you may have already tried this, but my mom finds that lying on her stomach with a pillow under her hips and abdomen to lengthen her back helps relieve some of the pressure. Sometimes having someone massage the spasming muscle in long, firm movements (as opposed to more direct pressure on a particular knot) will add additional relief. I hope you start feeling better soon! I feel your pain :/
I've tried the lying-on-a-pillow thing sometimes, but it's not quite as good as lying on my back, as far as I can tell. Except for when I am applying heat or cold -- sometimes they help, sometimes not.
1) That really stinks, I'm sorry you have to deal with it!
2) Her disc wasn't herniated, but my roommate sophomore year developed sciatica. After months of going in regularly for steroids-via-epidural to try to reduce the swelling and pain without much success, she finally got completely better when someone said, "Oh, the physical therapist didn't teach you how to sit and stand so that your muscles are maximally reducing strain on your spine?" I know there's only so much good that can do with a herniated disc, but if you haven't seen a physical therapist of someone with comparable knowledge (and you're feeling like you can cope with going out), that might prove helpful?
I don't know if you know Nagle, but he's had a lot of good luck with Esther Gokhale's book on pain-free backs and John Sarno has a fantastic set of books on similar topics. I'm not sure how helpful they'll be for you, but maybe they can help mitigate the pain. I'm really sorry you're going through this.
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I've tried the lying-on-a-pillow thing sometimes, but it's not quite as good as lying on my back, as far as I can tell. Except for when I am applying heat or cold -- sometimes they help, sometimes not.
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2) Her disc wasn't herniated, but my roommate sophomore year developed sciatica. After months of going in regularly for steroids-via-epidural to try to reduce the swelling and pain without much success, she finally got completely better when someone said, "Oh, the physical therapist didn't teach you how to sit and stand so that your muscles are maximally reducing strain on your spine?" I know there's only so much good that can do with a herniated disc, but if you haven't seen a physical therapist of someone with comparable knowledge (and you're feeling like you can cope with going out), that might prove helpful?
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