Unrelenting leg pain any fellow sufferers?

[rendean]

You have all heard me complain about my leg pain. Usually it is relieved by steroids and more recently by my ketamine infusions. Each ketamine infusion is increased with each visit. However, this  week's infusion failed to relieve my right leg pain. It eliminated my left leg pain as usual.

Since I fell twice within 10 minutes on my leg 2 weeks ago, I was sent for xrays and for Doppler studies for DVT since it doesn't hurt hurt unless it's weight bearing , which is diffferent. All studies negative. Thank goodness.

Does anybody have any suggestions for releif? I know Julie asked  a few weeks ago  because she experiences the same when on steroids but this seems different.

Any favorite remedies? Heat? cold? A good margarita or glass of wine?

Thanks ,
Ren

[Zacksmomi]

I too have endless leg pain. Margaritas help if I don't have to walk lol.
The soft tissue stimulation and pressure on the particularly spastic muscles is the,only thing that keeps my out of a chair.
My physical therapist does massage sort of... we can't really call it that. I think it is called soft tissue therapy actually. I have great ins and get to go twice a week with no co pay which is a HUGE blessing to me.  

My husband helps but he works with his hands and can only do so much. I tried PT with another therapist who had me do stretching and exercises. It was great to learn the right stretches I think that is very important. Also the exercise she taught me are great when my legs are not hurting, but the exercises at PT made me so exhausted and the muscles just became more spastic.  

Now my new PT does the soft tissue therapy and says that I need to only do my exercises at home when I am feeling up to it or don't have to be up and about much.

Hope u get some good relief very soon
D

[meg321]

I am so sorry about your any your leg pain, I have never had anything like that....but I hate pain.

Hope you find some relief soon..

meg

[rendean]

Dear Paula and SB,

Thank you for the suggestions. I do employ all the above strategies already. Take cymbalta which improved it but not this round and klonopin and gabapentin. DH massages my legs as well, I so occassionaly wrap in an ace wrap as well.

I overdid my activites yesterday with all  the testing and it was at it' worst. I started doing my PT streches , especially the hamstring and anterior tibialis (sp?) and that DID help. I restart PT ,finally, on Wednesday so things should improve.

Laura, restless legs syndrome has been ruled out. It doesn;t involve pain as much as it does a relentess urge to move your legs to  relieve discomfort.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the  input.

@ Paula, hope your cymbalta works for you but do give it some time (2 weeks minimum) to kick in.

Ren

[slightlybroken]

MMmm Margaritas! Oh my brain got a little side tracked ;)

I have pretty bad leg pain. Between the spasticity and the parenthesis they drive me nuts. Paula has mentioned some good meds. I'm on Neurotin for the pain and Baclofen for the spasticity.When my spasticity is out of control, my doctors gave me Klonopin to add at night. It works longer than Baclofen, for me, and seems to calm the spasticity better when it's really bad.

And it's not crazy..compression/pressure (what Paula mentioned) can sometimes help. In a way it tricks the brain in feeling the pressure rather than the pain. Here's what it said on a website about it:

"Skin stimulation is the use of pressure, friction, temperature change, or chemical substances to excite the nerve endings in the skin. Scientists believe that the same nerve pathways transmit the sensations of pain, heat, cold, and pressure to the brain. When the skin is stimulated so that pressure, warmth, or cold is felt, pain sensation is lessened or blocked. Skin stimulation also alters the flow of blood to the affected area. Sometimes skin stimulation will get rid of the pain, or the pain will be less during the stimulation and for hours after it is finished."

I guess it would be worth a try to see if it works for you. I would buy some compression stockings (those lovely white sexy hosiery for DVTs). They would do the trick if you wanted to give it a try.

Hope you feel better soon

[figuerpa]

Ren,

I have severe leg pain in my left leg, I take lyrica for the burning and he just gave me cymbalta to see if help the pain. I also find that if I keep that leg cold, like out of the blankets at night it helps.

I know this sounds crazy but also pressure helps it, if my dh lays his leg or foot on the point that is bothering me worse it seems to help some.

I know that the leg pain can be horrible I have been dealing with it for some time now and I wish my doc could find some kind of relief for me, who knows maybe the Cymbalta will do the trick.

Wishing you the best of luck,

Paula

[Lulu54]

Ren,  so sorry to hear the ketamine didn't help with the leg pain this time.  I don't have leg pain but was just talking with someone about restless leg syndrome (RLS).  What you describe sounds much more intense than RLS.

I'm glad to hear you didn't break anything in your falls.  I guess that means you really do need to hang on to that walker until this episode passes.

I vote for springtime as the best remedy for everyone!

Lu