I have had sciatica for about 8 years and finally had microdiscectomy (L4/L5) two years ago that completly resolved my issues. A few months ago, I felt the same sciatic pain down my left leg and went on prednisone to relieve the inflammation. After a few days, the extreme pain went away but I was still having pins/needles in my left foot, big toe, and calf, which was escalating into severe burning/throbbing/pins & needles. I was also having issues wiggling my toes and it also felt like there was something inbetween my big toe and second toe (like a sock was in between them). I had another MRI which showed another disc bulge and annular tear so I went back to my docotor who suggested a L5 nerve block,. This helped me begin to wiggle my toes but did not relieve my throbbing pins/needles. I went back to my family doctor for a physical and my blood pressue was 154/108 . My pressure would normally be high when I was having back issues but they said pain would only affect top number not bottom, so they put me on 20mg Lisinopril. After a few days of taking the Lisinopril, I noticed the the throbbing pins and needles in my calf and foot have almost gone away. Is it possible that the throbbing pins/needles in my calf/foot were from high blood pressure and not from my lumbar disc problem??
Thank you!
posted on
Mon, 22 Apr 2013

Sat, 22 Jun 2013
Answered on

Mon, 24 Jun 2013
Last reviewed on