Girls,

Just when I start feeling better about one symptom, here comes something else. Ok, I have been having pain in my left hip that goes down my left leg for months off and on. Laying in bed, leg will start to hurt and I have to shift positions to make it stop. Now, just starting Yesterday, my lower back, right where the waist line is from left all the way over to the right feels sore, is aching and what is really weird is when I take a deep breath it hurts. I don't understand why since it is such a low area. I tried to think if I did anything to pull something or make it sore and painful, but no I haven't. Anyone have any ideas?????

Susie

Susie,

From here it sounds like sciatica, the pain that goes down your leg. The pain going cross wise may be caused by referred inflammation.

Separately:
Back pain is mysterious. I had bad hip pain for seven years in my left leg. finally I was just dragging that leg after a walk. I was fixed up by two visits to an acupuncturist who used electric current to break the muscle spasm that was causing it. Definitely something to look into.

Nevermore,

Thank you for your reply. I will look into that. It seems I can't position my hip or leg into a position that doesn't hurt. Is that the way yours was too? Of course me being me right away thinks oh there is a tumor pressing on my nerve or ovarian cancer. I hate the fact that I think this way. Thanks again

Susie

No worries SusieQ. It surely sounds like sciatica to me too. The pain can run all the way down the leg to the foot. When I get it my husband can find the 'origination' sight just above my butt and he'll put accupressure on it. When he presses on it, it feels like a deep painful bruise. But the pressure does tend to help loosen it up.

The pain in your back is probably muscle tension from the sciatica pain. When we hurt we tend to tighten up the surrounding muscles to protect the injured area.

Also, stress can show up in our backs. I've NEVER had back problems until recently. Now when I'm anxious or stressed my entire back will hurt, from between the shoulder blades down to my lower back. Like you, I thought I had a tumor or lung cancer or something. One visit with the massage therapist took care of it and alleviated my fears. Now I try to keep regular appointments with her for every other week. It is an indulgence, but my husband knows how much pain I can be in from all this meno stuff. He's wonderful and just wants me to feel good. And when I feel good, his life is better.

tikigirl,
Funny that you said that about a pressure point right above your butt. Last night I was telling my husband about it and I pushed on this one spot on the boney part right above my butt and it about sent me jumping to the ceiling. He rubbed Ben Gay on the back of my waist and all over the lower back area last night but when I woke up this morning it is still here. Ben Gay usually helps all for me for at least a period of time.
We have a big glass patio door that I use to let the dog out and we have a chain that comes up to the door so I can just open the door and put her on her chain. The door is probably 32 years old. That's how old the house is. We bought it 3 years ago. Anyway it is very heavy and I have to push very hard to open it and I try to hold on to her collar at the same time. I'm putting alot of weight on my left side and leaning and bending at the same time. Can this kind of heaviness and movement cause sciata or does something else cause it? Thanks for your reply.

Susie

Susie:

I had pain like what you are describing. It would come and go, and would happen most often when I was lying on my side. Because I was having some bizarre bleeding issues at the same time, I was thinking like you -- that it must be a tumor or ovarian cancer, because I had read that leg pain could be associated with that disease. As it turned out, when I went to the gyn, I learned that I had a thickening of the endometrium, and got that resolved, but she said the thick endo should not have anything to do with the leg pain. At this point, however -- knock on wood -- the leg pain is gone. In my case, I think it might have been a hormonal imbalance that has now been resolved (I know not how -- but I've read there's constant fluctuations, so maybe the time of the leg pain was a particularly bad patch). When I had the pain, it would happen only when I was lying down, and at a particular angle on my side. The pain did not go all the way down my leg, but it would descend to maybe six inches above my knee. I used many tubes of bengay, and also those adhesive heating pad things that you can tape onto the affected site. The flareups, which could wake me out of a sound sleep, seemed to coincide with the last part of my menstrual cycle, which was kind of hard to identify because my cycles were so irregular, but generally, once the leg pains started, I would have a period within a week to ten days, and then they would abate till the next time, which is why I think it was hormonal. I experienced this kind of pain for a period of about five months, and then I just mysteriously stopped having it, around August or September of this year. I'm delighted that this is no longer happening, but it is sort of worrisome that you never find the cause of these things. For awhile, after the "big c" fear, I thought maybe it was arthritis, but that doesn't seem to be the case either. I don't know if this helps, but there is hope that maybe it will eventually just go away. If the pain is sporadic like mine was, you might want to see if it coincides with any particular part of your menstrual cycle.

Hope you feel better soon.

SusieQ, I think any kind of inappropriate movement can cause sciatica. I just had a session with my massage therapist and talked to her about it. Actually, the definition that follows is from Wikapedia and is basically the same thing she told me:

"Pseudo-sciatica", which causes symptoms similar to spinal nerve root compression, is caused by the compression of peripheral sections of the nerve, usually from soft tissue tension in the piriformis or related muscles. One possible cause of this is the piriformis syndrome (PMID 17030664). In this condition, the piriformis muscle, located beneath the gluteal muscles, contracts spasmodically and strangles the sciatic nerve beneath the muscle. Another cause of sciatic symptoms is sacroiliac joint dysfunction. Unhealthy postural habits, such as excessive time sitting in chairs, and sleeping in the fetal position, along with insufficient stretching and exercise of the relevant myofascial areas, can lead to both the vertebral and soft tissue problems associated with sciatica.

Yet another source of sciatic symptoms is active trigger points of the lower back and the gluteus muscles. In this case, the referred pain is not, in fact, consequent to compression of the sciatic nerve, though the pain distribution down the buttocks and leg is similar. Trigger points occur when muscles become ischemic (low blood flow) due to injury or chronic muscular contraction. The most commonly associated muscles with trigger points triggering sciatic symptoms are: the quadratus lumborum, the gluteus medius, the gluteus minimus, and the deep hip rotators.

You can also google sciatica or go to the Mayo Clinic website and theres more information about treatement, etc.

Hope this info helps alleviate some of your concerns.

Witsend,
Thanks for your reply. I haven't had a period since August so I can't really associate it with my menstrual cycle. Glad to hear yours went away. Actually I had pain in this leg about 4 or 5 years ago but I was being silly at that time and trying to do some ballet dances that I did when I was younger. So I thought it was from doing an arabesque with my left leg back. It went away after a week and it wasn't as bad as this is now.

tikigirl,
Thank you for asking your massage therapist about it and posting the definition of sciata. That does help me to understand it and makes me feel alot better. I feel that is probably what it is. I am sure I hurt it before and now from pulling on that heavy glass patio door has done it. I also sleep in a fetal position so that probably doesn't help. Thank you so much!

Susie

Wait a minute, did you write that or me? That's exactly what happens to me and BACK PAIN. Hurts. Lying is a problem and getting up to stand and walk after sitting in work a while. Thought the same ov. ca thing, of course. I can scare myself into a tizzy. I have skipped three months and then got my period and may skip again this month. That's when all my pain started. I'm starting to think I have to live with chronic pain. It seems muscular, it moves. The more I exercise, though, the better I feel. Wish I had the motivation I used to.

I know that this might sound crazy but I was wondering if anyone has experienced numbness in their feet or toes? My big toe is numb on the side. Totally numb. I don't have foot pain just the numb toe. It also feels like it is swollen but it isn't. Just thought I would throw that one out. I have never had this before. I have also been having severe lower back pain, and side pain that I think is related to some fibroid tumors I have but the toe thing really threw me for a loop.

Hi girls,
Since a week or so I feel a tenced like pain in both my Achilles tendons. When I touch those spots and only with light pressure it feels like one big bruise on the back of my calves. Lately I have also shooting pains in my left toe and forefinger, especcially at night. A part from that I have a whole bunch of other lovely symptoms like muscle pain in both arms and legs, occasional numbness and tingling and twitching and... , but to those I am getting used
Anybody else out there with the same?

Nic

Hi nic

Since coming off HRT six months ago I've developed what feels like stiffness and mild pain in the middle finger joints and middle toe joints on the right hand side. I also get the numbness and tingling you talk about in these joints, also muscle pains, mainly in my arms and hands. I attribute it to low estrogen since abruptly coming off HRT. I've started taking Glucosamine to see if it makes any difference.

Try magnetic jewelry. Not kidding. I'm not into all of that kind of stuff but I picked up a bracelet and anklet at a horse show recently and it's made a HUGE difference in my pain levels due to tendonitis and arthritis. HUGE. However, they'll tell you that one piece of jewelry will help the whole body - didn't happen for me. I have an anklet (pretty little thing too!)on my ankle with pretty severe tendonitis and I after I lost my arm bracelet I realized just how much it had been helping my neck and shouler problems. Just FYI

I'll try anything horsinaround. Thanks for the tip!