From bed bound back to nights out with my friends
(19F) I started getting sciatic pain at the end of my senior year when I was 17 and by summer 2025 (a few months beforer my 19th) I was fully bed bound. My pain forced me to quit my job and move home from university to live with my parents who could take care of me. I’m lucky enough to have access to physiotherapy covered through my parents insurance, and for three months met with my physio twice a week. I’m happy to say that after three months of straight physio, hard work, a tremendous amount of pain, and many days of wanting to give up, I’m back to living the life of a mostly regular college kid! With the help of my bedazzled cane, TENS machine, gabbapentin and a boatload of CBD cream I’ve been able to go out and dance on the weekends with my friends. I don’t feel trapped and left out, my mental health is so much better too. The pain is still there and will probably always be there to some extent, and there are definitely days I flare and have to reduce my activity but a win is a win! Sharing so any other young people out there struggling with sciatic know they aren’t alone and that there’s hope that one day you will be able to accomodate to atleast feel like a somewhat normal teen/uni student again!