Tailbone and Hip Pain, inc Thigh spasms

[Bunneh]

Am 28 year old woman, with acute tailbone and hip pain:

Wed (Jun 30th) - Ache upper buttocks and tailbone. Pain bending & when crosslegged, at bottom and top of pelvis & lumbar curve when lying on stomach.  
Mon (7/5) - Worsening, so went to Dr. -- No cyst, and no pain when pressed or walking.  Explained had bumped t/b when sitting week prior, but also on Sun had done v heavy lift (wall mount drier), & had also gone biking this week. He thought it was the bump & rcmd Ibuprofen. Said should be better by Wed. Took, but no effect so stopped. On Wed, felt buzzing in left hip and buttock, and it had swollen in upper pelvis. Next day, tailbone pain worsened esp sitting & was swollen by end of night. Fri, swelling spread to right hip, and by Sat, was swollen around belly line and pubic mound. By Sun night, swelling extended to upper thighs & got muscle twitching.
Mon (7/12) - Went Dr. again. He checked ankles, no swelling, no fever. He said maybe Ibupro. reaction but I never had problems & stopped it prior to swelling. Asked if swelling was body healing the trauma, but he seemed to think it wasn't. Asked about any I could do, & he said possible Ultrasound on left hip. Didn't have any ideas beyond this, but prescribed diuretic. Took it when I got home, but no immediate effect.

Today. Swelling less. Muscles tender, and 1-2 twitch per min in thighs. Still get bending pain, esp if standing at 70 degree angle for a time. Think pain is less overall but is hard to tell. It is stiff pain now, i.e. when I move after sitting/lying, for a while, pain is greater, but tends to lessen.

What could it be? What could be causing the leg/nerve symptoms, and the swelling? Is it possible trauma & should I be worried? Asked Dr office about getting pelvic xrays too but Dr. was reluctant. Should I insist? Or is it pointless? & should I bother with Ultrasound at all, or wait it out? I get the feeling it is related to the lift I did Sun, so I don't think the U/S will result in anything.

[igarfy]

Hi, Please get some more tests and exrays. Long time ago I started out with pain in my  tail bone and hips that would come and go. I am a 65 year old female who after years of going to doctors was finally diagnosed with Osteomalagia. It is a horrible disease and the pain is severe and unrelenting. Get more tests. Good luck, Teri

[saas88]

Hi so I've been suffering with this pain in my hips as I have double jointed hips but also I get even greater pain in my tailbone when I bend, lift lay for long periods or even sitting for long periods to the point that I can't bend properly and find myself limping abit when I walk and everything I do is discomforting even laying straight sometimes and i was just wondering if you could give me abit of insite to wat might be going on I've had pains in my hips all my life but am now finding the tailbone pain to be getting alot stronger I'm only 23 but my bones feel as tho I'm 60

[Bunneh]

Though I feel I am improving-- slowly... (it's been five weeks or so) tonight my leg muscles started twitching again, especially in my thighs, but also in my calves and feet. They have been twitching a little for 3 weeks, but seemed to be getting better... today it is more noticeable again. I feel it more when I am at rest, and when I lay down. As for why I feel it more today, well this week, I had to go back to work. I work in retail and today I walked a lot more than the other two days-- while it does NOT hurt when I walk, tonight after work, the twitching is worse. I got intermittent stabbing pain running down my leg, (my left leg, same as my swollen hip) as well, but the twitching is affecting both legs, and a burning/buzzing feeling in my legs and buttocks.

Like I said, the pain isn't very bad, but no painkillers work on it-- I have tried every anti-inflammatory I can, nothing works. I am still swollen, especially my tailbone and left hip, but it is going down slowly day by day... very slowly. I am still a bit swollen 3 weeks later. However, I feel I am improving over all, but the muscle symptoms worry me. As for my other symptoms, my bending pain seems to be almost gone, however, if I sit cross legged at all-- especially with my back bent, it starts to hurt in my hips after a while, a lot.

Is it normal/probable for a back strain to result in these kind of nerve symptoms in my legs? It seems almost like sciatica, but it is not terrible pain-- I am able to function normally, just annoying pain.

[Bunneh]

Hello, thank you for your replies, I appreciate the ideas, and thoughts. I realize that it's hard to give advice over the net, but so far it's a sight better than the advice my doctor is giving me. I am going to go to a different doctor on Monday if continue to feel as if I am not improving.

An addendum on my situation:
I have improved in some areas, but not in others. The swelling is still there; It's been just over two weeks now (two weeks of swelling, five weeks of pain). It's less swollen than it was, especially on my right hip, but my left hip is still noticeably swollen, and my tailbone region is still also very puffy. I have ceased the diuretic, (last week) as it had little effect.

Today, my tailbone pain is worse. For about a week it felt as if it were lessening but now it is back with a vengeance... when I was lying down on my bed this morning (on my stomach) it was it was the same a burning/buzzing/aching sensation right in the center between my buttocks I had 2 weeks ago. It has gotten worse throughout the day as I have sat, and my gluteal muscles are twitching as I am resting just now. And it slightly uncomfortable to sit on again. I can sit on the couch fine, it just burns and throbs. If I sit cross legged-- It radiates throbbing shooting pain around my coccyx, extending sideways around the back part of my pelvis-- (it doesn't seem to matter whether I am sitting on something hard or soft, it hurts the same, but it's made worse the longer I sit cross-legged, especially with back curved (I think it hurts less when my back is straight). Five minutes of sitting cross-legged on my bed just now, was excruciating to the point where I had to quickly stretch out. When I move again out of this position, the pain lingers for the first few steps before going away. Sometimes, when I arch my back, my lumbar curve hurts a little. (Also when I lie on my stomach). Again-- it doesn't really hurt when I walk, also my  back pain from before is almost gone-- I feel little or no pain when I bend to get up, or touch my toes. I no longer instinctively straighten my back when getting up from the bed or sitting down. I am not feeling as much stabbing pain in my hips as I did before.  

I have tried anti-inflammatory medications, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Asprin, and Paracetemol(Acetaminophen)+Codeine -- no results, at all. Keep in mind I'm talking about a 5 week span here, so I have not taken them all at once. Mostly, I haven't been using anything-- firstly because nothing seems to work, and secondly because it is not a crippling debilitating pain-- (only if I sit a lot, or sit cross legged, which I have been avoiding, opting to lay down). I have just been tolerating it. This is why my doctor believes it isn't a slipped disk or bursitis as he believes I would be hurting a lot more. I have also tried an anti-inflammatory topical gel on the affected areas. No effect on the pain or swelling. Lastly, I tried a Heparinoid ointment, and that hasn't helped the swelling or tailbone pain, but it may have had an effect on the bending/lumbar pain I had before-- as it's almost gone-- or it could be the natural healing process. I will also try the sietz baths to see if that helps the swelling. But if this were inflammation, wouldn't something-- anything help, even a little? I normally have good results with Ibuprofen especially. It's strange to me absolutely no anti-inflammatory treatments had any effect.

This leads me to believe it's possibly compressed irritated/damaged/pulled nerves as I have read that sometimes anti-inflammatories don't work on nerve pain, rather anti-depressants and seizure medications work better due to how your brain works. Additionally, muscle aches and twitching is a symptom of possible nerve issues as well as a hot burning/buzzing sensation. However, I don't feel it's sciatica or piriformis as the symptoms don't match up-- unless I have a super mild case. Most say pain while walking, and excruciating debilitating pain, radiating down the legs, which which I really don't have. Again, It's mostly tolerable, except when I sit cross-legged, and sometimes it throbs a lot when I lay on my tummy in bed at night.

I went for my tests last Friday, as the doctor said we 'may as well' ultrasound on my hip (the first place to swell), and xrays on my pelvis and left hip. The tests said that my hip is fine, my hip muscles were fine, and that my joints are fine, and also my pelvis is fine and aligned. It was a front xray, so it's hard to see my coccyx though, and he didn't specifically ask to see it for some reason, even though that's where the pain originated. Would it be worth getting an xray of my coccyx specifically.

As for being fit, I'm not unfit but I'm not super fit. the exercise I was doing was pretty moderate, 15 minutes 3 times a week most weeks. I was overweight before and am almost at a normal weight now-- I have a bit to lose still but have lost 25lbs in a 1.5 years through eating well, weights, and exercising, no fad diets or stuff. The interval biking I had just started when the symptoms originated, but I have always felt pretty flexible even when I was quite overweight and have always been able to run, jog, sprint, etc with no problems. I haven't had sports injuries in my life, actually. I usually bounce back in days, even at my heaviest (5'5" 198lbs, am 171 now) So this is especially confusing and depressing.

I appreciate any advice, ideas or thoughts. It's infinitely reassuring to just get feedback and possibilities on it.

Lastly, no problems urinating, my lymph nodes in my neck are normal, my bowel movements seem normal. no fever, and my ankles and wrists are normal.

[Jyoti Kalra, MBBS]

Hi Friend,
Well it's all due to inflammation at the affected region. Best way out is rest and Seitz bath.
For seitz bath, you will have to buy a big tub, where Luke-warm water has to be put.
Following that, add a pinch of Potassium permanganate into that water and dissolve it completely.
Once done, then sit of it, soaking your buttocks (including the tail bone) inside it, so that the tail bone gets relaxation and the inflammation is reduced.
This needs to be done for 10-15 min for 2-3 days.
I  hope with this, other issues will also get resolved.
Please discuss...for further clarification

[CEUSRA]

Very hard to give advice over the net, so take all of this with a pinch of salt. This Sounds like a muscle strain. However, bearing in mind the heavy lifting, ask yourself whether you have any numbness down below, or problems with passing urine which may indicate a signifant disc problem requiring surgery. A fit person like you may get a piriformis syndrome which would make it quite hard and painful to cross your legs giving pain in buttocks. Most settle down with a bit of time, antiinflammatories and gentle stretching exercises.  

[Bunneh]

I apologize for my horrible abbreviated writing, it was hard to fit my strangely evolving symptoms in 2000 characters.

Lastly, could it be muscle strain due to the (intense) biking I did? I walk a lot, and do dancing, three times a week, but am not really used to cycling that hard. Would muscle strain like that cause all those symptoms though, especially twitching two weeks later?

I think it's too much of a co-incidence for the swelling to not be related to my back, tailbone and hip pain (it's the same areas) and instead be an allergic reaction to something unrelated.

I appreciate any help in this matter.