Wow, it’s been a long time since posts.
Well I’ll start from the last post.
I managed to get my walking up to approximately 30 minutes, which required a lot of effort.
Then in early November I went for a walk and the pain in my ass, calf, and foot was pretty extreme after about 5 minutes of walking.
This hasn’t really improved, and now in March of 2007 I’m still restricted to 5 minute walks.
I can actually walk a lot longer, but all of it has to be in 5 minute stints.
So I walk for 5 minutes, then either have to squat or sit for about 30 seconds to a minute and away I go again for another 5 minutes.
So obviously this is extremely limiting and a real pain in the ass. So I’ve started seeing more doctors because my current back Dr wants to operate.
The latest 2 doctors I’ve been to have both now diagnosed me with Piriformis Syndrome.
So Piriformis Syndrome (from my research) happens to runners and bike riders normally, both of which I’m not… however I found out that if you sit for prolonged periods (like 20+ hours) you can get the same symptoms (which is a tightening of the piriformis muscle, to the point where it starts to cut into the sciatic nerve, and gives the exact same symptoms as a buldging disc… most of the piriformis website explain that piriformis syndrome is commonly misdiagnosed as a buldging disc).
This whole life changing issue began when I drove for about 30 hours straight the easter of 2006… so yes, this has now taken me out to almost 12 months of life changing leg and ass pain.. doh!
So, if you’ve read my other blog posts you’d have read the epidural did help me, which would lead you to believe I really did have a disc problem and not piriformis syndrome. Well at the same time they administered a muscle relaxant.. so the piriformis muscle relaxed and so did the pain.
Also, I’d previously mentioned my CT-Scan and MRI both showed a buldging disc… they now think it’s a red herring and that I’d probably always had the bulding disc and that it’s actually not the source of any pain (something like 20-40% of the population have a buldging disc without any pain).
So how do you treat piriformis syndrome… you stretch it. Basically you can do it sitting or lying, I seem to get more pain when lying which would indicate it’s getting a better stretch.
Google search piriformis for the exact stretch, but in a nutshell, while lying in bed on your back, bend your knees with you feet still on the bed. Get your bad leg (in my case the left leg) and cross it over your right knee. So basically you put your left ankle onto your right knee.
Then you grab your right leg with both hands (if possible, I couldn’t at the start) and pull it towards your chest… initially I could barely get my left leg onto my right leg. Now I can get it on and pull it maybe 5 – 10cm’s to my chest…
If I swap and put my right leg on my left leg, and pull my left leg towards my chest it is uninhibited and comes to my chest pretty easily.
So far what I’m noticing is that my walking time hasn’t increased, however, the 5 minute period is a lot more pain free. So for 5 minutes I’m pretty good (not much pain) but as soon as it gets nearer the 5 minute mark I start getting the same pains.
The Dr’s explain that it’s a good sign, and to keep stretching. They’ve said some people are ‘cured’ within a month of stretching, and others it takes 6 months… the key is that you see positive results when you start the stretches… if you don’t then it’s not your piriformis muscle.
So, if it is a muscle then you can change the treatment, basically I’m doing a lot more general stretching, I’m taking natural muscle relaxants etc… (like bio magnesium).
I’ve also just seen a new Doctor, who I think is from a background of physiotheraphy, but he uses accupunture etc to relieve the muscle tension and pain.
He also said that many long term piriformis syndrome sufferers have usually have something else mechanically that is out of whack.
So what he meant by that was one leg shorter than the other etc.
He measured me up and said that my left leg was slightly shorter, but didn’t believe I was like that before. He believes the time I had off of work and in bed for months meant the muscles in my left foot and leg were significantly weakened and lost.
So he examined my left foot, and basically decided that my arch had dropped and that I was rolling over on my ankle. He has strapped my foot to stop it rolling inwards, which he believes gives me a centermeter or 2 in height in my left leg, which should also relieve some of the ongoing pressure on the nerve.
He has also given me these small thumb tack type needle thingys… basically imagine a thumb tack with some sticky tape across the back of it. He then placed it in a few key spots on my back and bum cheeks.
The idea here is to send the brain nerve stimulations from the general area where he believes the source of pain is coming from. The brain realises that the pain isn’t significant and starts to ignore the pain, and it should significantly reduce the pain in my leg.. we’ll see. I’m obviously a sceptic who prefers my money in my pocket than someone elses, but I’m prepared to give this guy 3 or 4 visits to let him weave his magic.. he came highly recommended.
He has also shown my partner how to do all the strapping and needle stuff, so that we don’t have to revisit for that stuff.
The recommendation from him and from his other patients is if he can’t get you better within a few visits he’ll refer you on… ie he won’t keep leeching the cash from you when he knows he’s not going anywhere.. which I think is pretty cool.. the industry itself is pretty shit at people who sell snake oils etc and recommend long term treatments a few times of week… basically I think in general these people are full of it and really are snake oil sales men.
So that’s pretty much it. I’ll endeavour to keep you updated on what happens with the new diagnosis and treatment.. but if I’m better I’m not sure you could hold me down long enough to type another blog post 
Cheers