Zoloft - I hate you.

Zoloft has been evil to me. I have realized now that every time I increase or decrease my medicine my back/butt/leg pain gets worse! Now that I have lowered my dosage I am starting to feel worse again... the way that I did when I increased my dosage. I just know that Zoloft has something to do with all of this!! I only have a few more days before I can completely stop this medicine. There were a few days that I did not take Zoloft at all because I misplaced them and thought "well its ok to not take them since I plan on stopping them anyway". I felt SO terrible. Every time I moved my head or eyes I thought I was going to pass out from being so dizzy. I also would get these "surges of energy"(i dont know how else to describe it) through my body. I though I might be diabetic or something I was very concerned for my health. I will update again after I have completely stopped the Zoloft for a few days. I should be feeling better then!!

Could my medication be the problem?!

 A few weeks ago I was visiting a forum about back pain and sciatica. I found a post by a guy who had problems for months on end and it turned out that the culprit was his wallet!! sitting on a wallet (like many men do) can irritate the muscles in that area. I think its called piriformis syndrome .(thats one of the muscles in the butt region) Anyways I started thinking..what if there was something that changed in my life that could be causing this whole problem. It would be too good to be true but it was worth thinking about especially since I have considered checking into surgery.Well then I was thinking about the anti-anxiety medication(zoloft) I had started in January of this year. IT was not long after that that my symptoms started. then I had remember that at some point in time my symptoms got worse and I do believe this was around the time that my dosage was increased. I researched it online and found that 11 people have reported joint problems while taking zoloft. I know 11 people that isnt very many but considering how i havent had the best of luck these past few years it would make since if i was number 12. But if this is the problem then I would be very lucky! I talked to my psych. about this and we are starting to lower my dosage to get me off the medication. I am very excited and hope that this is the answer!

Memory Foam Bed

All I can say is I REALLY REALLY REALLY want a memory foam bed! I spent a week at my friends house helping her prepare for her wedding. While I was there I had the amazing opportunity to sleep on her wonderful memory foam bed. The first night I slept in that bed was like sleeping on a cloud. It was firm but not too firm and it was soft but not too soft. It did wonders for my back! I still had some back pains of course but when I woke up in the morning my back felt a difference between that bed and my regular spring mattress bed at home. I need a memory foam bed!

Hope

 So now that I know what my condition is called I have researched it some online. I have found that sacro-illiac joint dysfunction is quite common but often misdiagnosed. I also read that some times a manual physical therapist can reposition the joint and then the patient can then start a stretching routine to bring back the mobility of the joint.Although this is exciting it is also difficult for me to get more treatment for this problem. I lost my job recently and have tons of medical bills piling up on me from treatments that were worthless. There are also some other products I really want to try if I can get them money for them. There is something called a sacro-illiac belt that is supposed to hold the joint in place and improve the alignment of the joint. Hopefully I will be able to try some of these solutions soon!! The acupuncture treatments helped me a lot but I was bummed to find out that it is only temporary pain relief but hey I will take it for now!

Bad Back Days

Today is not so great my back is bothering me even though I am lying down. Good news is my leg is not bothering me right now! I was disappointed when I showed up for my third acupuncture treatment and the doctor had left early. He said I needed Three treatments total and I was very excited to see if the third treatment would make more progress! Now I guess I am going to see how long those treatments will last. He did say that the pain would return because walking and sitting irritate my condition. Which by the way he told me my condition is know as sacro-illiac joint dysfunction. I as well as my doctors thought I had sciatica because the pain is so similar to sciatica. I guess from now on I will be researching this instead of sciatica.

The past eight months battling sciatica

One morning in January 2010 I woke up with what felt like a tight muscle in my right thigh. I went to get a massage but it didn't go away. Over the next few months this grew from a sight annoyance to a very severe problem. One that caused me to delay my wedding and other significant life events. It also made it very difficult to attend my college classes. As time went on it became harder for me to sit or stand for any length of time longer than 20 minutes. One night I was out to dinner with my family and the pain was so unbearable I started crying and couldn't finish my meal. I decided I had to see a doctor. The first step I tried was anti-inflammatory medication. It did nothing for me! In fact, while i was on it the problem got worse! I ended up going to another doctor who thought my problem was not that severe which made me very angry. Finally, I found a place that I believed could help me. They had medication and physical therapy as well as a massage therapist and a chiropractor all in the same building! I was thrilled! I did physical therapy three times a week as well as adjustments and pain medication as well as the Vax-D program. Vax-D is a decompression therapy that is perfect for people who have disc problems. Unfortunately, the only thing that worked for me was the medication.  After all this failed to work for me I was sent for a nerve and muscle conduction test and then I received a nerve block epidural in my back which was supposed to make the pain lessen for a good couple of months. Well, this did not work for me either. During this time I had also found out that what I was suffering from is know as sciatica. I spent many hours on the internet researching what could be done for this problem. I read that many times sciatica will come and go on its own. My problem was that it was never leaving! I was desperate for anything that might work even if it only worked a little bit. One product I did try is called th saco-wedgy. They make male and female versions of this item because the male and female backs are shaped differently. The sacro-wedgy is just a molded wedgy that you place under your sacrum while you lay down. You use it for about twenty minutes per day. Although I did like the sacro-wedgy I found it more and more difficult to take the 20  minutes each day to use it especially since it is not a "quick fix". There have also been many other products that I have tried over the past eight months but nothing has come even close to fixing me as acupuncture. I recently tried acupuncture on a whim just to see if it would work. I was so desperate I would try anything! So I went to the acupuncturist and he did an intense acupressure massage and then placed the acupuncture needles around my sacrum. I have only had two treatments so far and I already feel an amazing difference!!! There is hope out there for back pain sufferers.. you just have to find what works best for your body!