Leg Pain

New diagnosis and before diagnosis
1

Hi all! Hope you’re all managing to stay cool in this heatwave. I was hoping you could tell me, is it common to get leg pain with ms? Kaz xxx

2

Yes Kaz it is. I get it and loads of others do. It’s like a constant dull ache and sometimes more severe electric shock type pain.

Are you on med’s?

Gabapentin, Amitriptyline and Pregabalin are all good at dealing with nerve pain… which it probably is.

There is other pain called ‘secondary pain’ which is when the muscles hurt because you are walking in a way that is putting too much pressure on the muscles (common in MS).

Try taking 1 Paracetamol plus 1 Ibuprofin and see if it helps (NO MORE THAN 3 TIMES A DAY).

If the pain goes then it might be muscle pain. If so, physiotherapy can help by teaching you to improve the way you are walking.

Anyway hon you have my sympathy as I have lain in bed many a night crying with leg pain. I’m now on Amitriptyline and although I still get pain, it is managable and I can cope with it.

Hope this helps,

Pat x

3

Thank you Pat :slight_smile: I’m awaiting diagnosis so not on any meds yet. I’ve been taking paracetamol but it’s not helping much. I have a GP appointment next week so will mention it then, in the meantime I will try the ibuprofen. Thanks again, I really appreciate the reply. Kaz xxx

4

Hi Kaz

Yes, as Pat says, leg pain is very common with MS.

I have found that yoga helps a lot with my leg pain. I think my muscles just get tight and if I give them all a good, gentle stretch a couple of times a week it helps. In fact, I turned down gabapentin at the doctor’s today as I think my aches and pains are manageable with my stretches and I’m still hoping the physio team will get to me eventually! Having said that I do think I have a high pain threshold - I had an induced labour (many years ago) and still had no pain relief even though the midwife told me some of the contractions were registering very high on their little graph! I barely felt them :slight_smile:

Tracey x

5

Thanks Tracey :slight_smile: Most of the sites I’ve looked at re symptoms don’t mention leg pain so it’s useful to know it can be part of the picture. Kaz xxx