I was just diagnosed with Ischial Bursitis yesterday, finally, after a year long struggle with it s awfully painful symptoms. I do have 4 herniated discs in my lower back (L2, L3, L4, and S1, chronic low back pain, degenerative disc disease, and sciatica. I cannot have any epidurals or nerve blocks bc for some reason, I end up in a lot more pain than I am originally in. My sister couldn t have them and my Mother cannot have them either, for the very same reason...we spend about 3-4 months recovering from excruciating pain. But I can have cortisone injections in both of my SI Joints about every 5-6 months. This time around that I had the cortisone injections, (on September 17, 2013), I had a very bad reaction for the 1st time in the 2 1/2 years that I ve been getting them. This time the pain increased (on my left side...which is the worst for me, even though the pain from the herniations should be radiating down the right side...I think that it s caused from my sciatica) up into my mid-back up to around my ribs, and then down into my left buttock and left leg (on both the outer left side of my leg and behind my left leg). I had to go to the emergency room just an hour and a half after the SI injections bc the pain was excruciating. They gave me 2 IM injections...some Toradol and 1.5mg of Dilaudid...which helped tremendously. But I suffered with excruciating pain for the entire weekend, as the procedure was done on a Thursday, I went back in to the spine and pain management doctors the following Monday to be seen. The female NP there gave me 4mg of Dilaudid to take twice a day for 7 days...and that helped a lot with the left buttock pain (which is the worst). Then after the Dilaudid was gone, I resumed taking up o 3 per day of my Vicodin 10/650mg tablets with very minimal relief. I lay on my heating pad as much as I possibly can, I have great difficulty sitting bc that aggravates and irritates it even more so, I take the pain meds and some Soma for the muscle spasms, and I also, for the 1st time today, am using my TENS Unit on my left buttock, but still have minimal relief !!!! I went in for my monthly visit yesterday and saw the male NP. He immediately, after a physical examination and me telling him where I hurt the most (and have been or the past year), diagnosed me with Ischial Bursitis. He even pulled up some photos online and showed me a diagram that had X s exactly where I hurt. I don t know why I have not been diagnosed sooner with this, but I m happy to finally know what s going on. He ordered a cortisone injection under guided needle for the Ischial Bursitis, but I cannot get in to have that done until November 8th!!!! That s a long wait for me bc I am really suffering and in a lot of and great pain, numbness and tingling. I rest a lot (majority of the day, everyday...as I can do that bc I am disabled bc of my back problems along with Fibromyalgia and Myofascial pain Syndrome), try to walk around a little bit each day for exercise (nothing strenuous), lay on my heating pad, take my Vicodin (I can take up to 3 Vicodin a day, but have to make #40 pills last a month), take my Soma (325mg 3 times a day) and I cannot take any anti-inflammatory medication any more bc I now suffer from ulcers from taking them for so long. I m going to try an ice pack after I take a shower to see if I can get any relief from that. Is there anything else that I can do to help relieve this type of pain???? Also, how can you tell if you have an unbalanced pelvis and how can you tell if your back is out of alignment??? Does getting your back cracked help to realign it???? I have to get an Rx from the spine & pain management doctors to go back to physical therapy...I request the same physical therapist every time bc he helps me tremendously, he knows how to crack my back, and he s careful bc of my myofascial pain syndrome, fibromyalgia and my back problems. Also, is there any special exercises that I can do to help stretch my left buttock without further injuring it and to help relieve some of the pain that I m experiencing bc of the Ischial Bursitis???