Acute Sciatica
Acute sciatica is also known as a sciatica attack or episode. Acute pain comes on fast and strong, crippling patients and making even the simplest tasks seem torturous. Acute sciatic nerve symptoms are definitely a source of great
fear
for every individual who must contend with torturous
back and leg pain.
These flare-ups typically come from nowhere and debilitate without mercy. Over time, this can make living normally a virtual impossibility, since patients never know when an acute episode will strike them down.This treatise will examine the experience of acute symptoms in the low back, buttocks, legs and/or feet. We will discuss why acute attacks are so mentally and physically affective.
What is Acute Sciatica?
Acute pain develops quickly and escalates into a full blown condition of misery and disability. Most patients who experience an acute sciatic attack are afraid of both the immediate unbelievable physical torment, as well as the possibility of a protracted episode of
chronic sciatica
pain. Sciatica is surely one of the most diverse
back pain
syndromes, with every patient experiencing a unique and highly personal display of symptoms. Acute expressions can prevent a person from
standing,
walking,
sitting
or even lying down comfortably. For people who have never endured an acute episode of sciatica, it is virtually impossible to describe the misery. Just imagine fire
burning
through your back, buttocks and legs. Picture your muscles feeling as if they are ripping themselves apart. Imagine a pain so great that it literally makes you unable to move. This is a good place to start, but does not even begin to truly and accurately portray the living hell of a terrible sciatica flare-up.
Acute Sciatica Experience
Many acute sufferers are fine day to day or have a small amount of regular discomfort. Then, without warning, an acute attack strikes them and forces them into
bed
for a few days to recover. Once they feel better, they generally do not have anymore pain, but are statistically likely to suffer a recurrent episode in the future. Although most of these patients are functional, they are filled with dread and have problems planning for the future due to the unpredictable nature of their painful
sciatica symptoms.
Other patients have the opposite pain problem. These poor souls suffer every day with chronic sciatic nerve symptoms and may also endure regular acute attacks of intense pain. Generally, these individuals are less functional and have a greater chance of simply losing hope due to their constant
suffering.
Acute Sciatica Advice
The
sciatic nerve
is responsible for transporting all the motor and sensory messages between our brains and our lower bodies. When a painful condition affects this nerve, which happens to be the largest in our bodies, the results can be devastating. Acute
radicular pain
can strike anywhere in the lower back, buttocks, legs or feet. The more areas it affects, the greater the patient suffers. It is a simple formula for a hellish existence. During
my sciatica
nightmare, my symptoms initially were purely acute. Generally, I felt ok day to day, but suffered extremely severe and gut wrenching episodes of acute lower back and leg pain for the first few years of my condition. These episodes would last for weeks and then I would feel better physically, but was very frightened emotionally. After all, this agony was not easy to bear. As time passed, my pain became chronic and I suffered constant pain in my back and legs. Although my acute attacks became less frequent, the intensity of the daily pain grew progressively worse every day, week, month and year. At this advanced stage, over 25 years after my first attack, I have chronic sciatica, but the actual symptoms change in severity, location and even expression almost daily. I get pain, tingling and subjective numbness throughout my buttocks, legs and feet, particularly on the left side. I have not been able to prove to myself any definitive correlation to the many structural diagnoses I have received, so I continue to research for my own benefit and for the benefit of all the readers of this site. I hope my efforts can help us all eventually.
Acute Sciatica to Sciatica
7/24/08 Revised 4/8/12
|
