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Hi Dee! I am new here and have been lurking for a couple of weeks. My name is Wendy, and I am a caregiver for my husband who has just been diagnosed with PD. Do you have any disc problems contributing to the sciatic problem? If so, there are a number of options. If your problem is due to muscle tightness alone, I don't know what else to recommend, other than massage and warm baths. Wendy -----Original Message----- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dolores Buente Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 10:54 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Leg pain Mario, In response to your message on leg pain, I too have a great deal of pain and stiffness in my left leg, hip and lower back. It affects the side where the PD symptoms are greatest and I feel that it is a direct relationship to the muscle tenseness that is brought on by PD. I believe the sciatic nerve is being pinched by the muscles which surround it and I do a lot of stretching to relieve it but don't always get relief. In fact, if I overdo the stretching routine, the pain gets even worse. I have had steroidal injections in the past (I believe it was 2 injections over a period of a few weeks) That was about 18 months ago and it had helped somewhat up until a few weeks ago. The doctors are reluctant to give these shots too often and, with good reason. I believe that they can cause problems over the long run if used too frequently (make bones soft, etc). I have also gone for physical therapy but it is not too effective and only relieves the problem on a short term basis. I've tried "Zanaflex" which is a muscle relaxant and it helped a great deal but had to quit taking it because it caused my blood pressure to be too low...was getting light headed and had no energy. So........I don't know exactly what to do at this point. Some days I have more trouble with it than others and I try to stay as active as I can in order to keep my muscles relatively loose. I doubt that this is of much help to you in finding a relief but at least you know that you are not the only one dealing with it. I think, I will eventually be back to my doctor for another try at steroid injection if the condition progresses. Dee ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn