Stabbing pain in back of my leg

[Jeanne28]

a month ago I started getting a (very) random stabbing/burning pain in the back of my left leg about 4 inches above my knee.  The first time it happened I had been riding in the car for about 2.5 hours (with two stops during the trip).  The pain was so bad it dropped me to me knees.I figured it was the long car ride.  I have gotten twinges of it since, but today I was waking up and just laying in bed and it happened again.  It hurts intermittently for a couple of minutes and then stops.  However it is terrible terrible pain.  I cannot recreate, I cannot find a tender spot or a bruise.
I do have rhuemataid arthritis that has been so active the last couple of months that my Dr. put me on predisone (the syptom started before the predisone) for a month to bring it back into control and we will decide from there on how to proceed. I have been on methotrexate in the past. Also, since starting the prednisone I have been having severe allergies. Something I normally do not have. Anyway, any thoughts on the leg pain?

[dstrong]

make sure that it is not a dvt, deep vein thrombosis.  it can cause a severe pain.

[carolanivey]

Hi there,

My first thought is that it's the sciatic nerve being pinched or irritated in some way. Before I had my hips replaced I had pain that would start in my, um, rear end, shoot down the back of my thigh, SKIP my knee area and continue down the back of my calf. After the hip surgery the sciatic pain disappeared. My guess is that the hip pain was altering the way I walked, sat, stood, etc, which can easily lead to pain elsewhere in the body.

If you've been on mtx alone in the past and it didn't work, try it again and combine it with one of the newer meds like Enbrel or Humira. I was on mtx alone for a long time and though it worked relatively well, I'd still get flares and need occasional prednisone. After adding Enbrel, the flares stopped and I've been very stable since then.

As for the apparent allergy flare - prednisone really dries you out. You may notice that your throat feels dry and your voice altered, and your nose is stuffy. Dry throat and sinuses leaves your more vulnerable to allergens in the air. Drink lots of water (if your kidneys are okay) and use saline nasal sprays/gels to moisten the inside of your nose. You can even use a cotton swab to coat the inside of your nostrils with a thin layer of petroleum jelly. Sounds gross, but this is the only thing that works for me, especially at night.

Dr. Oz actually recommends doing the petroleum jelly thing before you get on a plane - it blocks viruses from reaching your nasal tissues which could protect you from infection.

Hang in there! Hope you feel better soon.