Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] I am a 21 year old female who has been suffering from chronic sciatica since july 2010. At first my doctor thought it would ease itself out and gave me diclofenac tablets which i cannot take as i suffer frequent heartburn so i returned to my gp and was changed to cocodamol codine. My sciatia "episodes" only happened once or twice every week which left me in a lot of pain and extremely tired due to lack of sleep from the pain. Since the beggining of December my episodes started to become more frequent,  3/4 times a week, I tried heat packs, cold packs, gels, sprays, pillow between my legs, ibroufen, otc pain relievers. I reorted to walking around the living room at 4am most nights crying the pain was so severe. I have visited my gp numerous times and again she said it would work itself out. At the start of the year my episodes have been nearly everyday and it is extremely painful and i am finding it difficult to walk and bend down, even sitting is sore. Again I visited my gp and this time she gave me tramadol and told me to contact physiotherapy. My pain is a severe stabbing pain in my right buttock, (sometimes my left) my right hip, all the way down to my calf and the i have frequent pins and needles in my right foot. I also have a stabbing pain in between my shoulder blades and a dull thud in my lower back. Over the past few days I have been having extreme difficulty urinating, Im almost forcing my muscles to do so even though i am drinking plenty of fluids. I cannot tell you when i last had a bowel movement as its been that long. After a chat with my physiotherapist over the phone today she asked if i was experiencing theses symptoms and then i told her i had pain in my tail bone and sometimes a little shooting pain in my inner thigh, these symptoms have only started a few days ago. She called back an hour later with my next appointment but also to tell me that if i do not pass urine tonight that i must report to a+e tommorrow morning to be tested for cauda equina syndrome. Do you think i am experiencing this?
[|AI|]  Dear patient Considering your case you have got disc prolapse at lumbar level with nerve root compression. Since this complaint are for long time and now you have started experiencing difficulties in urination and stool passing possibility of caudal equine syn Chat Doctor.  You should visit expert spine surgeon and get yourself examined. MRI of lumbosacral spine with screening of whole spine is must confirm diagnosis. If MRI report shows significant nerve compression surgery may be required.  So do not waste more time and take urgent visit to spine surgeon.  All the best.