General Question

syz's avatar

Is this pain from my sciatic nerve?

Asked by syz (33587 points ) December 12th, 2013

I’ve had a severe cold for 10 days now and am only now feeling better. For the past 3–5 days, I’ve had a stinging sensation on my right ankle (but no exposure to anything caustic), and now I have a strange rash on my lower right leg (circular lesions, almost plaques). But most concerning is the pain in my right buttock for the past 3 days. It began as an intermittent twinge (it doesn’t feel like muscular pain or joint pain, so I’m guessing that it’s nerve pain). It’s now an unrelenting pain, regardless of position (standing, sitting, lying).

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Sciatica, shingles, and cancer are the top research finds, and none of them are good (to varying degrees).

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12 Answers

cazzie's avatar

Do you have pets? Have you been cuddling with them while you’ve been sick?

Smitha's avatar

Sounds like Sciatica, but the rash? It would be hard to say without an evaluation so it’s would be best to have a doctor take a look at it. Sometimes a rash that also has nerve pain with it could be a shingles outbreak. It could be some other reasons too, or the sciatica and the rash may not be related at all.

Buttonstc's avatar

If that pain in the right buttock feels like a razor blade imbedded in your hip then I’m betting Sciatica.

I had that and that’s what it felt like. It was inpossible to find a pain free position, even lying down. Mine resulted from some foolish lifting I did with 40 lbs. of cat litter in one hand and a 25 lb. bag of cat food in the other down a long walkway to my apt.

Fortunately, a cortisone shot in the spine (done by a board-certified anesthesiologist with acupuncture experience) helped.

The relief wasn’t instantaneous but a gradual reduction of about 5–10% less pain each day until I was somewhat back to normal. In several weeks more I was totally back to normal.

Since then I’ve learned to use one of those portable luggage carts for anything over 10 lbs.

I’m not willing to go through that again. Once was enough. You have my empathy. And its a rough time of year to be dealing with this.

The rash I have no idea about and its entirely possible its from something unrelated just occurring at the same time.

The ankle pain could be related to the sciatica since its hard to predict nerve pathways entirely.

Hopefully you have a good Doctor who can evaluate the entire situation and go from there. It sounds as if you need a referral to either an Orthopedist or a Neurologist.

Pachy's avatar

I had exactly the same experience some years back, @Buttonstc, the result of a ruptured disk. It’s rotten, isn’t it? @syz‘s buttock pain does sound like sciatic pain but only a doctor can tell.

drhat77's avatar

It’s shingles! Your cold precipitated it.
Is it on your outside ankle? The S1 dermatome covers both your outside ankle and butt.

Tropical_Willie's avatar

The Dr ( @drhat77 ) has hit it I think!

Did you have chicken pox?

El_Cadejo's avatar

I would guess sciatica for the pain as well. Since you’ve been sick you were probably not moving around much and instead spending a lot of time sitting/laying. You probably aggravated it like that.

The other stuff however I have no clue.

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syz's avatar

Oh, sorry, I never updated you guys. It was shingles.

cazzie's avatar

@syz Uff. I hope you are feeling better. In Norwegian, we call shingles ‘helvetes ild’ . Translated, that means ‘hell fire’. I’ve had a very small case of this years ago, and I can’t imagine how painful it must be down a whole leg. Sympathies.

syz's avatar

@cazzie I had a mild case, although I waited too long and have some permanent nerve damage (numbness). I thought I didn’t have to worry about shingles until I was in my 70’s, but apparently you can get them at any time (my doctor’s 8 year old son had had an outbreak).

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