My Less Often Complained About Ache
My migraines are wicked. I make mention of them often enough that people know I suffer from them. The regular ache that I don’t complain about as much are my legs. I’ve been dealing with leg aches longer than migraines. My leg aches aren’t as life stopping as my migraines, so they are something I just deal with and not really mention. Except for now–
They are strange to explain because most people assume you are talking about sore muscles — the kind of soreness you get when you strain one or the kind that makes you stiff and grimace a little when you try to move after being sedentary for too long. That’s not it. My leg aches are an all over pain. They aren’t in one particular muscle, my legs just hurt everywhere. It is so much different than the kind of pain you get from muscle exertion that I don’t quite know how to describe it. I get them a few hours after I do any sort of activity that has me on my feet. I’ll get them after I cook a big meal. I had leg aches last Friday after I spent the entire day doing house chores. Neither of those activities are straining in any way.
The reason that I am writing about it is because my decision to pick up running has upped the pain level a tad above what I’d get when I would just power walk. Adding more potassium to my diet doesn’t help prevent them and taking ibuprofen doesn’t help relieve them. It is typically always below my knee, although if I do really strenuous it can start hurting my legs above the knee as well. The worst one I’ve ever had was when I was doing an activity that was a bootcamp of strenuous activity designed to work you hard. I woke up at night crying from that, both from the level of pain and the fact that it was so bad I kept dreaming that someone was holding me down and beating my legs with a hammer.
I’ve asked a doctor before, but all I got was the eat a banana speech. I wonder if lactic acid is the culprit. Most people do not get this type of leg pain even with simple activities. Aside from any bootcamp training, it is bearable, but running has made it less bearable and I’d rather just not have to bear with it at all. I wonder if someone in sports medicine would have a better answer for me than a general practitioner.
Ouch. Can you tell if the pain is in the muscle, in the bone, or in the skin?
I can tell that it isn’t the skin, but I’m not sure if it is muscle or bone. Maybe it is bone since I can say that it doesn’t feel the same as a muscle strain or cramp.
Shin splints?
I doubt it is shin splints. I’ve had those before, and they hurt only in my shins, not my entire leg.
You may actually have a back problem. I had really bad leg pains for a long time and saw a ton of docs and nobody could tell me anything. I finally found out it was back problems causing the pain which I never would have thought of since my back would hurt sometimes but not like my legs. You should try doctor Bob. After tons of physical therapy, I gave up on it and went to Bob. I went to five appointments and was so much better. John thanked him for giving him back the wife he married. Oh yeah, what are you doing for the migraines?