RLS or something else? Part 2
Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:58 pm
Hello! Last April I came here looking for help when I was dealing with something very RLS-like (viewtopic.php?t=9259). My primary doc thought I was suffering from a magnesium deficiency due to worsening IBS, and she told me to take Culturelle probiotics every day. The probiotics helped a lot and the leg pain mostly went away. Around that time, I started having foot pain, which turned out to be plantar fasciitis, and then I got a metatarsal stress fracture. I spent a month in a walking boot and did physical therapy. Just about the time that the plantar fasciitis wasn't hurting any more, I started having severe burning in that heel, and then the other heel too. The burning was severe enough that it was often hard to walk. I was diagnosed with achilles tendinitis, worse in my left ankle, but when it didn't get better after several weeks of physical therapy, I got an MRI, which showed that my left ankle and foot were fine. The orthopedic doctor thought it was a nerve issue and wanted to operate without having any diagnosis; I saw a neurologist, who did various tests that showed nothing wrong, and she diagnosed me with "pain in limb" and prescribed Lidocaine patches for my heels. She said my nerves in my heels were inflamed and the burning would go away over a period of months.
That was September. The heel pain went away in several weeks, but the occasional leg pain I was having has become much worse. I am now in worse shape than I was when the RLS-like symptoms started in February. I have intermittent pain throughout the day and evening; the only time I am usually pain-free is in the middle of the night. I have an urge to move whatever is hurting, but it hurts more to move it than it does to stay still, so it's making me crazy. Sometimes the pain is definitely muscular (especially calves), sometimes the pain is definitely bone (especially ankle), sometimes the pain is in my foot and I can't tell what's hurting. Sometimes the pain is a dull ache, sometimes a bit stronger, and sometimes very sharp stabbing pains. The pain is in both legs and it comes and goes all the time, moving around between feet and heels and calves and sometimes knees and even sometimes thighs. I can be in major pain one minute and hardly any pain the next.
It is significantly different from the RLS-like symptoms I was having early last year. Those symptoms were much more constant and reliable. The current symptoms are mostly unpredictable. The current symptoms are also not alleviated by walking. So here I am, feeling like I'm back at square one. I have a range of pain symptoms in my lower body, which don't seem to correspond well to any known ailment. The orthopedic surgeon and neurologist don't really have any idea what's wrong with me. I was willing to give the burning heel pain some time to die down, and it did, but this is quite different and it's getting worse. It's reaching the point where it's hard for me to work. The diagnoses that seems to be closest to what I'm experiencing are RLS and lumbar degenerative disc disease (DDD), but neither is a great fit. I have had previous lumbar disc problems, so I have left a message for my spine doctor to see him and determine if the pain I'm having is being caused by my spine. The odd thing is that pain caused by the spine typically goes from the buttocks down the legs, and this pain is going in the other direction. If the spine doctor rules out my discs as the cause of the pain, where do I go? Rheumatologist? IBS specialist? RLS specialist? I'm really lost at this point. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.
That was September. The heel pain went away in several weeks, but the occasional leg pain I was having has become much worse. I am now in worse shape than I was when the RLS-like symptoms started in February. I have intermittent pain throughout the day and evening; the only time I am usually pain-free is in the middle of the night. I have an urge to move whatever is hurting, but it hurts more to move it than it does to stay still, so it's making me crazy. Sometimes the pain is definitely muscular (especially calves), sometimes the pain is definitely bone (especially ankle), sometimes the pain is in my foot and I can't tell what's hurting. Sometimes the pain is a dull ache, sometimes a bit stronger, and sometimes very sharp stabbing pains. The pain is in both legs and it comes and goes all the time, moving around between feet and heels and calves and sometimes knees and even sometimes thighs. I can be in major pain one minute and hardly any pain the next.
It is significantly different from the RLS-like symptoms I was having early last year. Those symptoms were much more constant and reliable. The current symptoms are mostly unpredictable. The current symptoms are also not alleviated by walking. So here I am, feeling like I'm back at square one. I have a range of pain symptoms in my lower body, which don't seem to correspond well to any known ailment. The orthopedic surgeon and neurologist don't really have any idea what's wrong with me. I was willing to give the burning heel pain some time to die down, and it did, but this is quite different and it's getting worse. It's reaching the point where it's hard for me to work. The diagnoses that seems to be closest to what I'm experiencing are RLS and lumbar degenerative disc disease (DDD), but neither is a great fit. I have had previous lumbar disc problems, so I have left a message for my spine doctor to see him and determine if the pain I'm having is being caused by my spine. The odd thing is that pain caused by the spine typically goes from the buttocks down the legs, and this pain is going in the other direction. If the spine doctor rules out my discs as the cause of the pain, where do I go? Rheumatologist? IBS specialist? RLS specialist? I'm really lost at this point. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.