I've been suffering from secondary fms for about four years now. But recently I have gone through an experience that is new to me. Basically, it involved feeing very severe muscle and ligament pain in only my left hip and leg. For a week is presented as a mild but persistent pain, and then on Thanksgiving day it suddenly became much more severe. During the ride to my parents' house, the pressure of the carseat on the back of my thigh was literally ubearable.

I once read a story about a man who was bitten in the leg by a rattlesnake, and his leg swelled to twice it's normal size and turned an awful shade of purple. When anyone touched his leg in even the slightest way, he would cry out in agony from the pain.

Well during the peak of my flare, which lasted for about ten days, that was exactly how I felt. Except there was no swelling or discoloration of my leg. Neither my knee or my ankle hurt, but the rest of my leg hurt to the bone, and the slightest touch anywhere on it was excruciation. I couldn't sit or lie because it put pressure on the leg. When I would finally get so drunk from lack of sleep that I would fall down upon the bed, I would wake up an hour later in horrible pain, with the leg too stiff to move. I would literally have to pull myself out of bed, dragging the leg behind me. And for two or three hours I would limp around the house until the leg loosened up enough for the pain to become slightly more bearable. Then the process would repeat itself.

I've been living with CP for five years, and this is the worst I've experienced yet. It was truly unbearable, despite the fact that I was on fentanyl, hydromorphone, and taking 4000mg of Tylenol a day. It's been getting better for the last few days, and right now the pain is much milder, as long as I am careful of how I position myself.

I know the the criteria of fms normally calls for pain from all four quadrants of the body, but this was definitely limited to the lower left quadrant alone. My question is, have any of you ever experienced anything similar to this before? It really has me worried, because it's a brand new symptom of my puzzle, and I don't know what it means, or if it's likely to return.

If any of you could shed any light on this, or offer suggestions, I would be greatly in your debt...

Thank you in advance,
Idealist