My f'ing leg

I have had some problems with what some dr's thought is plantars fasciitis in the past. Some dr's say its not that and are confused cause the pain is on the outside of my foot and pressure on the heel does not cause pain.

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I wake up and I can't really straighten my left leg. I can put weight on it but stuff like bending the leg to get on the John or sit down hurts like hell. It gets to some spots and just causes immense pain. So I go to urgent care. No trauma, no swelling, didnt break anything, wasn't doing anything crazy. I was just painting the deck on Friday no craziness. I got pain radiating from the back of my calf just below my knee. Crazy pain. I've had knee pain before from running. It's not it. IT band is locking up. Yaaargh.

Dr says. Umm I dunno. Maybe you have lymes disease gives me a bunch of naproxen sodium and kicks me out the door. Did the lymes test, but I'm still left hobbling around for a few days until I make it to my real dr who will help me proper. Le ugh.

I would see a neurologist, and probably neurosurgeon as well.

Gout?

Need more miata? Sorry, not being a real doctor leaves me with few answers, miata being the top one.

DrBoost wrote: Need more miata? Sorry, not being a real doctor leaves me with few answers, miata being the top one.

Wait. You are not a real dr?

Mind=blown

bastomatic wrote: I would see a neurologist, and probably neurosurgeon as well.

I have had disc problems in my back that have caused a few different kinds of pain. Pain starting at the back of the knee and radiating down to the heel was one.Sometimes I had pain just on the bottom of my foot. Physical therapy helped me out. Good Luck

Shotgun?

Sorry, I'm not a doctor, either, so I went with the other obvious answer.

Gout is accompanied by swelling, redness, and hot areas. Usually starts in a joint. Nerve-related pain usually is on one side of the body, feels like burning or electricity, and can affect the ability to flex or extend a joint.

while you were painting the deck, did you assume any unusual positions or movements ?

iceracer wrote: while you were painting the deck, did you assume any unusual positions or movements ?

Nope and spent most of the day walking around at work. I will say I need new shoes for work. I wear out a pair of dress shoes every 4-6 months there. Lots of walking.

No swelling redness or heat.

Sounds like what happened to me the first time I got a blood clot. They told me it was a hernia. Wait 4 days and if it swells up and your leg turns purple its a blood clot.

See a Doc you know.

DoctorBlade wrote: See a Doc you know.

unless that doc is a quack. My mom's doctor is 0 for 2 when it comes to seeing broken bones on xrays. She spent a month walking on a broken knee because the doc said it was just a torn meniscus. In 2 weeks she's going in for surgery on a finger with loose bone chips and a cyst because her doctors kept saying "if it hurts, we can give you a shot for the pain." They didn't seem to hear her when she kept saying "I don't want a shot for the pain, I want this stupid thing to stop turning blue and green. How about you fix it instead of drugging me?"

I had this happen last year but it was red and swelling. Docs figure I got bit by a spider when I was in the bush with my kids.

according to a poll done by C-span awhile back, doctors are about 40% in first time diagnisis, and only about 55% the second time around. However, seeing a second Dr improves those numbers to 60% and 74% respectively.

Moral: second AND third opinion. and fourth if necessary until you get the care you feel you deserve.

So, jm, I'm sure C-span is a great source for medical advice and all, but how do you know when to stop? Best 3 out of 5? Best 5 out of 9? Go to 30 docs and take the diagnosis with the most "votes?" Do you wait for the viewer voting results too, or just go with the celebrity judges? Or just keep going until you find a doc that says what you want to hear, then stop?

Moral: The care you "feel you deserve" is probably not what you need to get well and you are poorly qualified to tell what you need.

Now, Iggy, here, needs to find a doc that can help him. Maybe an orthopod, maybe a chiropractor, maybe a neurologist. "My leg hurts..." is fairly non-descript and a hands-on assessment (not in the ER) is in order.

Well whatever it was is feeling better after a few days of Aleve. But holy crap that was painful. Still not right. Going to try and setup a dr appt in a few days.

I am becoming more convinced that all these aches and pains are a symptom of being massively inflexible yet active and therefore injury prone.

In reply to Dr. Hess:

Agreed. Urgent care is good for some things, but not so good for others. When I was doubled over in pain at work and didn't know why, a coworker took me to the local urgent care where they x-rayed me and found my kidney stone, gave me a 'scrip for Vicodin and sent me on my way. A couple of months ago when I put a nail through my finger and decided a tetanus shot may be order, I went there during my lunch break.

Earlier this year when my left shoulder stopped working and hurt like hell when I moved my arm wrong or jarred it, I went to my family Dr. who pretty quickly diagnosed it as adhesive capsulitis.

Getting old sucks.

Woody wrote: Gout?

Same thought here. Gout can cause such extreme pain without there actually being easily detected physical trauma, but there would be at least some swelling, possible fever, and possibly pain to the touch depending on the affected area.

Dr. Hess wrote: So, jm, I'm sure C-span is a great source for medical advice and all, but how do you know when to stop? Best 3 out of 5? Best 5 out of 9? Go to 30 docs and take the diagnosis with the most "votes?" Do you wait for the viewer voting results too, or just go with the celebrity judges? Or just keep going until you find a doc that says what you want to hear, then stop?

Definitely validity to this. I'm going through this situation myself. I've got a lot of issues with my hip at the moment. I've gone through x-rays, ultrasounds (they ruled out pregnancy...thankfully), PT, injections and now on my 4th MRI. The only thing they've clinically found so far is a herniated L5-S1, but at my age that's not uncommon. We also don't believe it's related to my hip problem, based on my symptoms. Still waiting for the results of my most recent MRI. I'm waiting for my ortho to just say I'm whacko and it's in my mind, but there's no doubt something is wrong. I could "shop around" for a doctor until I find someone who tells me what I want to hear. But I've seen two separate orthos in this practice and feel confident in what they're doing. So I'm running with them.

Point is that the human body is amazingly complicated. Diagnosis is definitely not a black and white thing most of the time. Often there is guess work involved. Sadly, sometimes the guess is wrong.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Well whatever it was is feeling better after a few days of Aleve. But holy crap that was painful. Still not right. Going to try and setup a dr appt in a few days. I am becoming more convinced that all these aches and pains are a symptom of being massively inflexible yet active and therefore injury prone.

I had a similar incident with my shoulder. Dr. said "sore shoulder" and prescribed Celebrex. Took over a month to go away and then the other shoulder started it. Aging sucks.

For several months a co-worker was having vague pains in his abdomen. He went to several Drs, the main one who finally told it was in his mind, "get over it". He finally ended up at my first gastroenterologist who quickly diagnosed pancreatitis.

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine:

Insufficient work shoes can wreck your feet, ankles, knees, hips, back etc. if you walk a lot and especially if you have concrete floors at work. Don't wear the cheap shoe truck E36 M3 even if they provide it free, buy the best. Add cushioned insoles or custom orthotics if necessary.

My father in law had debilitating nausea, headaches, and vertigo for about two years, his doc told him to cut caffeine and rest.

Until he woke up paralyzed on his right side one morning. Turns out he had a tumor the size of an orange on the outside of his left frontal lobe. Died two major surguries and two years later.

Second opinion, because doctors suck. "I taste metal when I bend over" isn't from an abundance of tea.

Sorry, VP. Those are not signs to cut out caffeine and rest. Those are signs for a CT Head With and Without contrast or an MRI. With what passes for primary care today, I am not surprised.