So over the last 3 weeks I've been in almost constant pain. I am finally at the point of walking without assistance again and have been working on exercises and stretches to strengthen the muscles and joints in my lower half and spine and to stretch the nerve.

It became front and center when my knee buckled. I wasn't doing anything but walking up a slight incline, and my knee "slipped" as it felt and began to swell and for some reason sitting made the pain worse. After about 5 or 6 days I was pretty ok again, Ignored the root of the problem. Then not long after my knee buckled again and this time the lingering pain was much worse. I couldn't sit in the car, I couldn't sit in any of my chairs or lay in my bed without burning tingling pain anywhere from my butt cheek to my toes and it was the worst in my knee/thigh. At this point we dove further into what could be causing this and were informed the sciatic nerve could be the issue.

Both of our fathers struggled badly with sciatic nerve pain and while waiting for professional Healthcare their tips helped me greatly. I have been sitting squarely on a supportive non cushioned surface with lumbar support for about a week now as well at the exercises mentioned above and while I still deal with pain at some points throughout the day it has significantly improved with proper management.

All this to say that I kind of checked out during this painful period and I feel you're owed a proper explanation. I didn't intend to disappear and this is unrelated to issues I've spoken of in past posts. I should've explained this sooner but I was in a poor headspace. Thank you for understanding and if you have any advice, I'd love to hear it!

I've read all your replies and will be taking all your gracious advice into consideration. I had no idea so many of you also dealt with or are dealing with this kind of pain in your life, and in a way it feels like a moment of human connection. For those of you who have found relief from your pain, thank you for sharing how you found that, maybe it will help others reading this thread too. I'm so grateful for all you! 🥰