Leg pain

[raeanna74]

I have had a lot of leg pain lately. I was wondering what the possible problems were and if they warrented seeing a Dr. This has been going on for just over a week and it seems to be getting worse.

I usually am not in a lot of pain in the mornings but sometimes there's a dull ache still. by midafternoon it gets more noticeable. I actually cannot ignore by then. By the evening it's very intense. It's mostly concentrated in my joints, hip, knee, ankle, and the ball of my foot even. At first I thought it could be dehydration or B vit, or calcium definciency because during pregnancy I used to get cramps in my calves that were very painful. The Dr told me to hydrate myself and take calcuim and B vit suppliments. I treated this pain the same but after several days of beefing up on those vitamins and drinking nigh on to a gallon of water during the day I haven't seen any improvement. I also thought it could have been som emuscle soreness from moving the couch and things to vacuum under them which I did last weekend. The fact that it's gotten more sore and I've done less heavy work tells me it's not that. I usually walk around barefoot or in stocking feet in my house. It's been that way for a long time. I thought it could be a problem with me walking around barefoot and maybe an arch problem. So today all day I wore my good walking/tennis shoes that have good support in them. No improvement. In fact I'm sitting now in the late afternoon because they are already too painful to walk or stand much. Even while I'm sitting down they are aching and almost feel like the leg is or has been stretched too far and the joints won't go back to their original places. I notice no swelling in my feet or ankles either.

I know this was detailed but I hope it makes it clear enough what I've tried and may help you guys point me in the right direction. If this continues much longer or gets more painful I will go to the Dr without hesistation then. I was just hoping that someone might have had a similar experience or idea of what could be causing this or at least what might give me relief. Ben Gay/Icy Hot only give temporary relief. I've wanted to take an epsom salt bath but have had no time wherein I could retreat to the bath for more than 5 min in the past 2 days without the kid/kids spinning out of control. I may leave hubby to their devices tonight and try that at least.

[Cowman]

I really have no idea, but I'll throw out some ideas that maybe some other people with more knowledge can comment on..

Could it be a lack of potassium? I recently found out this causes twitches..

Do you mind me asking if you're overweight? Might just be pain caused from carrying too much weight around..(no offense meant there, but that could be it)

Maybe stress? Obviously every mother goes through a lot of stress when dealing with kids, maybe the workload has caught up to you in the last couple weeks?



not sure what else..

[hannukah harry]

you said it's mainly in your joints? the two most likely things are:

1. when you were moving stuff the other week, you overstressed your joints, and your daily stuff that you've been doing since is a bit too much for your body to compensate for and heal. if that's teh case, take a couple days off, staying off your feet as much as possible, and that could help.

2. arch problem, like you mentioned. what happens, especially if you have flat feet, is that since the arch isn't supported, everything gets shifted out of place a bit, and pinches nerves and tissue and such, causing pain. and it can throw things off all the way up to your hips and even lower back pain. anyways, 1 day of wearing proper support won't cure that. i had a major problem with it a few years ago because i was always wearing sandals and an old pair of shoes that no longer gave any support. i bought a new pair of shoes and some insoles and about a week later there was no pain.

my $0.02

[raeanna74]

Thanks for those ideas. The vitamins I take a prenatal multi vitamin with potassium too. I will have to make sure I keep wearing the good shoes for a few days and see what happens then. I have had a little lower back pain too but didn't notice it much because my legs were so painful. I will have to try staying off my feet a little too. I don't think it's 'cause of weight since I'm 5'6" and 142lbs, not too bad. I've wondered if it could be a circulation thing maybe since my blood pressure runs lower (103/67 or so) but wouldn't that cause swollen ankles some?

[thingstodo]

Probably your back. Sciatica is a common problem that starts in your back but manifests itself in your hams, calves and all the way to your middle toe.

A suggestion is to find a good chiropractor that used the Gunstead method.

[raeanna74]

Well to update you. Thanks for the suggestions one and all. I'm wearing my good shoes every day, at least while I'm up and working around. I've continued with the extra vitamins beyond the prenatals the Dr prescribes for anemia. Things had not improvement much by today though so I made an apt this morning to see the Chiropractor whom I've seen before. He checked things out and went to begin adjusting. My spine was cavitating all up and down my back as he worked. Sometimes I'll get that but rarely as much as today. He has hopes that things will improve today and 2 more adjustments should set me right. That was at 9:30 this morning. By noon I'm feeling better than I have in a week and better than I did this morning even. I'm hoping to see this clear up soon. He said that my leg pain was mostly if not all caused by the back pain and that it should go away as the back heals up. He gave me other instructions to help things heal too. I finally don't have the intense pain in my legs that I did before. Thanks all for your suggestions and input.

[thingstodo]

Glad to hear things worked out!