I have been having left leg pain for approximately 4 years now. After 2 years, my primary care doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong with me so she sent me to a pain clinic. I have been seeing the pain clinic doc for another 2 years now. I have had 2-3 MRI's of my back with nothing found that can explain my pain, aside from some degenerative disk disease and a bulging disk. However, the bulging disk is on the right side and my right leg is not where my pain is. Thinking that this may be causing the pain anyway, I have had about 5 epidural steroid injections in my spine over the past 2 years. The pain envelopes my entire leg. It's more intense when I am sitting, driving, etc. When walking, within 15 minutes I am limping because my leg aches so bad. I do have some sciatic nerve problems, but I am sure I have something else going on. I know when my sciatic nerve is being irritated and can feel that pain down the entire backside of my leg. However, I am almost certain the aching pain that causes my whole leg to hurt is not caused by my sciatic nerve. On my last visit to the pain clinic, the doctor more or less suggested that I will have to live with this pain, it is coming from my back, and there's not much he can do for it. Then I suggested maybe I should have a CT scan of my hip or my pelvis. He did agree and I had a CT of my pelvis done about 2 weeks ago. The results came back showing two 4-cm uterine fibroids and something resembling a cyst on my left ovary, and the radiologist suggested I have an MRI so they can see more of what's going on. I had the MRI last week and go to the pain clinic doctor today to get the results.
I have read stories of women who have had unexplained leg pain and finally it is discovered that they have either fibroids or cysts that are large enough to be pressing on nerves which causes their pain. What I am wondering is, has anyone else had this problem or know of someone who has? I am at my wits end having to put up with this pain, not being able to comfortably work (I am on my feet 8-12 hr per day), go for walks, sit or drive comfortably, etc. I have tried all the NSAIDS on the market with no relief. Ultracet works good but I can't take that forever. Ultram ER works somewhat but not enough to make me forget about the pain for an afternoon. Most recently, I have been taking 1 Ultracet and 1 ES Tylenol. The combination of those seems to work fairly well.
Any help, suggestions, related stories, or the ultimate....an official diagnosis would be wonderful. Thanks for listening.