Extreme pain in legs

I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this. The other night I woke up in excruciating pain. Both of my legs hurt so bad - more than cramps- kind of a burning and throbbing pain, if that makes sense. It started in both of my hips and went all the way down through my feet, I. The fron and back of my legs. It woke me out of a deep sleep and nothing I did helped alleviate it. I tried stretching, walking, taking a warm bath.

I finally called my dr. when his office opened. He gave me a toradol injection, which, after a while helped a lot. (Thank goodness!)

I did have a migraine the day before, which is probably unrelated. I am wondering what could have brought on the leg "thing". I'd like not to experience it again.
Thanks -
Hope

Hope,sorry to hear about the pain!!

When this happens to me, it is usually the night after I have over-exerted myself. It is awful.

Generally,when I know this may be a problem, I take a hot bath with epsom salts before bed. I double upon the magnesium. Then, I rub my legs, ankles, and feet with lotion. In the night, if I wake up with pain,another hot bath and a pain killer. Generally, if I manage to soothe the nerves before bed, I might sleep restlessly but I do sleep. It is not a great solution, but at least it is something. Moving positions sometimes helps as well.

Tango--Sweeting, are you seeing a therapist at all? Your life has changed drastically,and it hurts a lot. It's hard. It takes time to work through grief and anger. A counselor can function as an objective source for help. Also, keep up with your work. It feels, at first, as if it is not possible. But it is, and it's necessary. The way you do things has to change, but it gives us something to hold onto.

thanks for all the replies! I need to start taking magnesium again. I used to, but for some reason have gotten out of the habit. Good reminder.

T - I am sorry that you are depressed. It brings real suffering. Myself has good advice. Also, I was wondering if you are very tired. Sometimes the tiredness and depression go hand in hand for me, and I feel like my body is also, like you said, breaking down. It seems like a vicious circle for me, depression and tiredness. But a very wise person once told me that the thing about a circle is that you can go in anywhere and change the direction.

Cathy - i do have trouble with one of my knees. I had a torn meniscus and it was removed and it has bothered me ever since. Also, I am about your age and used to have terrible migraines until i got through perimenopause. Now they are less frequent, and while painful, not as severe as before. I wonder if hormones even now could bring on a migraine and a flare.

I hope that everyone has a pain-free (as much as possible) night.

Hope, my shoulders, then back of neck, then bam! Flare up of pain. I also had a bucket tear in medial meniscus and had arthroscopic surgery 7 months ago to remove the torn pieces. While inside the area, the ortho found damaged cartilage on the bottom of femur bone which he debrided; shudder. My knee has made a bit of progress until three weeks ago when my knee started popping/grinding, locking. Ortho told me yesterday I have chrondormallica (sp) patella syndrome; knee cap has been pushed over onto the tendon! Ordered a knee brace and going to have shots of some vicose thing for synovial fluid.
Pain in leg and knee is outrageous now. Worse than before surgery. Very hard to sleep and if I drive for short periods or do outdoor chores, sleep is virtually impossible.
Tango,
I too suffer from depression and anxiety and PTSD since I was rear-ended. I don't know if you post in the depression forum; with all that is happening in my life and my housemates, life is incredible screwed up. This creates the added option of having worse pain. I spend a lot of time doing activities that involve allowing me to escape from the emotional and physical pain, kinda meditative. It really helps me a lot. I drown out the negative thoughts and focus on the simple joy of coloring or find-a-word, or my new blog.
My best wishes to you both :)

Hope,
I'm sorry you're suffering with the leg pain. When I heard your description, I could completely relate. I hope no one thinks you're crazy. Because you're not!

Yes, I want to see a therapist, My. Because I am wreck. The move has proven to be not at all what I expected. I mean severely so. A few snags I expected. But to have my cousins treat me like they have, like wealthy people patronizing their ailing cousin, by offering table scraps, to help a mother they don't want to deal with. They whined about not having money to pay me all the while I see their multiple resort trips to Florida, California, elsewhere. I'm all for people getting their vacations, but that they claimed they had no money? Then they proceeded to call me abnormal for not responding to calls at the drop of a hat, yet not getting back to me for days if not weeks. They claimed they understood my fibro issues, but I think they would do anything to get me here to watch their mom. They'd change the terms and not let me know. We don't even speak to each other now. I'd have been homeless or living at the Salvation Army if I wasn't able to live with my parents right now. I'm still reeling from that.

I desperately took some teaching gigs, that I wouldn't have taken, like a Saturday morning, if I ihadnt thought I'd be jobless and penniless. I'm so unbelievably exhausted after sat. Morning that I crawl into bed and even my 90+ year old dad sees what a mess I am. (If I was 'normal' these jobs would be perfect.). I may have to quit a day. The chronic tendinitis is making it difficult to keep up, and pain, and utter exhaustion.

Meanwhile, my cousins are mad at me because they found out the hard way that they'd have to pay someone 10x what they wanted to pay me.... Umm.... I'm so angry over their despicable selfishness. They want for naught... (Fancy homes, cars, numerous vacations).

The one plus is im getting nice times and memories with my parents, bless their souls. But sometimes I'm just too sick to help the, as much as I should.

Making this move has cost me money I didn't have (america ... Land of the fee), getting dr. Appointments monstrously bureaucratic and time consuming, and my anxiety has sky rocketed. Loss of self. Still living inboxes. Less quiet downtime.

Sorry Hope. I didn't mean to hijack this thread with my rant.
T

Hope-Taking magnesium will be a good start, and hopefully it will help. I swear by my hot baths before bed. Anytime I am achy or overexerted or had an overly-emotional day, it is part of the bedtime ritual. Even when I try to skip it and just go to bed normally, the body starts to twitch as soon as I shut my eyes.

With fibro, it's the little things we develop or discover over time that can really help with pain and stiffness.

Tango-I am sorry to hear about the life changes. Even family can fink out on us, and it is harder (sometimes) to get family to be responsible. Did you have a written contract with your cousins? or was the agreement more of a verbal discussion? You might want to sit down with them, and if you do not have a written contract, develop one together. If nothing else, it will help to open lines of communication again.

Do you have a PCP in your new area? Usually they can suggest a practice to check out. Hon-do it soon. If your new life is heading south this fast,you really need the extra support, as well as the coping mechanisms.

Hope, thanks for the kind thoughts. I'm glad you got a walk in. I'm planning a lake beach stint. It's there I feel most calm, like your walk. I'm starting to feel a little better this evening, coming out of the most horrendous flare ever.

My, I dread calling the doc. It's horrendous how the system treats you in Ohio. I mention medicaid and you get the run around, put off, told different things. Then they claim you need to be certified every month and a financial counselor will call you. Then you never hear back. Call again. More runarounds. It took 2 months just to get an appointment with a rheumy, not the actual appointment, just the setting of it! (And that's not until January! (Oh and my insurance may change by then, and then I'll anticipate another put off....). I just can't deal with another roadblock! All I want is a darn appointment! I'm considering the ER! Lots of crying, pain, etc. if that's what I have to do then so be it. Or urgent care. I dontknow. Another stressor to add....

I hate America... Our system is a joke. I'm considering applying for asylum in England, Germany, Denmark!

We're not speaking, the one cousin and I. I don't foresee her apologizing. Because I said no to a measly $300 a month to care for their mom, and because I mentioned our communication hasn't been good, she's mad. (I wanted to plan a call, draw up a contract, etc.). They just wanted to talk on the phone and then set up moving my stuff to her house. Bam. They don't give a dang that their actions have put me in a terrible way.

I wish I hadn't moved. I own my mistake in starting with a verbal contract, and initiating the move before everything was formalized. I'm a fool! I feel like fibro monster has eaten half my brain away and I can't even make a simple decision anymore.

T

Hope...........I'm still feeling like my hormones are fluctuating. I've always associated my auras with my hormones fluctuating. Usually, I get super tired, and very hungry and irritated.......then I have the aura. I am soooooo happy that I don't get the migraines anymore.

I've suspected for a long time that my aching legs were related to my bad knees. I had a meniscus repair about 8 years ago and they didn't tell me that my lower leg might bend outward........which it did, and it caused me a lot of foot problems. And now I can't even straighten out my leg and my foot hurts a lot.
Woe is me! lol! Now I'm hearing that physical therapy should be tried before having any knee surgery. And there's no way I would have a replacement. There are some very beneficial knee exercises......which strengthen the muscles that support the knee. I've found that they help.
Although I have to say.......sometimes it doesn't matter what I do......my legs ache anyhow. I often feel after sitting a long time, or after sleeping, that it feels like I have rigor mortis!

I also think a lot of carbs, salt and/or sugar can make the pain worse.

But I DO think some of us have hormone fluctuations for a long time, even after menopause starts. I've heard that heavier women have them longer, because fat cells store estrogen and can give it up slowly.
That might be my problem. haha

Cathy- I am so sorry you are having so much trouble with your leg. When I had my surgery to remove my meniscus, I didn't realize that only one part was removed. The medial (?) meniscus is still there I guess and now I think it might be torn. It seems like it feels like it did before anyway.

Very interesting about hormones, too. I thought I was past that😊 I never had auras, just the severe, acute pain.

Luvzminis- I experienced what you said. It was a complete surprise. I've had fibromyalgia since my teens, and never experienced that!

Hope