[Idealist]

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

[fiberowendy2000]

Hi Idealist.
Well, the best way to describe FM is like this. At certain times the pain will drift. It does not have to be in all 4 quadrants at the same time, all the time. For example, my left hip and left shoulder are constantly in pain, but I rarely have problems with my right hip. My right shoulder does flare up occasionally. Don't forget that the quadrants also apply to the front so you could have pain in the front and not the back.
So, yes it could be FM but watch the pain for a little while and if you can't deal with it anymore, see your doc.
I hope this helped.

[Curious]

idealist...look at this link...was the pain like this?

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_r...opcategory=Hip

i think we need to change your name...to mystery man

[Idealist]

Thanks, y'all!

Wendy, this pain that I had was WAY more intense than anything I've felt before. I was totally hopped up on painkillers and sedatives, but they did little to help.

Curious, thanks for the link. It didn't sound quite right with what I've experienced, but since I'm seeing a neuro in a few weeks anyway, I'm going to bring it up. My pain was over every square inch of my leg, and seemed to be mainly in the muscle. Stretching them was excruciating.

Maybe mystery man would be a cool new moniker for me...

[Doody]

((Idealist)) that sounds terrible. Curious' link is very interesting though because it might be an answer to the sometimes strange burning pain I get in one of my legs.

From her link:

A painful, burning sensation on the outer side of the thigh may mean that one of the large sensory nerves (lateral femoral cutaneous nerve) to your legs is being compressed. This condition is known as meralgia paresthetica (me-ral'-gee-a par-es-thet'-i-ka).

Signs and Symptoms

* Pain on the outer side of the thigh, occasionally extending to the outer side of the knee

* A burning sensation, tingling, or numbness in the same area

* Occasionally, aching in the groin area or pain spreading across the buttocks

* Usually only on one side of the body

* Usually more sensitive to light touch than to firm pressure

Burning sensation is absolutely right on for me. The strangest pain.

Most definitely I would ask your doctor about it.

Makes me think about the topic of addiction to painkillers. Well, I definitely have an addiction to relief from pain!!!

[Idealist]

Well, I am VERY glad that you may have found something important from this thread, Doody! What I went through with my leg WAS terrible. In five years of illness I've never felt anything like it before, and it lasted so long! I still have some residual soreness, though nothing like before, thank God.

And I do plan on asking the neuro about what Curious mentioned. If he can enlighten me any, I'll be sure to let you know.

[Lady Veteran]

Has your doctor ruled out ruptured discs or pinched nerves in the back. I have isolated pain such as you describe due tol ruptured discs.
I would suggest getting Bath Therapy (at drug store) and Pain A Trate Ointment. Last Night I had an episode where my right shoulder, Rotator cuff and Right hand ached so bad I woke up screaming in pain out of my sleep. I got rubbed down in Pain A Trate and the pain was gone in minutes! Pain A Trate is an ointment that may be obtained by calling 1 800 282 3000. You soak in the Bath Therapy, it is for Arthritis, Bursitis, Tendinitis and inflammatory diseases that cause pain. Good Luck. Hope this helps.

[Izzie60]

I'm in a lot of pain and cannot type much right now, but do check out the NERVE PROBLEMS.......THIS SOUNDS LIKE NERVE PAIN.

Especially study the SI JOINT Pain with inguinal nerve involvement. I have it and it's a buggar. I've lost the use of my right leg for a time...pain off any chart I know of.

BLESSINGS

[groundpounder]

I once had an instance where I lost feeling in my left leg. The doctor told me it was because of a hernia. He said the hernia was compressing some nerve in my leg. After the hernia operation it never happened again.

[NaeNae]

Another type of pain we FM'ers get is called allodynia, or tactile allodynia basically it is nerve pain....a cool breeze can blow over my skin or a tag in my shirt causes extreme pain...but when my fibro flares like it right now sitting is excruciating...whatever part of my body is touching the chair is in intense pain.