Sciatica - any tips for helping this and does it go away?

Sciatica: Low back, buttock and "shooting" leg pain are all symptoms of a pinched nerve. It sounds like you may have that problem. If the pain is severe and limiting your activity still, the best non-narcotic medications that I have found to work for my patients are antiinflammatories such as Ibuprofen or Naproxen which are over-the-counter medications. Other non-narcotic medications include tramadol (ultram) which requires a prescription and nerve-pain medications such as gabapentin. These are all to be taken for temporary pain relief. This type of pain typically resolves with time. Ask your primary physician about these if the pain is still limiting you. If it is still going on for more than a month an MRI may be helpful to help sort out what is going on and there could be other potential treatments outside of surgery that could benefit you.

Conservative care: Initial treatment for sciatica is conservative care and includes over-the-counter anti-inflammatories and physical therapy. Hope this helps.

4-6 weeks: Initially the symptoms last 4-6 weeks and if your body heals like it supposed to then pain relief starts. However disc herniations which are the cause of majority of sciatica symptoms last for 6-9 months and therefore people can have pain during that time as well. If not better after 6 weeks see a spine specialist to evaluate this further. Try core exercise s first, check youtube or see PT.