Common complaints I hear from other women with endometriosis are lower back pain, sciatic pain and neuropathy or leg pain. I’ve struggled with these symptoms too, but I’ve been able to find relief through natural methods.
Today’s post explores why these symptoms are common with endo, and what has helped me manage them, in hopes that you can find relief too.
The Sacral Plexus & Endometriosis
There was a recent study done that showed that women with endometriosis have notable changes to the sacral nerve roots found in the sacral plexus. This included “abnormalities in microstructure reconstruction, with fiber irregularities and disorganization and loss of the simple unidirectional course.”
In a nutshell, that means that the nerves in the sacral plexus were damaged. This correlated with the type of pain, adhesions, and deep infiltrating endometriosis present in the patients that were studied.
What is the Sacral Plexus?
There are several nerve plexuses in your body where nerves come together and then branch out to serve different regions of your body.
One of these is the sacral plexus, located inside your pelvis near the bottom sacrum part of your spine.
The sacral plexus contains nerves that serve the lower half of your body, including parts of your pelvis, the backs of your thighs, calves, ankles and feet.
Sacral Plexus Nerves
There are four nerves that come from the sacral region of your spinal cord and form most of the sacral plexus: S1, S2, S3 and S4. Parts of the two lumbar nerves, L4 & L5, which sit above your sacrum, are also part of the sacral plexus.
These nerves include…
The superior gluteal nerve and interior gluteal nerve, which are motor nerves that impact your gluteal muscles.
The sciatic nerve, which is the largest nerve to come out of your sacral plexus. It serves as both a motor and sensory nerve and impacts the muscles in the back of your leg and sole of your foot.
The posterior cutaneous nerve, which is a sensory nerve that serves the back of your thigh and lower leg, as well as the perineum, which is the area between your anus and vulva.
And last but not least, the pudendal nerve which has both sensory and motor functions and is the nerve that controls when you go to the bathroom.
I don’t know about you but I feel like I’ve had pain in all of these areas!
Endometriosis & lower back pain
I’m definitely no stranger to lower back pain. I injured my lower back early in my twenties and an MRI revealed herniated discs at L4, L5. This fed into issues in my sacral plexus.
I was able to get most of the pain from this under control when I started consistently practicing yoga. I felt my lower back getting stronger and more supported.
But… I got distracted. Long hours on the computer and multiple passions in different areas meant that my time on the mat slipped away.
And as a result I pulled my weakened back out earlier this year.
I forgot how painful that experience is. Not to mention the fact that it happened when my period started at the height of the pain coming from my uterus.
Enter pure hell.
I was rendered completely useless for a couple of days as every small move I made sent violent spasms of pain to my lower back. You forget how much you use your lower back until it’s no longer an option.
The Shingles Virus & Leg Pain
A couple of weeks after I pulled my back out and was finally up and moving about again, the shingles rash showed up on my arm and I started having a pulsing pain in my left leg.
I assumed that the leg pain came from my back issues and were impacts on my sciatic nerve.
The throbbing in my left leg became a constant nuisance and was coupled with pain in my hip and butt. It started to take over my mind, as a constant unyielding pain.
I had strong thoughts of wanting to cut my leg off! It was that bad.
Physical Treatment
I saw a woman who does PUSH therapy, which is designed to help calm and re-train the muscles in your lower back and pelvic area.
After seeing her for a couple of months I saw little progress, in fact the sessions were flaring up pain throughout the lower half of my body.
She told me that my reaction was similar to fibromyalgia, and eventually told me that she didn’t think that she could help me. I should be seeing progress, not getting worse. She suggested that the issue could be structural.
So, I sought out treatment from my chiropractor, which initially did help relieve some of the tension and throbbing in my left leg. I saw him twice a week for about 90 days before I started to question if the sessions were continuing to improve how I felt.
What else helped?
In the meantime, I developed a daily regime that did help me with the endometriosis, lower back, sciatic and neuropathy pain. I’ve included the primary factors of this regime below.
#1.) Diet
The food that you eat plays a big role in the inflammation in your body. I noticed this even more so when the neuropathy pain made its appearance in my life. If I ate out of bounds my leg let me know about it.
Simply put, it’s best to stay away from inflammatory foods and add in anti-inflammatory foods. My go-to anti-inflammatory concoction is a smoothie with avocado, wild blueberries and raw honey.
➡️ If you need further guidance on how to eat to heal, check out my course, Endo Diet-Jumpstart here.
#2.) Topical CBD Oil
I found great relief with my lower back, sciatic and leg pain when I applied topical CBD oil from Joy Organics. The results from this were pretty quick and it became part of my morning routine to add this on my skin after showering.
➡️ Check out Joy Organics topical CBD oil here. Use code peacewithendo at checkout and save 15%.
#3.) Sciatic Stretching
As mentioned, yoga helped me a lot with lower back pain. Since I didn’t always have time to do a full session, I at least took 10-20 minutes each morning to stretch out my sciatic nerve.
The following three stretches helped a lot. Click the links for further instructions on how to do them properly:
#4.) Meditation
Every morning I sat down to meditate and all I could focus on for the first couple of minutes was the constant pulsing pain from my hip and leg. I breathed into the pain and out from the pain and allowed my breath to help calm things down.
When I sat with the pain and the sensations in the current moment the pain ended up lessening. I learned to be with what is and releasing the resistance to that helped release the suffering.
➡️ Download my free meditation for pain here.
Addressing Viral Factors
I mentioned that shortly after I threw my back out earlier this year the shingles rash showed up on my arm. I consulted my go-to book, Medical Medium, to see what was recommended to naturally address the shingles virus.
What I found was that the shingles virus likes to attack the sciatic nerve, and according to Anthony William in Medical Medium, the shingles virus is the root cause behind neuropathy pain.
While the shingles rash showed up on my arm, it did correlate with the throbbing pain in my leg, so it made sense that perhaps it was the shingles virus causing that.
So, I started on high doses of some of the supplements that Williams recommends to help with the shingles virus, listed below…
(To note: the quality of supplement matters. Click the links below to see the recommended brands.)
When I took the supplements at a high dosage consistently, the pain in my leg and hip did start to lessen, though the ache still woke with me each morning, serving as a nagging reminder of my root issues.
Cutting cords & finally finding relief
After trying all the things above and finding some relief, it wasn’t until deeper emotional factors were released that the pulsing pain in my leg and hip finally went away and has stayed away.
These emotional factors correlated with the ending of a negative relationship that’s been part of my life for the past five years. Many times throughout the years this relationship triggered my own questions on self-worth. I tolerated behavior that ultimately didn’t serve me.
When that relationship ended due to circumstances out of my control, I felt a lot of relief. The negative emotions were holding me back, like a tight grip on my leg, dragging me down.
Now that I’m free of that, the pain in my leg went with it. I find that to be super fascinating and a reminder that pain triggers are not always physical. There are emotional factors that can play a huge role too.
On an emotional and energetic level the relationships in your life tie in with your sacral space. It’s a primary factor to focus on to find healing in this way. Your root chakra space is also tied to issues of self-worth.
Is there a relationship in your life that’s holding you down, holding you back, or making you question your self-worth?
It’s time to let it go, love.
On the Positive Side?
The tips above have helped me with lower back pain, sciatic pain and neuropathy and I hope they serve you as well.
I’m grateful that I’ve finally been able to release the leg pain that was driving me to tears most days. It feels good to be free of that, and to know, yet again, that there are options out there to help.
Don’t lose hope, love.
If you need more support along the way, please reach out. I do offer 1:1 coaching and chakra balancing sessions to help free you from the emotional and physical pain alive in the sacral space.
This article was amazing & touched on so much . I’m especially glad that you shared the emotional component. After my pelvic surgery , I went to pt for more than a year , but the first appointment always stood out as a good reminder ; my physical therapist also an energy healer said to me – let go of what no longer serves you . That was truly the beginning of my healing & made me more aware of the mind body connection than ever.
Thank you for all your support & information , it always helps !
Thanks Arlene. The emotional component is such a big thing with endo especially. The pelvic area is a storage depot for emotions. I hope this inspires you to release that which needs to go. Much Love.
Excellent info, Aubree.
Thanks, love.