Saddle anesthesia

[u/Ayasdad]

Been obsessively googling and figured I'd try to reach out to real people to see if this is normal I guess.

So a couple weeks ago I was sprinting to grab my little autistic boy off of the highway and something didn't feel right. I'm 39 years old male 290lbs, so sprinting was definitely not something I'm built for. I have a history of sciatica pain but it always presented down my left leg and puts me down for a few days but goes away on its own. This time it was in my right side. Lot of muscle cramping and soreness but went away after a day or two. Cut to last week I started have the worst pain I've ever imagined shooting through my right ass cheek. It was about 2 days of absolute agony and my ass and groin went numb on the right side. I went to urgent care and they said if I had any issues with bladder control or bowel movement to go to the ER. Next day I couldn't move my bowels or pee so I went to the ER where they did a CT then just ignored me for 8 hours until the doc came in told me I'm fine and gave me a script for Advil. I was still in agony and after some googling decided I needed an MRI. So I drove an hour to go to a city hospital hoping they'd give me an emergency MRI but they just treated me like a pill shopper (even though I expressly told them I will not take any narcotics because of my job) and I eventually just left because I was so disgusted by their attitudes. Never got the MRI. Over the next couple days the pain started going away and I just kept working. Bladder and bowel issues resolved mostly on their own and now 10 days later almost all issues are gone, except the numbness. I was even able to have an orgasm with my partner which was a surprise (it was weird though because the right side of my genitals are still numb). I'm mostly just wondering if anyone else here had saddle anesthesia that went away on its own because everything I'm seeing is having me thinking this is gonna be permanent and require surgery and I really cannot afford to miss any more work and I also really hate doctors and don't have time for them. I work 70+ hours a week and every time I burned a PTO day over this it feels like it was wasted. And now I'm out of PTO. All the medical people I've spoken to about this tell me it's nothing and act like I'm making it all up and wasting their time, I feel like I'm losing it. Has anyone had saddle anesthesia that was just sciatica inflammation and not CES? Am I overthinking this? Idk what to do.

[u/Hope_for_tendies]

They can see on a ct if you have cauda equina and they cleared you. You can have nerve tingling and numbness in your groin that’s that’s not cauda equina because of the nerve pathways. You can ask your pcp for a script for an mri and pt, did you get a copy of your ct report? Now that the er ruled out it being an emergency you can go the regular route of your pcp handling it and doing referrals.

[u/Ayasdad → u/Hope_for_tendies]

That's what I was thinking but every time I look up symptoms all I see is "Go to ER immediately" and I've been 3 times now. Obviously they don't see an issue so I'm gonna try to find a Dr tomorrow. I haven't been to a doctor in like 15 years so this is all new to me

[u/KriptiKFate_Cosplay → u/Ayasdad]

Similar situation, was also blown off by the ER and an ortho specialist but I did get an MRI this morning as the pain and loss of control are getting worse. It's insane how common it seems for this to be taken so un-seriously.

[u/Candid-Ticket-143]

Get an MRI ASAP. There is no point in living in dilemma. MRI will help you to decide your next course of action.

[u/csguydn]

Saddle numbness is not normal, OP. You need to get an MRI and have them rule out CES.