Bun's on the Move
With just a few days to go, Bun has decided to migrate from my bladder/bowel area (sorry - there's no other polite way of saying it), to my up-until-this-point dormant sciatic nerve. Man, does it hurt! I've never had sciatica before, but it really is something else. The pain truly is smack da
b in the middle of the buttock, right where you can't get to it. Every now and then the pain does venture down the back of one of my legs, but not too often. The intense, horrific, concentrated pain in my right cheek is enough for me.
Of course, the only thing the doctor is suggesting I take is regular strength Tylenol, which isn't helping much. (In fact, we had dinner years ago with a drug rep from Tylenol, and she claimed that Extra Strength Tylenol is really the least potent version one should ever buy. Everyone at the company seems to think anything less is ineffective. I'm tending to agree with her at this point!)
In search of relief, I googled SCIATIC NERVE RELIEF, and here were the first few options that came up:
a) Two weeks of bed rest - Not going to happen. I'm expecting a baby on Monday. Enough said.
b) Surgery. No thanks - I already have a hospital stay arranged for another small procedure.
c) Deep Tissue Massage, Acupuncture, etc. - None are recommended during my final days of pregnancy. Unless, of course, I want to speed up the entire process involuntarily.
d) Anti-Inflammatory Medications - Now we're talking. As familiar as I am with these guys, they're not recommended at this point either. And that's fine. Bun has had enough meds during the last 9 months. No need to pummel the baby with pills during this last week.
e) Exercises - Now this one is interesting. At first, I dismissed the exercises I foun
d online, simply because I have a large, round protrusion in the front of my body that would prevent me from doing any of these exercises.
I mean, look at these positions - do they look belly-friendly to you?
However, upon further investigation, I've found a couple of Bun-friendly exercises that are helping, at least for the 30 seconds while I'm doing them. Putting my right leg in an "L" shape and pulling it into my body is working pretty well, as is letting my right leg go limp off of the side of the bed in an effort to stretch out that nerve (thank you, Kevin). Yes, balance has been a bit of an issue - but I'm managing. And really - I have nothing to complain about. A few days to go, and Bun will be out of his/her cage, albeit having inflicted pain on other parts of my body that I never knew existed. Ah, labor and delivery. Pure bliss.
In the meantime, I'm certainly open to other comments and suggestions for sciatica. I never knew so many people suffered from it until I started hobbling around. It's quite the conversation starter!
b in the middle of the buttock, right where you can't get to it. Every now and then the pain does venture down the back of one of my legs, but not too often. The intense, horrific, concentrated pain in my right cheek is enough for me.Of course, the only thing the doctor is suggesting I take is regular strength Tylenol, which isn't helping much. (In fact, we had dinner years ago with a drug rep from Tylenol, and she claimed that Extra Strength Tylenol is really the least potent version one should ever buy. Everyone at the company seems to think anything less is ineffective. I'm tending to agree with her at this point!)
In search of relief, I googled SCIATIC NERVE RELIEF, and here were the first few options that came up:
a) Two weeks of bed rest - Not going to happen. I'm expecting a baby on Monday. Enough said.
b) Surgery. No thanks - I already have a hospital stay arranged for another small procedure.
c) Deep Tissue Massage, Acupuncture, etc. - None are recommended during my final days of pregnancy. Unless, of course, I want to speed up the entire process involuntarily.
d) Anti-Inflammatory Medications - Now we're talking. As familiar as I am with these guys, they're not recommended at this point either. And that's fine. Bun has had enough meds during the last 9 months. No need to pummel the baby with pills during this last week.
e) Exercises - Now this one is interesting. At first, I dismissed the exercises I foun
d online, simply because I have a large, round protrusion in the front of my body that would prevent me from doing any of these exercises.I mean, look at these positions - do they look belly-friendly to you?
However, upon further investigation, I've found a couple of Bun-friendly exercises that are helping, at least for the 30 seconds while I'm doing them. Putting my right leg in an "L" shape and pulling it into my body is working pretty well, as is letting my right leg go limp off of the side of the bed in an effort to stretch out that nerve (thank you, Kevin). Yes, balance has been a bit of an issue - but I'm managing. And really - I have nothing to complain about. A few days to go, and Bun will be out of his/her cage, albeit having inflicted pain on other parts of my body that I never knew existed. Ah, labor and delivery. Pure bliss.
In the meantime, I'm certainly open to other comments and suggestions for sciatica. I never knew so many people suffered from it until I started hobbling around. It's quite the conversation starter!
Comments
Thanks for an interesting blog.
Miriam :)