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What might these pains in my legs be?

By October 7, 2008 - 11:20am
 
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I am worried about strange, sharp, stabbing pains that I have been getting in my legs(mostly the right shin area)for the last couple of months or so. It feels like a little leprachaun is stabbing my shin with a dagger. It happens suddenly and might give me a start, either while sitting or lying down but occasionally while standing.
It seems to be worse after a lot of exercise. It might happen three or four times in an evening and then stop for a week.
I am very active, hiking or working out at the gym every day. I am at a sensible weight for my height. My father HAS had varicose veins.

I am in my thirties and have not had children yet.
I am on birth control.
I am pretty worried and assume that a doctor's office should be my next stop, though I am hesitant as I have little faith in allopathic medecine and am also new to the city I live in right now.
Any thoughts?

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EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I got it to go away! I posted here before (March 23rd, 2015 below)... I eventually had a x-ray, doctor visits, chiropractor visits, acupuncture visits, and even an MRI done (with everything looking perfectly fine). NOBODY had a clue as to what it might be. The closest a doctor had to guessing was it was a compartmental syndrome (look it up), but still nobody knew and the pain medications and ointments didn't help one bit. A family friend who is also a doctor thought it was really weird and gave me the following to do: (1) Stay away from leg workouts or running/hiking for 2 months, and (2) take two Aleve twice a day (220 mg capsules, 4 total a day, 12 hours apart) for two months, and (3) stretch more daily. After two months it was completely gone!!! Never found out what it was, but this seriously worked for me... I recommend giving it a shot. Hope this helps.

September 3, 2015 - 12:54am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

Hey I was just wondering. Where can you get this medicine, you are talking about. and when you say 4 times a day with 12 hours apart. Do you mean by 6 hours?

September 28, 2016 - 11:07am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

Hello: your description fits my experience to a tee! I have has this pain periodically for years, sometimes more frequently than others but random and in nature. Sometimes multiples times a day sometimes none for days! I have had X-rays, bone scans, MRI of my leg...NOTHING. I actually can feel a bump on my shin and when the pain is active I cannot even touch the area even lightly. So, I'm wondering, after following this Aleve regime were you able to return to normal activity? Has the pain ever recurred?

May 2, 2016 - 5:59am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

After doing that Aleve trick and staying off it, it completely went away and it hasn't come back. I'm back to hiking, working out, running, etc and I haven't had the pain come back at all. I HAVE added a lot more stretching to my routine, so I highly recommend doing the Aleve thing for a bit that I mentioned and then add a lot of stretching to your schedule. Hope that helps!

May 2, 2016 - 11:35am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

Can you quantify more specifically a lot of stretching and what kind of stretching?. I've just begun doing Yoga for 20 minutes about 4x a week.

May 2, 2016 - 1:29pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

Yes - any kind of stretching really. Yoga and foam rolling are great. Good luck.

May 2, 2016 - 3:07pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

Ok...stabbing right shin pain out of nowhere! Sucks the breath out of me. Happens unprovoked and leaves as fast as it happens. What did all of your doctor's say that this is?

September 2, 2015 - 9:37pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

Hi..I was very depressed til I read how common this is. I was getting these pains on sides of both shins..but now only left side. The leprechaun stabbing it is a perfect analogy! It's absolutely debilitating sometimes! Many times it ' comes alive 'at night and I'm so miserable!
I got only 3 hrs of sleep a night for wks. And pain pills don't help. The pain is so bad it wakes me up after 4 hrs.

April 4, 2015 - 11:30pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

Thank you all for this advise. It's funny I described to my husband as a my travelling little gremlin with a dagger stabbing me, I guess shin split minds think alike :) The MS thing scares me as I occasionally get this little stabbing pain in my eyes and in my rectum. (I haven't had those in awhile) my gremlin travels. I am active and I recently have encountered some intense pain in my toes I was inclined to think it was coming from flip flops too since I'm in Florida. Wishing you all well! Just glad I'm not alone here...

March 30, 2015 - 10:15am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I have the same stabbing shocks in my shins, and my physio told me it's a nerve entrapment in my spine. To fix the problem, I got exercises to enforce my glutes and realign my hips properly

August 21, 2014 - 4:17am
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