[runner]

Update on the radiculopathy-

Still have sciatica, but numbness is variable. Sometimes I have it, other times it is not as noticable. Somedays bottom legs are numb, today had weird numbness in my groin area but it didn't last. Pins and needle sensations in feet, intermittedly, etc...
I took my x-rays and MRI to my doctor appointment with my foot doctor and he says that the films look good and my placement is good as far as he can tell. He put some heel lifts on my orthodics to take pressure off the sciatic nerve. He also injected my right foot for the plantar fascitis, which actually helps a lot.

He questioned why my doctor hadn't had me have an epidural.
Some doctors just seem to think differently. After reading about epidurals here and on the other sites, i wonder if they are that good for you.

I think I will have a list of questions when i see my surgeon in early January.
I just want to find out for sure what is irritating my sciatic nerve/nerve roots.
I increased my exercise amount and I have increased back pain but I figure the sooner I take all this extra weight off, the better. I am trading some comfort for increased fitness.

It is all a mystery to me, but there are other people on here post-disc that have similar symptoms. I just know I can not keep putting up with this scitica indefinitely, it is a major crimp on my life style and my workouts.
I am not working, but that cannot go on forever either. I need to be working but can't work in this condition. I definitely want to go back to work, where, I don't know yet but I have a lot of experience.

But how can i work, when i am taking Gabapentin six times a day, periodically stop in my tracks when i feel the sciatica, and am sleepy most of the day as a side effect of the gabapentin? I dose myself with Tylenol three times a day for the back pain. Helps a bit.

I don't want to go on everyday narcotics again either. My backpain feels deep and somewhat like I had before surgery. Not completely though. I hope I have left that back pain behind.

My PT thinks I have the radiculopathy because my facet joints are inflammed. I don't know about that because I seem to have better sitting tolerance than other people on here suffering from facet-related problems. My facets only had minor hyperthrophy before surgery.
I guess I have a lot of questions and not many answers. Now, almost nine months post-op.
Going to bed, it is late and I need to get up early to get a walk in.