Skip to main content

A Pain in the Butt

Believe me, I know that at my age I am fortunate to be mostly healthy,  to have my real teeth and my real joints and very little pain associated with body parts in general.  I should be more grateful.  Instead, a little ache, a little pain, and I am off and ranting--cursing the gods who feel the need to punish me in this way.

I was sleeping peacefully on Saturday night when I was most rudely awakened  by sudden pain.  I was thought someone had broken into the house and was administering electrical shock to my left buttock. Zap! OW! Zap! OW! ZAP! OW!  And so it went throughout the night.  I was grumpy in the morning,  Very grumpy.

I have heard about sciatica nerve pain.  I googled it.  The pain was pretty targeted, not coming from my back, not shooting down the thigh.  But definitely there.

I was going to skip yoga, but yoga was mentioned as one of the treatments.  My yoga teacher mentioned periformis syndrome and gave me some modifications to the usual routine.  I felt a lot better afterwards.  I was really glad I didn't skip the class.


Inflammation of this muscle can irritate the sciatic nerve.  It is sometimes called pseudosciatica and sometimes referred to as wallet sciatica.  If I carried a wallet in my left back pocket, that would be a perfect description.

So today I took another bike ride and figured out what irritated that muscle in the first place.  Ice helps.

Comments

  1. Every now and again I get wakened with leg cramps that bring me out of a deep sleep instantly awake, it can feel like somebody slashing with a knife from the inside out. Fortunately they usually go away just standing on them, but the pain is amazing.

    Hope you are doing better now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I suffer from pain in the area very frequently. It is especially painful at night. Not a lot can be done to treat my pain except shots. I've only gone that route once. In the meantime, I find yoga, pilates, and massage help me the most.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have physical therapy exercises to stretch the piriformis, but I never knew exactly what it was. Thanks, and I hope your pain in the butt subsides.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yep. Stretching works, and massage, and trying to be a good sport in my late middle age. That usually doesn't work.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I get very mild sciatica once every few months. I take an aspirin and it helps. I am lucky, and hope it does not get worse.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gee, I hope you feel better.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It is way more fun being a pain in the butt than having one. Been there and you are right. Exercise will get rid of it the quickest. Feel all better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ouch! I hope it continues to get better.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My husband is going through that right now. I'm hoping that PT will work for him. Feel better!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh that is not nice! Hope it gets better real soon ...

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete
  11. OOPS! Well you said you weren't going to be riding for much longer anyway so at least the pain should be gone soon! I am glad Yoga helped and I sure hate that it is from your bike.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love learning from my blogger friends. Sadly, as we age these sudden annoying pains can come out of nowhere. I went to the doctor this week and when she asked if I was feeling any pain, I was so happy to say, "Not right this minute."

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've had this pain and it hurts! Year ago, when I ran daily, I strained the piriformis and could barely walk. I did this to myself twice and finally decided continual running wasn't so important anymore. I think at my age stretching before any exercise is important. Hope your butt soon feels better, Olga!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow - that sciatic nerve looks huge, no wonder it gives us trouble. I shall take note of this post - hope it's unlikely to happen to me as I don't ride bikes. Big son does though.... I do hope you can avoid this in future.

    ReplyDelete
  15. that sciatic pain is a killer and I am happy that you are managing it with Yoga.. however for me that didnt work and I had an operation to release the three areas of pressure on my spine.. for most people it does work, but for me although the sciatic pain is a whole lot less, its quite mild when it rears its head.. the operation left me in a worse state.. but thats whole other story.. I am just glad that you can find relief through your Yoga, hope you heal quickly and it stops bothering you.. hugs from across the pond.. thank you for leaving a comment for me too... janzi

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I appreciate readers' comments so much. You don't even always have to agree with me.

Popular posts from this blog

Updates

 On September 29, I had the closing on my condo. Everything that was not going to the buyers was out and packed in the ABF moving truck which had by the been taken over to the storage units. Don thought it would take him until Wednesday to finish packing the truck with the help of his son. It took him until late Thursday with Chris' help and mine. Kevin was supposed to help load as well but he was in a mountain bike accident and wrecked his shoulder the week before. That added driving him to doctor appointments to my to do list and dong some shopping for him plus jobs around the house that might need two functioning upper limbs.  We stayed with Kevin on Friday night after the closing and then had a suite in an extended stay place for the coming week. This was the worst possible time to have to get a room because the prices balloon during leaf peeping season if you can even find a room at all. But it was close to the storage units where we were working and it was dog friendly. We ju

Wedding

 Don and I drove to South Carolina to attend the wedding of my step-grandson, Will. Will Will and Katie The wedding took place on Dataw Island, a beautiful outdoor ceremony followed by a reception in the country club. We stayed in a tiny cottage in the historic center of Beaufort, rented from Vrbo. Since the wedding was at 5 p.m., we had time to explore the area a bit. I really like the low country scenery and historical charm. Sitting quietly in the curtained gazebo I was visited by multiple cardinals. They came to visit the feeder, not me, but I can always pretend! How I will always remember Will!

Rest In Peace

 In a summer that has been so wet, Sunday was a reprieve. The humidity dropped and the sun came out. It was a day that could have been special ordered by the family of a friend's husband. It was the day they had arranged his celebration of life ceremony set on the shore of Lake Champlain. I was not looking forward to the gathering, even couched as a celebration. This is a family fraught with relationship tensions. It turned out to be a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony. A Catholic priest gave a brief but meaningful homily and two Air Force members played "Taps" and presented the American flag to my friend. I am not a Christian, but I do know about Christ Consciousness. That priest's word's filled me with such a sense of peace and love. I hope it did the same for the family members and neighbors who attended.