Help! Having Tender/Tingly Leg Pain!
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| Sat, 01-24-2004 - 1:32am |
I hope someone can help me with some advice or something on this!
I have felt so 'off' today. I ended up sleeping in the livingroom recliner lastnight from around 4:30am, till around 9am, when I woke up. I didn't sleep that long, but at least I was warm in the recliner sleeping, and not freezing in my room, due to the damned heating vent not working up in my bedroom.
I woke up just aching all in my legs and feet, but not really deeply in the muscles, but....and I hope this will sound right....my skin just hurt all over, and is very tender from my hips down to my feet. Like a REALLY BAD sunburn, and you just hate touching your skin, or having someone else touch your skin, because it HURTS LIKE HELL! Well, that is just how this feels and the only way I can describe it. Maybe it IS the muscles in my legs involved, but really, I don't know what to do about it! Just a slight touch hurts me, mostly in my thighs.
This has went on all day, but I did manage to get some dishes done, the wash taken down and folded and brought upstairs, plus, I took the Xmas tree down today too (yea finally took the Xmas tree down), and got all of the stuff on that put away in the basement. Up and down the basement steps really did me under, since when I was done, I just crawled onto the couch, and stayed there the rest of the day.
I ended up watching soaps, so you KNOW I don't feel good at all when I end up watching soap operas! I HATE soap operas!
I have felt totally lethargic all day, but I totally figured it is just due to the PMS, since I am due for my period tomorrow (Saturday), and also due to the only 4 1/2 to 5 hours of sleep lastnight in the recliner, that is causing this, but I can't explain this REALLY ODD tender/tingling leg pain at all. I have NEVER had this before in my life, or during PMS. Not sure if it is water weight gain from PMS or another diabetic symptom or something, so I need advice.
My ankles are a bit swollen from the PMS water weight gain, but I have never had the tender/tingly pains all in my legs and feet at the same time. My legs are NOT reddish like a sunburn, but they feel like they are sunburned due to the uncomfy tender feeling, if that makes any sense.
Then I took a hot bath tonight to maybe help my legs and feet feel better, and after that, I got dressed, then came down here, when suddenly severe nausea slammed into me, and sent me reeling! I haven't 'gotten sick to my stomach' or anything, just REALLY nauseous. Again, I figure it is the intense PMS symptoms, since I am due for my period tomorrow. (Ugh)
I hadn't eaten much today, just a couple small danishes and some de-caffeinated hot Chai tea when I first woke up at 9am, then later on around 2pm I ate turkey and cheese on white bread with some water to wash it down, and finally, later on, I had a couple small 'hot tamales' on 2 small buns, and some shell macaroni with sauce, and coffee to drink. I haven't eaten anything since around 5pm tonight, and it is now 1:14am in the morning. So my tummy is starting to feel odd, and I am getting a dull headache with some lightheadedness, so I know I need to eat some cheese on crackers or something to raise my sugar level some.
I admit to being REALLY scared about this odd tender/tingly pains in my legs, and reading up online about what it could be is scaring me all the more! :(
If any of you can enlighten me on what this could be, please do, and/or how to help ease this odd pain in my legs and feet! I haven't yet been diagnosed with diabetes, since I have been unable to get tested yet, but this really has me wondering and worrying now. :(
Well, good news is that the Alka-Seltzer in 'flat' 7-UP, that I sipped on earlier, has helped ease my nausea off, thankfully. Hope it stays away. I just want this period to get here and get overwith this month, that is for sure.
Thanks for reading, and for any help or advice any of you can give. I just don't know what to do to ease this odd discomfort in my legs, or what this is! Bad enough having cramping and fatigue thanks to PMS and an oncoming period, but now this!

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Hi, and welcome to the board!
Hi and welcome to the board. I am one of the community leaders for this board who has been type 1 for over 28 years and on a insulin pump for over 6 years. First off let me say that I am so sorry that you are having the horrible leg pain and tingling, because I know how that goes from time to time. I have had the tingling and some pain in my legs prior to my period before. I also get that wonderful water retension that causes the great swollen ankles and calves, which I really can't stand at all. I do know that when my 2 year old touches my leg at the time I want to jump out of my skin from the horrible feeling it gives me. Like yourself my skin is not red at all in color. I can only say to try to make sure your legs are in a comfy position when you go to bed and that you might try using a pillow between your knees to make you more comfortable, but also to keep a good amount of blood supply to your legs and feet going with them not getting pinched off some how.
I am worried though about you, because I know from experience that high blood sugar can cause nauseousness and also can low blood sugar, but if you treat the feeling as a low and you don't feel better then you might want to drink a lot of plain water to help flush out some of the sugar. You really need to get in to be checked for diabetes if you haven't as of yet, because having a blood sugar meter will help you out a ton to check out where you blood sugar is at when you start to feel this way. I say this due to it sounding like you don't have a meter. Do try to get yourself checked immediately if at all possible, because the longer you wait if you are the more dangerous it gets for you and your health.
Sending you truckload of feel better and also some vent be fixed vibes, because it seems you really need them. Do keep us posted, because we sure will be wondering about you and hoping that you get checked. We would also like to know what you find out when you do get checked, because it may be of help for somebody else. Do take care and have a fabulous day!
I did start my period lastnight (Sunday), and feel like hell now with cramps and aweful water weight gain and bloating to no ends, especially in my ankles.
As for the leg pain, well, I have had sharp uncomfy pains in my inner thighs when I am about to start my period, but never the tingly/sunburny/"don't touch my legs, they hurt!" type of pain all up and down them. It really scared me, and even though my period is now here, that tingly/sunburny pain is still there with a vengeance. Hasn't let up for 3 days now.
The reason I think I might be diabetic is due to a friend alerting me to so many symptoms that he sees in me, that he had before he was diagnosed with it 30 years ago. He sees so much of himself in me, and wants me to get tested.
I of course am putting it off, since I hate doctors and I hate hospitals all the more. I have been to the doctor, and he never really listened to what I complained about, and the medication he did give me, made me feel worse so I'd have to stop taking it. Mostly anti-depression meds, that didn't help much at all. Then I went to the hospital for blood and urine tests, and they told me the tests came back fine. I just got so disgusted, since I knew something had to be wrong, because I was feeling ill way too much, and I knew it wasn't all in my head. My friend told me that they have to specifically test for diabetes, and that is probably why it was missed in 2002 when I got the blood and urine tests done.
It has been since November of last year that my friend has been on me to get tested, but I just keep putting it off. I have to get the courage and just go get tested and get it overwith! I have been feeling worse lately, and my friend is REALLY on me now to go, and won't take no for an answer, and won't listen to anymore excuses. He is a really great friend, and says that he is nagging so much, since he hates to see me in such misery, and fears that if I am diabetic and fool around with it, I could die. His father died from complications of diabetes, and died of kidney failure, because he didn't want to take care of it. My friend doesn't want that happening to me.
My symptoms are: intense thirst, tired a lot/want to sleep a lot, nausea after eating sweets or other certain foods, lightheadedness/feeling faint/hot all over/trembling/nausea (if I don't eat in 4 or 5 hours), very cold hands and feet (even in summer and springtime), numbness in my hands and feet too at times, bruises that happen so easily (are very painful, then take forever to heal up), waking up with that 'metalic' taste in my mouth most mornings, now this tingly aweful leg pain.
The only thing I don't have that is a symptom of diabetes is the 'having to pee a lot' thing usually at night. But my friend told me that just because I don't have that one symptom, doesn't lessen the other symptoms or rule out diabetes. He is right, and I know that. I just have to get the courage to go and get tested. He says it isn't that hard to do and like you have said, my health is nothing to play around with.
I will indeed check out that site you posted for me, and I will definitely watch my carbs as well as the sugars I consume and try to eat 3 healthy meals a day.
Thanks for ALL of your advice!! I totally appreciate it! I will keep you posted as to when I go to get tested and what the results are. Wish me luck, and pray for me, that I get the courage I need to go!
Take care and have a great week!
Hi Denise,
Thanks for the warm welcome!
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I will definitely put a pillow between my knees when I sleep, since that sounds like it will help make me more comfy. Oh, and wow, I am really bad at sitting at the computer for too long, and not moving my legs, or either having them in a certain stupid position, cutting off blood flow, then I am in real pain when I try to walk, or they fall asleep all together! I will start getting in the habit of moving around more often, and keeping the blood flow going.
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Well, the nauseousness seems to happen both when I haven't eaten for a few hours or so, and also happens sometimes while I eat or after I have eaten. When I have chocolate or sweets, which I crave a lot, especially around my period time and during it, I REALLY get nauseous then after I eat that. A couple times I was throwing up for a day or two and thought I was just dying, after having donuts and cookies. I mean I was just trembling as if I was having a seizure, and throwing up, dry heaving, and a pure mess! That happened in July of 2002. I went to the hospital, but they said they found nothing wrong and my blood and urine tests were fine. I just found it hard to believe, since even as I sat there in the hospital I felt horrible yet, and my stomach was just burning from all of the dry heaving and throwing up the day and night before. My friend who does have diabetes, and has for over 30 years, says that they have to specifically test for it, and that is why they probably missed it in 2002.
It does seem that when I drink a lot of water, I begin to feel much better, and the nausea goes away. I also start trembling and feel so hot all over, as well as the nausea when I haven't eaten for a while. I ache all over too. Just a horrible feeling.
I notice that my thirst is getting more and more intense, to where I just want to have either cold 7-UP, coca~cola, or orange juice, and when I do drink it, I drink it down like I have been in the desert for days and dying of thirst! This happens 'big time' in the mornings, and I have a bottle of orange juice by my bed, and when I wake up, I down about half of it right away, and it tastes heavenly, since I am just dying of thirst in the mornings! After I drink it down, I do feel much better.
As I said in my other posting earlier, I don't have the 'peeing a lot' thing going, which I heard and read is a big symptom of diabetes. But my friend says I have all of the other symptoms, and just because I don't have the 'peeing a lot' thing happening, doesn't rule out the diabetes.
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My friend says the exact same thing, and is on me constantly, but I just can't seem to get up the courage to go. Sounds cowardly, but I do have a fear of hospitals and doctors, but my friend says it is not that hard to get tested and not to be afraid. No, I don't have a meter to check where my blood sugar is at. It would surely be helpful, since I could test it when I begin feeling aweful (which is pretty much of the day, most days, lately), and find the pattern.
I just can't afford it at all. I have no health insurance, and my bank account is completely dry too. I am embarrassed to say it, but I am just broke. When I tried to apply for disability and medicaid, I was turned down due to "not being depressed enough", and not bi-polar, and basically not "sick enough" to qualify. The doctor I did go to in latter 2002, seemed to do nothing for me, and never really listened to the symptoms I'd tell him I had. I was more than upset about all of it, feeling so alone in how I felt, and like I just should give up on getting help, that no one really cared anymore, and so that pushed me into deeper depression than I already was.
But I know I do have good friends that care, and family too, so I must keep going and looking to get help, get tested, and if it is diabetes, to get what I need to feel better. I have dealt with severe depression for over 2 years now, and my friend said that going through depression for that long a period of time, puts stress on the body, and can cause diabetes. I had no idea it could.
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Thanks a ton for the 'feel better' vibes!! I really appreciate your caring and comforting and great advice. Means a lot! I will definitely keep you all posted. Pray for me that I get the courage to just go and get tested. You take care too, and have a great day! Thanks once again! Can't say that enough!
Please, please, please get checked, because I don't want to see you have what happened to me due to my parents not getting me into the doctor sooner. I really do think you have diabetes, because what you describe sounds a lot like many of the symptoms. The drinking of orange juice, 7-up, and cocoa are not good at all for you especially if you are indeed diabetic due to the sugar content in them. Try purchasing yourself some diet V-8 splash juice instead, which I do have to say is delicious and so much lower in sugar per 8 ounces. Also start drinking a ton of water to help clear your body of excess water and it also should help you not to feel so thirsty. Also give up the cookies and sweets for a while to see how you start to feel, because it sounds a lot like your having many hyperglycemic reactions, which are high blood sugars. I also get the shaky feeling when I have
I have to agree with Denise, you MUST be tested!!!!!
~* Angie ~*
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Well, I got the wrong impression then of drinking orange juice, since my one friend that has diabetes said that if I feel oddly, to drink some orange juice and it can help out. Maybe for him it helps, but is not for everyone? As for the coca~cola and 7-UP, well they are the diet kind, since I figured that would be better for me than the regular pop. I don't drink but maybe one glass of the 7-UP or coca~cola per day, and most of the time I like to drink hot teas like Chai and Earl Grey. The orange juice though, I have been downing that a lot, since it seems to really quench my intense thirst, especially in the mornings.
For some reason I just can't get into drinking the water. I don't know if it is due to being no flavor to it or what, but I will drink it down, since I know it will help me.
I am majorly 'water logged' this month thanks to my PMS and now my period. My ankles are so swollen, and my tummy is too. My period is really unusually heavy this month, but last month was light, so I figure I am due for a heavy month this time around.
My friend whom I mention a lot here, has had diabetes for 30 years now, and uses an insulin pump, and I remember his wife telling me one time that she came home from work one day, and he was totally in a bad mood and just began yelling at her for no reason. She said she knew it had to be a problem with his blood sugar level, so she handed him a glass of orange juice and left the room for him to cool down and drink that and feel a bit better. When he tested his blood sugar level it was threw the roof at 400!!! My God I thought, he could have had a seizure and just died right there! So that shows he is not taking care of himself like he should!
I worry so much about him, since he says he pigs out now that he has the insulin pump, and I feel he shouldn't do that, since just because he has that, he shouldn't think he can eat sweets like mad and other bad foods. In the past 6 months that he and I have been friends, he has had 2 ear infections, stomach flu, a bad cold, walking pneumonia, tonsillitis, and finally, last but not least, chickenpox! It really scares me that he is ill this much, and I feel that if he took better care of himself and his diabetes, he wouldn't be this ill so much. But that is just my opinion. I try to get him to eat better by suggesting he eat better more nutricious foods, and exercise more, but he is stubborn from what his wife tells me. I do try my best to be supportive of him, and be here whenever he is ill and needs a friend to talk with though. He is such a sweet person, with a great heart, hard working, and so intelligent, not to mention having a great career. So he is busy a lot, and I think that also doesn't do his health too good, since he eats on the run, and he has told me that he sometimes just eats one meal a day most times. I just wish I could emphasize to him the importance of his health and now that he has a son that is going on 2 years old, he needs to take even better care of himself in order to be there for him when he grows up.
Is there any advice you can give me on how to get across to him to take better care of himself, without sounding really pushy or obnoxious and him getting angry with me? I just care for him a lot as a good friend, and I don't want him in poor health or God forbid, dying, due to complications of his diabetes, due to not taking time with his health. I must mention too that he had a major heart attack back in 1998, and almost died. So he has really been near death's door on many occasions, and it scares me.
See that is just like me, to worry so much about another friend, than myself! Just the way I am! I have always had a big heart and want to give to others, and care for them, then neglect myself in the meantime.
The other reason I mentioned him was that he has been giving me the silent treatment lately, and I haven't heard anything at all from him in over 8 days straight now. I feel he is maybe upset with me not getting checked and won't speak to me till I do or something. I don't know. He used to really cheer me up greatly when I felt so down and out, and so I do miss our chats. I just hope he is ok, and just busy as usual, and not ill once again, and just not wanting to tell me, so I don't worry or something. I have told him that I will always be here for support, if he is ill, and I will never abandon the friendship just because he is ill so much.
I know how it is to need that support and caring and understanding when you are ill so much, since I am ill pretty much everyday now, and it is more than rough. I just feel like such a burden now to others, and I feel myself pulling away from them. Like I am saving them from putting up with me. Then with him being so silent for so long, it makes me wonder if he got tired of me being ill so much and turned away now. But I don't think he would be that kind of person.
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Sorry, didn't mean to go on a rant up there, but I need some advice on how to deal with my friend and how to emphasize that he take better care of himself, without making him mad at me. I am just worried about him. He goes off on me to take care of myself, but I don't feel he is practicing what he preaches.
I will indeed give up the cookies and sweets, since I am not that huge a fan of sweets anyway, and only crave them around PMS and period time. Today I ended up sleeping the day away thanks to just being plain tired and exhausted and sleeping like mad since starting my period lastnight. I then didn't get to eat during the day, and when I got up, oh God, I had the worst headache, and just felt aweful. I ate some dinner and then took a couple Motrin pills in hopes that would help, and they finally did help my head from pounding and eased my period cramps too tonight. I feel ok now, just admit to feeling a bit down in my emotions, I must admit.
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I will definitely look into the state insurance, thanks so much for the advice.
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Yea, the last doctor I had just didn't listen at all, and kept saying that my blood tests were fine and I was just depressed and that was causing all of my physical symptoms. I knew that couldn't be right, since these symptoms have been going on so long and are definitely physical in nature and not just due to being depressed. My depression has gotten worse too over the past month. At one time this month I had a really bad depressive episode and was in bed for a straight 20 hours with no food and no drink, and just wanting to give up and die. I literally didn't want to live. I hadn't had an episode like that in weeks, and it really scared me. I did get myself out of it, and it hasn't happened again, but I just don't want to think about it happening again, since I am so very thin as it is, and not eating will only make me all the thinner and weaker.
I never got to mention in my past postings that I am very thin, and only at around 104 pounds now, and been as low as 98 pounds. It seems that I get up to around 106 pounds, then soon after, I begin to plummet again, and it is a viscious cycle. I used to be at 135 at one time about 4 or 5 years ago, and looked so good, but now I just hate how my body looks, since at 5' 7", 104 is very underweight. That is another reason my friend told me to get tested, since he also went through a time of big weight loss before he was diagnosed and that is a big symptom too. I try to eat and gain weight, but just never can.
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It's ok, I know that you care, and that is why you are letting me know how dangerous this can be. My friend's Dad died when he was only 10 months old, due to complications of diabetes and not getting tested, so he never got to know his Dad. That is why he is on me so badly to get tested, and now is giving me the silent treatment, seemingly till I tell him I have an appointment or have gotten checked.
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Thank you soooooooo much!!! You have no idea how great it is to have a place to come to, to talk, vent, ask questions, and know that I will get some great advice and such amazing caring and understanding! You all are just great!! I am so glad I found this board!!! Thank you again!!
I hadn't really thought of it that way, but the cost could be more if I don't go in now. Lately, like tonight, my feet and ankles have been killing me and I can hardly walk without pain. My eyes hurt too, but I figure it is just from my contacts being dry. I have been sleeping like mad. I slept on and off for about 12 hours yesterday, then became really sleepy and still am about 5 or 6 hours later after being up. I figure it is just my period draining me now, but I am like this even when my period isn't happening. I want to sleep a lot.
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That is what I thought too, but I didn't want to argue with my friend when he said that they maybe didn't test for it. I did go to the ER that day, and had the blood drawn and I waited while the results came back, and also did a urine test too. They said that there was a little blood in the urine but nothing to be alarmed about. That struck me kind of oddly, but I am too shy to just push into asking questions or demanding more answers. One of my bad flaws. I figured if they weren't alarmed then I shouldn't be.
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Unfortunately, no, I don't have anyone around me that lives nearby that has a meter. My friend that has it lives way far from me in New York. My Uncle that has it, doesn't live near me either. But I will definitely look into getting out to the phamacy store that is near me and seeing if I can purchase one. Like you have said, it would at least gauge if my blood sugar was too high or too low. I think I have a mixed bag on that one, in that I think at times it is just too high over foods I eat, and other times it is really low, due to not eating when I should.
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Thanks a ton for those ideas, and they can be a start for me, definitely! I am getting my courage up now, so thank you again!!
Boy if your weight is not coming up like you would like it
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