How a Year of Sciatica Led Me to Create DUSK

I never expected sciatica to be the thing that shaped a whole product range. But a year ago, that's exactly what started to happen.

It began quietly — a dull ache, easy to ignore. But over the months it got worse, until it reached down my leg and stopped me doing the things I'd never thought twice about before. I couldn't walk the dog. I couldn't stand at a market stall for a full day. Even cleaning the house became something I had to plan around, rather than just do.

For someone who runs her own business — where so much of the work is physical, and so much of it depends on simply showing up — that was hard to accept. I had to let go of a lot. Not just tasks, but the pace I was used to moving at. I had to give my body real time to heal, rather than pushing through the way I might have before.

Sciatica isn't something I'd wish on anyone. But it also brought me back, in a very direct way, to what I already knew.

What sciatica actually is

Sciatica is pain that runs along the sciatic nerve, which travels from your lower back down through your hips and each leg. It's usually caused by pressure or irritation on the nerve — from a slipped disc, muscle tension, or, in pregnancy, from the extra weight and shifting posture placing pressure on the lower spine. The pain can range from a dull ache to something sharp and genuinely debilitating, and it often gets worse the longer you stay in one position, which makes ordinary life — standing at a market stall, walking a dog, bending to clean — surprisingly hard.

There's no quick fix for sciatica, and I want to be honest about that. But warmth and magnesium are two things that are commonly used to ease muscle tension and take some pressure off an irritated nerve. Warm water increases blood flow and helps muscles around the area relax, while magnesium — the main mineral in Epsom salt — is absorbed through the skin and is widely used to help ease muscle cramping and tension. Neither treats the underlying cause, but together they can make a real difference to day-to-day discomfort, which is exactly what I found.

Leaning into what I already understood

I've spent years working with plants and essential oils — understanding how they support the body, not just how they smell. During that year of recovery, I started running a bath almost every evening. Partly because it was one of the few things that gave me relief. Partly, I think, because it was the one part of the day I let myself properly stop.

I won't say it was a cure — I don't think anything about sciatica has a simple fix, and I was careful not to expect too much from any one thing. But the combination of warm water, magnesium-rich salts, and the oils I already trusted made a real difference to how my body felt, and just as importantly, to how I felt about what I was going through. It gave me a way to be gentle with myself while my body did the slow work of healing.

That daily ritual is really where DUSK began. Not as a product idea first, but as something I needed myself, made from ingredients and knowledge I already had close at hand.

How I actually used it

There was no science to how I ran the bath — mostly just consistency. I kept the water as warm as I could comfortably manage, added a generous handful of the salts, and stayed in for at least fifteen to twenty minutes, long enough for the muscles around my lower back and hip to properly soften rather than just warm up. I did this most evenings, particularly after a day where I'd been on my feet or in the car.

What mattered more than any single soak was doing it regularly. It became part of how I paced myself through a difficult year — a fixed point in the day where I gave my body permission to stop, rather than something I only reached for when the pain was already bad.

What's in DUSK

DUSK combines Epsom salts, Atlantic sea salt, colloidal oats, and sugar kelp with cedarwood, lavender, frankincense, wild orange, and cypress — the same blend I leaned on during that year. It's made in small batches here in West Cork, the way everything from Wild Atlantic Wellness is.

If you're dealing with sciatica, muscle tension, or you're simply someone who's been asked to slow down when you'd rather not, I hope it gives you what it gave me: fifteen quiet minutes, and a little relief.

Who else reaches for DUSK

Sciatica is what led me here, but it's far from the only reason people use DUSK. Since launching it, I've heard from customers using it after long days on their feet at work, after workouts and hikes, and simply at the end of weeks that have been more physically and mentally demanding than usual. Anyone whose body is asking for a proper pause — not just a quick shower and straight to bed — tends to find something in this ritual.

That's really the heart of Wild Atlantic Wellness: products made from real need, tested on my own body first, before they ever reach yours.

And if you don’t have a bath, DUSK can be used as a relaxing foot soak too!

Wild Atlantic Wellness products are not a substitute for medical advice or treatment. If you're experiencing sciatica or persistent pain, please speak with your doctor or physiotherapist.