SI joint dysfunction, Lumbar Radiculopathy, Severe Sciatica
 

Hi, I am a young mother who suffered injuries to my SI joint and lower spine during a prolonged labor and delivery of a large baby. I am happy to be able to say that my daughter was virtually unscathed by her difficult delivery. When my daughter was nearly a year old I finally gave in to my doctors and discontinued breastfeeding in order to begin a more intensive pain medication regimen. Currently I am on a muscle relaxant daily at night to minimize muscle spasms. I have multiple pain medications to take, but I avoid doing so as much as possible in order to be able to function mentally throughout the day.

After nearly a year and a half suffering daily with severe pain, muscle spasms, peripheral neuropathy, pelvic floor dysfunction, and severe sciatica, I find myself wondering what to do. I have spent months working with specialized physical therapists. We tried massage therapy, ultrasound therapies, lidocaine trigger point injections, stretches, and physical therapy strengthening exercises for the hips, low back, stomach, legs, and pelvic floor. I've made significant progress since leaving the hospital with my daughter, however as she gets bigger (at 16 months she is as tall as the average 3 1/2 year old, and weighs 26 lbs 10 oz.) and more active I find daily life getting more and more difficult. Just picking her up I managed to tear my stomach muscles. Another day picking her up I pulled/irritated the SI joint and sciatic nerve further.

At this point I am able to walk somewhat awkwardly, with moderate pain and difficulty. Bending over, walking up or down stairs, picking up my daughter, and remaining in any one position for more than 20 minutes continues to be difficult and significantly painful. Overall mobility has improved from 10-15% to approximately 60% currently. Prior to further agitating the injuries I was able to achieve approximately 70% functioning and mobility. My doctors have ordered support belts for the lumbar spine and SI joint, so hopefully these will help.

Has anyone else dealt with any of these injuries, or anything similar to this? If so, do you have any recommendations for effective treatments or pain management? I am a single mother so I can't afford to deal with significant drowsiness or other such side effects from medications.

Well, thank you to anyone that has taken the time to read this.

Are you going to a pain management doctor at this time? If not, get a referral to one. These doctors are usually anesthesiologists, and know about pain. If you are going to one, keep going. lol. PLEASE don't think about surgery at this point. Surgery should be a LAST RESORT, after all conservative methods have been tried.

Physical therapy is probably your best bet along with medications. Have you had any pool therapy? That might be helpful especially for the sciatica. Believe it or not, I've had sciatica for 27 years now (Arrggh) and I've had 2 open surgeries, but nothing has helped except medications. There is the spinal cord stimulator too which helps if you can't find any relief for the sciatica. It is implanted in you, and give electrical stimulation to the sciatic nerve. You might ask your doctor about it and see if he thinks you might be a candidate for it. I wish you the very best. Please keep us posted, okay? God bless. Hugs, Lee