Pain in the legs.

[Madlegs1]

Hi all - I have often wondered about people posting about severe pain in their legs and wondering whether it was rls.

I have always been doubtful of this diagnosis - and just came across this. It was on the Webmd site.---

Dysesthesia means "abnormal sensation." It's usually a painful burning, prickling, or aching feeling. You typically get it in your legs or feet. But you also can have it in your arms. Sometimes the pain feels like you're being squeezed around your chest or abdomen. Some people call that the "MS hug."

[Madlegs1]

This is a link to the article.

Dysesthesia: What Causes MS Pain and How It's Treated

webmd.com/multiple-sclerosi...

[Bkc1777 in reply to Madlegs1]

Hi,

Thank you for sharing that. V. Interesting! I do get that pain but feels like from my hip to femur. And yes doctor did say gabapentin will help for that kind of pain. Shame she wasn't interested what causes it and thought medicine will do for now!

B.

[mwsteele]

Hi, I started of with a cramp like pain..but it felt as if someone had hold of my ankle and was trying to rip my lower leg off at the knee. More recently I've had the feeling of spiders crawling on my skin (which is horrible as I've a spider phobia!)...

[Joolsg]

Hi Madlegs,

As someone with both RLS and MS, I know that, in my case, the pain I experience from the MS in my legs and the MS hug is nothing like the horrible creepy, crawling, unbearable sensations I get from RLS.

I'll take the MS pain any day! MS pain is experienced in the legs as a deep burning, like someone has poured petrol over the inside of your legs and set fire to it. The MS hug is like someone has caught you in a large vice and is squeezing the air out of you. I've been to A& E a few times with suspected heart attack but it's just been MS hug.

A lot of meds used for MS pain are also used in RLS, mainly Pregabalin and gabapentin so in my case, killing 2 birds with one stone.

I think a lot of people with RLS experience deap seated pain in their legs as well as the horrible crawling feeling so although I'm sure there's overlap, I think they are quite different.

[Madlegs1 in reply to Joolsg]

Exactly - I think there is a difference between neuropathic pain and rls. The main difference being the 'pain'.

Of course - people differ in experience of pain- but , to me, rls is more about discomfort rather than actual pain.

My main concernis that people don't get non rls conditions checked out- where they might actually have something that could be treated and named .

That's all!

😎

[NoMoRLS]

I get pain in my legswith tremors and after a bad night my back aches all day. Crazy this rls. Some get it mild. Others, especially during withdrawal from a med go into wild spasms. Hate this infliction.

But I get pain. Like ekectrical.shocks starting in lower back all the way to sharp pains in feet. Ughh

[Hidden]

I get pain often and it has increased in severity over the years as the RLS worsened which would leave me thinking the RLS comes first, well in my case. From my parents accounts there was a lot of pain and crying with my legs as a young child, (I can't remember).

When I am moving constantly, (jiggling my legs walking up and down stairs, etc) I can walk/move to the point of exhaustion; it wouldn't be unheard of to be constantly working for 20+ hours when things are bad, (although can't do this since developing ME).

The pain build with it becoming excruciating. The next morning my legs ache from all the movement the previous day - like I had run a marathon....and then it starts again...and again....ad infinitum.

To add to it I get neuropathic pain due to damaged disks, joint pain due to damaged knees and sciatica. Its a pity I wasn't born a masochist