janice, you wrote:

I'd be glad to share.  First, a little background:  I have a history of DVT
which has tendency to want to kill me by throwing off blood clots into my
lungs (three so far), and without a discernable physiological cause my
doctor has me on blood thinners for life.  That precludes me from taking
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) like Ibuprofin or Celebrex for
pain, so I'm limited to either Tylenol or Vicodin (which is Tylenol plus
Codeine).

Tylenol doesn't do much for my pain relief and the Vicodin just wipes me
out, so I've sort of been trying to avoid pain for the last couple of years.

My sciatica began around five years ago, I was 60-70 pounds overweight then
and was about two years into my foot problems (plantar fasciitis).  I
learned that a "spell" was about to come on when my butt, my right cheek,
would start getting sore for no apparent reason.  Then I would get the sharp
throbbing pains down the right leg for a week or two.  The doctor told me I
had a disc in my spine which was deteriorating, so the progression of
pressure on the sciatic nerve is inevitable.  Being very tall doesn't help;
when I'm lifting or pushing things my back has to support a lot of force.
The only relief would be to strengthen my back.

Trying to get better through immobility (hah!) I became less and less
active.  The key, I thought, was to just keep my spine in a neutral
position.  Back then, if I wanted to, I could wiggle my lower back around
and feel the nerve being pinched.  Since my feet hurt I couldn't walk to
help my back muscles, and being overweight I couldn't do the exercises to
help.  Since my back hurt I couldn't do the foot exercises to help my heel
spurs.  Since I was on blood thinners I couldn't take the medications which
would ease the pain.

So, I started dieting.  I think the weight loss helped in a couple of ways.
First, I carried most of my excess weight out front and that didn't help my
spine stay neutral.  With the weight loss my feet improved to the point
where I could walk again, and walking helps the back.  Getting off my butt
and moving around is helping strengthen all my back muscles which helps
support my spine.

I'm still very careful to avoid twisting my lower back, and the safety
posters saying "lift with your knees, not your back" don't lie.  I now use
knee pads when gardening, make sure I grab something to help me stand up,
lift with my knees, walk a lot, and my weight is now better balanced over my
hips.

I don't know if my experiences are normal or if my cause/effect assumptions
are correct, but I'm happy.  All I really know is that my back hasn't given
me problems for awhile; I can do things now I couldn't do just last year;
and I won't go back to the way I was.

Hope this helps, janice.  The older we get the more we have to take care of
ourselves.  I wish I believed that ten years ago, but all young(ish) people
are invincible.  Like my father said when he was 83, "If I'd known I was
going to live this long I would've taken better care of myself."

- Dewolla