in excess of a normal person& #39;s. Fentanyl (a patch, permanently releasing the stuff into my bloodstream, doesn& #39;t even make me feel drowsy), Morphine is my paracetamol, codeine and diazepam (oddly, sometimes effective) my junior Aspirin. Anyway, I& #39;m mid-way
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