Hi Bram. I can't think of anything to suggest other than the tramadol. I think I might be joining you on the tram in a little bit. I get pretty giggly too.

I know how easy it is to feel useless and feel sorry for your family but let's face, it is easier to be them than it is to be us. I know they feel for us. I know it is difficult for them to see us in pain and not be able to make it stop. And I know that it sucks for them that we can't do much around the house, run errands, etc. But still I would rather be doing housework than be feeling so sh*te.

Awww, Bram my heart goes out to you!
Hopefully you've had some rest & relief by the time you read this!
I like the advice given so far for you, the massage & epsom salt
sound best to me but I don't have your injury.
It seems like at the very least you should get some sort of injection
to get thru the worst of this.
I wish I could come & slap that rude Dr. for you!! I swear I just
don't understand the arrogant & dismissive attitude all while being CLUELESS!
You'd think it would humble them a little, but NO.
I know all too well what "feeling like such a burden" is like.
I would not wish anyone else to feel that way, I know it can be an
emotional "rabbit hole" (for me anyway).
Please take the help just for now and save that energy for calming
thoughts. I wish you the energy to seek relief no matter what the other
jerk Dr.s did to you.

Hi Bram, Im sorry your going thru hell right now & in so much pain Ive been laid up in bed for couple weeks now so I feel your pain I just hope yours passes quicker than mine. My heart, thoughts & prayers are w/u tonight

Thanks so much, am still in bed flat so typing awkward...

Well turns out tramadol is yet another med I just can't tolerate now. I was so sick yesterday...and what happens when you're sick? Yep, it wrenches your back. Over and over. I was in a right state, it was not pretty, my poor husband was in tears

He called out the duty doc who came after midnight. I was sick again while they were here (lady doc with hefty assistant chap) so they saw the worst of it. Very nice lady, we discussed everything and she thought injectable would b best for now so no risk of more sickness. She gave me morphine with an anti-emetic. I zonked out fairly quickly. Bless her.

I woke a few times overnight as my left leg v painful indeed. This morn, lower back not as bad but left leg just awful, deep pain right through it from heel through ankle,mashing and calf, knee joint, up right through front and back of thigh, into hip and buttocks. Wtf is going on there? I was imagining all sorts, DVTs etc. I've been getting up and walking/shuffling round a bit every hour or so to keep moving, but it's still really bad.

This afternoon I rang my surgery, and a GP rang back. Complete *****. I was a pain in the backside drug seeking waste of space...apparently. She said she'd never heard of an out of hours GP giving anyone a morphine injection, and when I asked for another today she laughed - yes actually laughed - and said she wouldn't be doing that, didn't I know it was dangerously addictive... I said I didn't want it long term just for today while waiting for things to settle a bit. Snippy and judgemental woman. Told her my pain specialist had offered me morphine over a year ago after other meds not worked and I'd been refusing because I work and need to be able to function. I just wanted something that actually worked for today when I can hardly get myself to the loo.... In the end she consented to give me oramorph (liquid morphine) with an anti-emetic drug. My husband went to pick it up, and she's given me enough to kill a herd of rhino! Ridiculous considering how jumpy she was about giving me one injection.

So I've had one lot, which didn't do much, sadly, and am waiting to take another later... I look and feel dreadful. My hair is a greasy state after sweating and being so sick yesterday, my eyes are sunken and flat, and my skin is dull. I look a fright. I'm hoping to try a shower in the morning...can't wait.

Zook, my pain has shifted today, it's all on the left from the top inner corner of my buttock down through all major bits of my leg. Particularly bad in upper left side of my thigh, inside knee joint, my behind knee calf to shin area and my ankle joint. My left knee is quite fat as well, but I havent been up on it much. When it was my lower back, it was right across the dimples area, with pain radiating down through both legs. Your X-ray looks horrible, must have been a nightmare having all that done.

Thanks so much for your support as ever. Great folk

Bram.

Oh dear. What an unwelcome experience! I'm so sorry you have to go through all the b---s--t in addition to the pain emergency.

Here are some thoughts I have for whatever they're worth.

If you feel your hips have shifted a little, see if you can tell which leg feels longer or which hip is sitting lower. Then take a book about 2cm thick and sit with that under the bum of your lowest hip for about as long as a it takes to drink a cup of coffee or tea. If you're hips have slipped out of alignment this is a gentle way to get them to settle back where they belong.

If your hips are out of alignment, not only could you present with many of the non-CRPS symptoms you reported, it also puts you at risk for herniating a disc. Medical doctors in the US don't check hip alignment and I've no idea if they do in the UK. It concerned me that your pain was worse when sitting. That's typical of a disc herniation. Herniations are similar to hemorrhoids in that they can bulge and go back where they belong over and over again. So even if you herniated a disc, you may already be recovering from it. Watch that sciatica closely and if you have another flare and have trouble keeping your bladder open when you finally get to the loo . . . get medical attention ASAP. With location across the "dimples" and all the pain you already had, it might be difficult to unscramble what in heck your body is trying to say.

Beyond that you have my prayers for a swift and gentle recovery and a refreshing bath or shower. A day brightener for sure!

Hey Bram, Im so sorry your still having a hell of a time but glad you have your hubby there to help he sounds like a trooper bless his heart for cryin thats really sweet I have to say I could use a guy like that but they look @ me & run the other way lol.. I didnt think doctors or nurses did house calls anymore that's great they came to you I think more of them should do that cuz there are times we just cant move. As for the women who laughed @ you should be smacked how rude & disrespectful of her!! I've had that happen to me & I lost it I cant stand when I get treated like that for no reason but I'm happy your going to get some relief & if the morphine helps take it. From the sounds of it the pain going down your leg might be your sciatic nerve..Reasons I say that is your having the same problem I did the first time mine went on me & I couldnt walk for almost 3 months I still have probs with it but it varies on how bad or how long but it maybe what is going on with you. I hope you feel better sooner than later, you'll be in my prayers hun btw No worries on how you look I'm sure your hubby loves you no matter what & we all know how it goes so ur good

Hi Bram,

I have very similar pain. I have arthritis and bursitis now in my hips now and have a crushed spine from L2-S1. When the S1 is horrible my hips, buttocks and inner thighs just seize up.
I'm unable to have that much fusion to repair it, and am hugely blessed that my legs will move at all. What I have found to help like Lit Love is epsom salts, and also I see an osteopath for cranio-sacral alignment, a massage when I can afford it, lidoderm and flector patches(anti-inflammatory patch) because I can't tolerate more steroids. Umm, and besides medicines exercise that is gentle enough not to hurt. Heat feels good, magnesium supplement helps with cramping and also is a gentle relaxant for nerves..either cal-mag or magnesium carbonate.
I am trying yoga and learning to breathe into the pain... because when we're tense blood flow for healing goes elsewhere...
Aargh. So so sorry you are suffering this and you get relief fast!

Prayers for you today Bram, Feel better!

Hana

Bram

I'm so sorry that you are in so much pain. Being sick must have been unbearable.

I cannot believe the way the doctor treated you. That is just horrible. On the plus side, now that you have bucket-loads of oramorph, you probably won't need to go back to the GP for meds anytime soon.

Hang in there. I am thinking of you.



Kim

Bram, I am so sorry you are hurting so bad. I wish I could add something to help make you feel better. You have helped me in so many ways. Hope tomorrow will be a much better day for you, Jan

Oh Bram,

That is just horrible - I often wonder how nurses with no compassion sleep at night. I hope you report this to someone, no one deserves to be treated that way not even a drug addict. I'm sorry you were treated that way!! So unfair.

With regards to you hip through ankle pain - is it different pain from your CRPS pain? Along with many of the other symptoms like the burning, sensitivity an lightning bolts.. I also get crazy bad deep bone crushing pain from the top of my femur all the way to the ankle and worse at the joints. My doctor once told me that my nerves are so heightened that I am likely feeling the "blood traveling through the bone marrow" .. osteopenia, osteoporosis and arthritis all progress when the blood supply is compromised (disuse, vasomotor disturbance and the natural aging process all contribute to this) and thus will cause the deep bone aching pain. If that is the type of pain you are having.

Another thought that comes to mind is the L2 nerve root of the spine which is often associated with SI pain. This nerve can cause pain in the upper buttock or dimple area, outer thigh, back side of knee and calf to ankle. Another one that follows a similar path would be the sciatic nerve but that wouldn't explain the lower back pain and upper buttock. Can you find trigger points in any of those areas that you could maybe get some trigger point release through massage or perhaps even your husband can help you release them? Lidoderm patches placed on the spine from the L1-S2 level and on each dimple of your buttock may offer you a great amount of relief since those nerves are closer to the surface and the lidocaine can penetrate quite quickly there.

Tight psoas, piriformas, tensor facial latae and the iliacus can all torque the SI joint. To release the SI joint one needs to focus on the opposite muscles. For instance your pain is in the back of your hip area and leg so focusing on the muscles and fascia on the front of the hip and thigh to release it. lol.. those areas can play tug-of-war with each other and in your case especially since you have knee issues already.

Just thinking out loud here.. I hope maybe something helps.

I do hope you are able to get proper medications to help you until whatever it is that is causing this additional pain either goes away on its own or your doctor can figure out what is causing it.

Good on your husband for taking such great care of you!