I am a 44 year old Caucasian woman who has been experiencing increasingly worse lower back pain over the last 10 years. I have had a spongy painful slightly moveable lump just off center of my spine right above my pant line (hip height) for this entire time and it has grown slowly over the years. Since about 3 years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter and I gain about 80 lbs the pain has become acute and unbearable. I have all the symptoms of sciatica nerve problems...extreme pain when sitting upright, laying flat, standing for just a short time like 10 mins...I cannot do everyday tasks like sweeping, bending to pick things up, showering because I can't stand for that long, shopping, long drives, work...I live with a level 6 pain at all times and when I try to do anything it shoots up to 9-10 mostly 10. My father has spinal stenosis and my deceased mother had herniated disc disease, but I truly believe that this is a neural fibrolipoma or one with blood vessels...it is either growing and affecting my sciatica nerve or it itself is causing the pain. the pain shoot down my right leg and sometimes left and both mostly right leg will fall asleep if I am sitting upright or standing for any length of time. My question is am I crazy to think it is what I think? I ask this because 4 doctors and 3 yrs of trying to get help I am NO CLOSER to a diagnoses or any help. also if it is the neural fibrolipoma is it operable and does that depend on how entangled in the nerve it is? what kind of specialist should I ask my family practioner to refer me to for treatment? oh, and I am in physical therapy now and they put electrodes on it and I swear it is making it way, way worse...only been there twice, but I have felt horrible ever since!!! why are physicans so apt to not believe what a patient is telling them? It's very frustrating and it is now beginning to make me depressed and I am a mother of a vibrant two year old that needs her mother both mentally and physically present and healthy!!!! please, please help.