The doctors are baffled. Yep, they can't figure out what the &^$# is wrong with me. LOL After ruling out the circulation system as a cause for my leg pain they ordered another blood test. This one will look for even more specific things. The Doc wants to hook me up to some machine that will monitor my nervous system at night. I got more drugs, a stronger pain pill and more baffled looks.
Let me describe the "pain" I feel everyday.
Let me describe the "pain" I feel everyday.
Imagine you have two large rubber bands inside your thighs. As you stand the bands begin to tighten. After about 20 minutes they are so bunched up and tight they will tighten no more. Now imagine your nerves are intertwined in those bands, getting squeezed and pinched more with every minute. After about 20 minutes the pain is so great you feel you will pass out.
Now, imagine hurting like this all day, everyday. Fatigue is ever present. You feel tired of being in pain. Your head hurts from the stress, your stomach is in knots because of the constant pain. Your breathing is shallow as you pant from levels of pain low to high. You don't care about anything but having a moment to sit and get off your legs.
It affects everything you do and your concentration. At the end of the day you just want to collapse and stop doing anything.
You eat Tylenol, pain pills and aspirin....further upsetting your stomach. You worry about everything because everything depends on if you are in pain or not. You don't want to make any plans because you never know what level of pain that day will be like.
You can't sleep and when you do your up two to six times a night. You are frequently awakened in the middle of the night with "Charlie Horse" knots, not in your calves where most get them, but in your thighs where the huge muscles are bunching up and writhing in agony.
When standing your legs burn and tingle. Then they ache and hurt, then the real pain comes as they weaken and become hard. You lock your knees and walk like on stilts just to get around. Your blood pressure shoots through the roof from stress. You feel like the roof of your head is coming off. The femoral nerve that runs from your hip to your knees is inflamed and pulses with pain. You have two knots swell up on either side of your knees and your feet swell. Your shoes feel tight and your feet hurt too.
By the end of the day you are so tired and worn out you fall asleep sitting up and don't remember even being asleep. You simply turn off and don't turn back on for several minutes to several hours. Your alarm clock has to rattle the windows to wake you. You wake up every morning with a killer headache and you feel you haven't slept at all. Each time you wake during the night you have the same headache. It gets worse by morning.
You get up and go to work and do it all over again. You eat allot to keep enough energy to keep going because if you go without eating your system loses energy and you become too weak to fight the constant pain in your legs and back. Thus you gain weight.
Now, imagine hurting like this all day, everyday. Fatigue is ever present. You feel tired of being in pain. Your head hurts from the stress, your stomach is in knots because of the constant pain. Your breathing is shallow as you pant from levels of pain low to high. You don't care about anything but having a moment to sit and get off your legs.
It affects everything you do and your concentration. At the end of the day you just want to collapse and stop doing anything.
You eat Tylenol, pain pills and aspirin....further upsetting your stomach. You worry about everything because everything depends on if you are in pain or not. You don't want to make any plans because you never know what level of pain that day will be like.
You can't sleep and when you do your up two to six times a night. You are frequently awakened in the middle of the night with "Charlie Horse" knots, not in your calves where most get them, but in your thighs where the huge muscles are bunching up and writhing in agony.
When standing your legs burn and tingle. Then they ache and hurt, then the real pain comes as they weaken and become hard. You lock your knees and walk like on stilts just to get around. Your blood pressure shoots through the roof from stress. You feel like the roof of your head is coming off. The femoral nerve that runs from your hip to your knees is inflamed and pulses with pain. You have two knots swell up on either side of your knees and your feet swell. Your shoes feel tight and your feet hurt too.
By the end of the day you are so tired and worn out you fall asleep sitting up and don't remember even being asleep. You simply turn off and don't turn back on for several minutes to several hours. Your alarm clock has to rattle the windows to wake you. You wake up every morning with a killer headache and you feel you haven't slept at all. Each time you wake during the night you have the same headache. It gets worse by morning.
You get up and go to work and do it all over again. You eat allot to keep enough energy to keep going because if you go without eating your system loses energy and you become too weak to fight the constant pain in your legs and back. Thus you gain weight.
This week I gained 7 pounds just because the pain was worse for the past couple of weeks.
I saw the Doc again today and he has ruled out my circulation system. Though I have high blood pressure, it's minimal and isn't the cause of the leg pain. My lungs are fine. My heart is fine. This leaves one of two things. Either it's the nerve in my back getting crushed by a weakened spinal / vertebra or it's some muscle dystrophy.
The new tests are designed to look for that. So for now, I will wait and see what they can find. In the meantime, I live in pain that is getting worse.
I've decided to see a chiropractor along with these tests. Maybe an adjustment will stave off some of the pain till I can find a permanent solution.
J.
I saw the Doc again today and he has ruled out my circulation system. Though I have high blood pressure, it's minimal and isn't the cause of the leg pain. My lungs are fine. My heart is fine. This leaves one of two things. Either it's the nerve in my back getting crushed by a weakened spinal / vertebra or it's some muscle dystrophy.
The new tests are designed to look for that. So for now, I will wait and see what they can find. In the meantime, I live in pain that is getting worse.
I've decided to see a chiropractor along with these tests. Maybe an adjustment will stave off some of the pain till I can find a permanent solution.
J.
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