The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Vegan Diet
Posted by Luma (US) on 06/07/2020
★★★★★
Lower back pain and degenerative disks caused my sciatica, and switching to a vegan diet opened up my blood flow to the area so I could get nutrients in and out. It really helped. Google Dr Greger videos, he talks about how blocked arteries cause this.
Vitamin D
Posted by Nita (US) on 05/17/2020
yes, I've read that lower back pain can be result of low vit. D
Castor Oil
Posted by Jan (US) on 05/17/2020
★★★★★
Years ago, my husband got rid of his Sciatica Nerve Pain with hot Castor Oil Compresses on his lower back (laying on his stomach with it on his back together with a hotpack over it and a blanket over that,, for an hour at a time each day for 3 days).
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by Sally W. (Ohio) on 05/16/2020
★★★★★
I have sciatica for 3 years and a weak right leg with electric shock going down it. It got to the point where I was pain all the time, even at rest. I was crying at the rest pain. So I ran and got the candied ginger and in one day the pain was gone. I'm shocked to say the least. I can't believe it. I still have the horrible back pain which I don't think is better after a week. My leg is weak still. And I have pain, but not that electric sharp sciatica pain and it's not constant. It has much more movement. I could not cross my leg or move without electric shocks. Amazing!!!
Vitamin D
Posted by Lisa (St. Paul, MN) on 11/24/2019
★★★★★
Vitamin D completely cured my sciatica.
I used to feel it especially when driving and had to sit on a tennis ball at times, which helped, but only slightly, and who wants to do that every time you drive? I was only about 40 at the time, but I felt like my body was already beginning to break down. This was a few years ago, and I had read somewhere that Vitamin D is great for nerve-related things, so I decided to up my dosage to what I had read would be about the maximum for me, which was 10,000 IUs per day.
I am a 5'1 woman weighing about 110 lbs. To my great relief, my sciatica went completely away after only a couple days or so of taking this amount of Vitamin D and it hasn't returned since. The only times I feel it creeping back a bit is when I forget to take my Vitamin D in the morning!
I had a co-worker who struggled with sciatica as well. She went to physical therapy and was considering surgery and suffering a lot. I told her about my experience with Vitamin D, but, sadly, she didn't seem to comprehend the idea. She was actually concerned about how much more money she'd be spending on vitamins by consuming this much (even though I'm sure the surgery she was considering would've been much pricier). Sometimes people just can't hear you when you try to help them, so I stopped trying to convince her. I buy the Target brand Vitamin D, so it really isn't expensive or hard on my budget. And it was so simple for me to solve this issue. All it took was a bit of research and following a hunch.
I hope by sharing my story I can help someone else who needs another idea to try.
Arch Supports and Magnets
Posted by Mary (USA) on 08/05/2019
★★★★★
Sciatica, cause is the arch of the foot has fallen.
Remedy is simple - use arch supports. I use walk fit because it has 3 lifts low, med, high, but the trick, if you have leg pain, is to install a dime size thin magnet between the lift and the support. As you know, magnets do not do the healing but iron in blood is attracted to the magnet iron brings with it oxygen and oxygen heals.
Since it is a static magnet it may take a few weeks before one sees improvement BUT, if you take statins forget everything I wrote as statins cause the leg problems.
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by Karen Messina (New Jersey) on 05/17/2020
Hello to Baton Rouge re candied ginger - I know it's been a while but maybe you will check back. I make my own from store bought fresh ginger root. Peel it, cut it up, boil in water. Drain it, then make a simple syrup of sugar and water and boil the ginger in that. Be careful, syrup is very hot and sticky! here is Alton Brown's video:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/candied-ginger-recipe-1944906
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by Anon (Baton Rouge, Louisiana ) on 06/28/2019
Where can you find the candy?
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by Susan (Atlanta) on 06/27/2019
★★★★★
I have faithfully consulted EC for years for many different ailments and remedies, but have never posted until now. Thank you ALL for the recommendation on the candied ginger for sciatica.....after approximately 5 pieces I feel like a new person. The shooting and stabbing pain is gone, I still feel some tension in my back but am so grateful not to feel the continual ache and throb in my thigh and calf. I will continue with the ginger and again thank everyone for their posts!
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by Diane Powers (United States) on 04/26/2019
★★★★★
Ok, so I am one of the last people to believe some of the fantastic posts on any page about remedies related to relief of pain. The other night, I couldn't sleep because of the pain from my sciatic nerve. I received an email from Earth Clinic in my inbox about the new & improved site. I decided to click on it & see what can be done about the recent pain I have been having in my right thigh. I kept reading about eating candied ginger & the wonderful healing benefits of eating it for sciatic pain. I was excited to go to the store in the morning to try the "cure". I bought the small quantity & ate a piece on my way home from the store. I ate another piece right after dinner. I am here to tell you that I have no pain from my sciatic nerve in my right leg! Can this be, that after 2 pieces of ginger, relief from the pain that keeps me up at night? Folks, I am as amazed as any one could be but I am a believer now. Try it for yourself, the package cost me about 5 bucks from Sprouts here in Texas. Thank you to all who posted about this remedy. I'm going back to bed now, not because I was awakened by pain but because I was so excited to write this post. Good night!
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by NK (Georgia) on 02/17/2021
It's the ginger. The sugar only makes the ginger easier to take. You can use fresh or dried if you can handle the strong flavor. You can make ginger tea using fresh, sliced ginger or the dried powder and sweeten with stevia or some other sugar substitute Recipes are online.
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by NK (Georgia) on 02/17/2021
Potassium or sodium supplements won't help unless the pain is caused from a deficiency of one of those. Ginger (and a lot of herbals) have anti-inflammatory properties. That means they might help with pain like sciatica (caused by back issues or muscle spasms) and arthritis.
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by NK (Georgia) on 02/17/2021
When using ginger for remedies, no, it doesn't matter as long as it's real ginger--unless you're on a very sugar-restricted diet. You can use fresh ginger, or dried ginger but it's tastes so strong most people use the crystalized kind because it tastes like candy. I use fresh ginger root to make ginger tea.
***Most commercial brands of ginger ale don't have enough ginger in them to do much of anything other than taste good & quench your thirst. It's probably the carbonation & sugar that settles people's stomachs.
B-12
Posted by NK (Georgia) on 02/17/2021
You do not have to buy expensive B12 at an expensive store. But is is best to buy the kind that says "sublingual" on the package because it's more absorbable. You can get liquid or quick dissolve tablets. You will not overdose on even the highest doses sold in stores because excess is not stored by your body, it's flushed out with urination.
Tennis Shoe Technique
Posted by Michele (Wolcott CT) on 02/14/2021
★★★★★
I am so glad that I found this post. Searching on piriformis syndrome, which I have to admit is a self diagnosis. But there was no denying the pain that I felt in my buttocks. I didn't search on sciatica because there are no shooting pains down my leg(s). But maybe that was coming in the near future I sit too much, especially during tax season, so I know that contributes to the cause.
I tried this method and on first shot, I felt the pain melt away from the muscles in my buttocks. It was a miracle. I have been sitting on the sneaker for hours in each day since and I am happy to say that I am experiencing more and more hours each day with less pain.
It is not clear, so I want to state,
I use a low rise, sturdy sneaker (tennis shoe) sole down, back of shoe in the front. This sole is nearly an inch thick. I feel an upward pressure on my "sit bones". And as one poster said, maybe it is pushing my pelvis and spine back into alignment. I'm not sure. I but can vouch for it's effectiveness. It costs nothing to try.
At work, I cover the sneaker in a knit legging. Hoping no one notices. But it's that or change jobs so I am not sitting all day. That's not going to happen! Good luck to all those who suffer with pain.
Hyaluronic Acid, Collagen, Chondroitin Sulfate
Posted by Prioris (ME) on 12/19/2020
★★★★★
Biocell's special formulation of hyaluronic acid, biocell's collagen and chondroitin sulfate
How to cure 90% of sciatica quickly
Study on sciatica pinpointed herniated discs as the cause of 90% of all sciatica. Chances are very high that if you have sciatica, you have some degree of herniation causing it. You need to cure the hernia to cure the sciatica.
How to cure the herniated disc?
Use Biocell form of Hyaluronic Acid which includes Biocell's collagen and chondroitin Sulfate. It also uses rooster comb type of hyaluronic acid. Doctor's Best brand is the one I use. I can't recommend anything but this formulation because I can't prove it was any one specific ingredient. All 3 components are used by the gel between the discs.
There are two type of Hyaluronic acid.
1) Original rooster comb based HA
2) fermented high molecular weight HA
I have completely cured both L4-L5 and L5-S1 herniation in 6 weeks.
The L5-S1 literally crippled me with sciatica and put me on crutches and bedridden for 7 weeks along with severe pain. I was taking the fermented form of HA so wasn't protected.
When I realized what the cure was, my progression was
After week 1 ... most pain sciatica pain went away
After week 2 ... 95% of the pain went away and could stand
After week 3 ... I could start to walk somewhat without crutches and start rehabilitation of my right leg ... still some very slight sciatica
After week 4 ... I could walk around better without any crutches. Still need to rehabilitate my leg to get it stronger
Take 2-4 capsules of the Biocell formulation with cup of water on empty stomach
You will know within 1-2 weeks whether it is working.
Of course if you have more milder type of herniation, sciatica will probably resolve quicker.
Without the supplement, people with degenerative disease may never heal or take a long time. People who are young and relatively healthy will likely take only 4 weeks.
p.s.
as a bonus, it will regenerate the gums
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by Prioris (Fort Pierce, Fl, USA) on 11/03/2020
Does it matter if it is candied vs crystalized ginger?
The terms “candied” and “crystallized” are typically used interchangeably. If a distinction is made, the term candied refers to ginger stored in the simple syrup and crystallized ginger means the version cooked in the sweet syrup and rolled in sugar.
CBD Oil
Posted by Lorene (Montgomery, Tx) on 09/21/2020
★★★★★
To clarify there is a chemical solution to Sciatica care. It is CBD but a strong formula (CTFO Super). Sciatica does originate in the spinal column, from slipped or damaged discs. Mine is AS = Ankylosing Spondylitis and it is technically incurable and the kind that makes curviture of spine. I don't have that. The discs get agitated and the Sciatic nerve runs from butt to feet, usually stopping at the knee, then transponds down to feet at times. It is unbearable jolting electrical pain. If it goes to toes, you get weird cramping of toe bones - very painful. In my attempts to fix all this, Orthopedic doc gave me Hyalgen shots for 2 bad knees but off the cuff, said this pain was probably Bakers Cyst. (wrong! ). Knees are good, but pain was still lingering. So... this is Sciatica, or breakdown of nerves. The cause of mine was Cipro/Levaquin Rx antibiotics years ago -- which rip out the magnesium of the body, esp. legs., causes neuropathy. Most wind up in a wheelchair with this. I am 80. I took the CBD and to my surprise was better by morning and could walk again. I take daily now. I will also do Lysine and Iron pills to help conditions. It is still there, deeply -- I can feel weakness in nerves, but I am able to walk and shop all I want to now. I am extremely happy with CBD which has 0.3% thc in it. Its a life-saver! Ya'll might want to give that a shot.
CBD Oil
Posted by Lorene (Montgomery, Tx) on 09/21/2020
★★★★★
I HAD Sciatica pain. 1) cause is neuropathy from Rx antibiotic drugs years ago. Haunting! Rips magnesium from the body causing inability to walk, stand, etc.
2) had MRI identify bad discs in spine, and Ankylosing Spondylitis disease. Also have 2 knee issues needing replaced, but declined. Had Hyalgen shots in knees, but still had odd electrical like jolt behind knee and in leg. Doc said Bakers Cyst. (humph....)
3) Suddenly my entire leg caved with jolting excruciating pain. I take lots of supplements for bone, joints, etc. knowing magnesium loss and use of Cipro drugs damage. Had lots of pain creams, but never total relief, and this pain was different and EXTREME! I had CBD Hemp Oil in my cupboard SUPER strength 1000mg with slight 0.3% THC in it. Sat on couch. 2 hours later, could move.
Overnight I was rescued with ability to walk!! Since I have continued daily use of CBD oil, I am nearly cured and comfortable. I know that the nerve damage is still there in feeling the tendon, but can swing my leg back and almost tight now, which was impossible before the CBD oil. I feel sold on this medicine. Only get CBD online and not in store-fronts. You want a GOOD product.
Hope you are as fortunate as me. I am 80 years old and "walking". No, the disease does not go away, damage is done, but walking is good.
Drink Distilled Water
Posted by Bella (Holyoke) on 07/02/2020
★★★★★
Many thanks to the person that sent a great link in today about distilled water from doctors. This feedback from Dr. Graham Bell should go in the sciatica section for someone to test!
Source: Raymond W. Bernard - 1996 (Google Books)
"Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, recognized the health value of distilled water, and claimed that its daily use prolonged his life. Afflicted and bed-ridden with sciatica, Dr. Bell could find no relief for the pain. The attack came just as he was investigating the deposit of salts in the human system. A well-known scientist had written a book in which he said that old age came from such deposits, and that the ills of advanced years were due to the lack of their elimination. He believed that when such deposits went to the joints, man had rheumatism. When they went to the kidneys, he had kidney trouble and stones in the urinary organs; and when they lodged in the arteries, they produced what is called hardening of the arteries. In the same way when such deposits coated the nerves, they caused sciatica.
Dr. Bell wrote: “I knew that distilled water was pure. I thought that if I drank plenty of it, I could get rid of some of the salts that were covering my sciatic nerves. I tried drinking it and it worked like a charm. I have kept up my drinking of distilled water and I attribute my almost perfect health largely to it.”
—Dr. Alexander Graham Bell
Tennis Shoe Technique
Posted by Mary (Usa) on 06/26/2020
How does one sit on a shoe? Is it under the leg or between the legs?
Tennis Shoe Technique
Posted by Susie W. (Divide, CO) on 06/25/2020
★★★★★
I can't express my gratitude enough for this method of healing ... it has taken two days of sitting on a tennis shoe 😂... but I am feeling so much better and I'm so grateful for those of you who have taken the time to help others ... thank you so much! I'm most grateful!
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by Dena22 (Md) on 06/19/2018
★★★★★
Candied ginger completely cured my sciatica. I had pain down my left leg for a while and I came here looking for a remedy. I bought the candied ginger slices from the grocery store and ate a couple pieces everyday. After the first day the pain was gone. I kept eating it and the pain stayed away. Now I just eat it every once in awhile and still no pain. It might not work for everyone but it's worth the try.
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by 2q&learn (Western) on 01/01/2018 148 posts
I've had some discomfort after ingesting powdered ginger root in just water. Never when I took it in my food, though. You don't want to overdo it, either. Too much of anything can cause problems!
Blackstrap Molasses
Posted by Lonita (Oregon) on 10/15/2017
★★★★★
Yes, I heard that too. Right side potassium and left side sodium deficiencies. Mine is on the left side and sometimes left so I been using maginesum salt for sodium and cream of tartar for potassium.
Tennis Shoe Technique
Posted by Rita (Jersey) on 09/28/2017
I think the shoe method works because you are getting pressure off the sciatic nerve and getting the spine into better alignment. Sitting cross-legged sometimes helps with this, too.
Modern cushy furniture is murder on the back and the nerves in it.
Tennis Shoe Technique
Posted by Jessi (Vergennes, Vt) on 09/27/2017
★★★★★
After 3 solid months of sciatic nerve pain shooting from my back down to my calf I was going crazy. I could't sleep, sit or even function the pain was so bad all the time. I had tried every remedy out there to no relief. I stumbled upon the tennis shoe idea for sciatica on Earth Clinic and thought I had nothing to lose.
After sitting on a shoe for 10 minutes (it hurt a lot the first time! ) I got up and actually felt less pain in my calf. I was shocked! Gradually throughout the day I sat for longer periods of time and after 3 days I am just about pain free! I honestly can't believe it! Thank you so much for this suggestion!
Candied Ginger Slices
Posted by Mari H. (Los Angeles) on 08/29/2017
I'm thinking ginger might work on sciatica because I believe ginger is good for the liver and gall bladder. I knew a chiro who treated sciatica by cleaning out his pts. liver and gb's.
L-Lysine
Posted by Heidi (Georgia) on 08/15/2017
★★★★★
The last two nights I had severe pain starting between my shoulder blades going down to my feet. I read Harry's post below and took L-Lysine 1500mg. The pain subsided a couple minutes after I had taken Lysine and has not come back. It's been three days now that I am pain free. Thank you!
