Having been recently diagnosed with sciatica, stenosis (narrowing of the space between two discs) and spondolysis (inflammation) in the spinal cord, I find that I am not alone. On making enquiries, many other people are also victim of this painful condition. It makes me wonder whether, like diabetes, the condition is more common in us south Asians or is it a scourge of modern living, more widespread than we are aware! In this condition, the nerve in the spinal cord gets trapped between the vertebrae and causes cramping pain along the whole of the leg.
The basic symptom is terrible pain, agonising and tortorous which begins at the buttocks and continues along the line of the nerve. It is the inflammation along the sciatic nerve, the largest nerve in the body from buttocks down the feet and is diagnosed by an MRI scan. If all the conventional treatments like painkillers and ointments fail, the surgeons try to first treat it with epidural steroid injections. If that do not work, the only other alternative is to remove the offending disc(s) surgically. In the initial, less severe, stage, relief can be achieved by exercises which involve in bending forward.
We would like to hear from other readers who may have succumbed to this condition and how they have come to terms with it.
Dinesh Sheth
Newbury Park, Ilford
