Weakness in Muscles

[1sweed]

One of my biggest problems has been dealing with a weak streak in my upper leg area. It is not straight across each leg and not straight vertical either. When walking my legs will become very weak and heavy feeling, and this weakness in my legs can cause me to fall down.

I tried phyical therapy, but the muscles did not improve with leg exercises.

At one point a few years ago, I was sure that I would end up in a wheelchair due to this come and go weakness. It has kept me from going to different vacation attractions, with family, because I can not walk the distance required as most places are hard pavement.

When I first moved to Pa., with it's hills and valleys, I stayed close to home a lot. But during the summers I managed to find mostly flat places to walk around our town, where benches are available to sit down.

Have any of you had this problem with certain leg muscle groups having weakness more than others? Do you have any tips for me?

 

[Yatte]

1sweed, I have the same problem, and I don't have fibro. One moment you are walking just fine, the next you feel like your legs will fold under you and never get working again. At that point I have to sit down for a while to recover, before I can get up and walk again. (Though very slowly and carefully.)

There are a few possible causes for this, the first is neurological. It could be a nerve getting pinched or the nerve to that area being infected or injured. A MRI scan would show if you have any problems in your nerves. Secondly it could be a mineral shortage in your body (this is the cause of mine). Thirdly the cause could be a blood supply issue or lowered blood pressure. Lastly it could be due to lack of sleep or being under rested.

I hope you find the cause of yours quickly.

 

[1sweed]

Thanks for your comment Yatte.

When I was in Florida, I had MRI's and CT"s done, as well as, muscle testing and nerve testing done. Nothing was found to explain it. I am now on low dose of water pills because being an older lady I have poor circulation in my lower legs.

Since I have come to Pa, as long as I avoid the steep hills, I do pretty good. Two years ago I was walking to my mother's house and had decided to take a short-cut, where the route was steeper. I was almost to her house when first my legs gave out. Then I got really dizzy and luckly found a stone post to hang on too for support. A friend came by and gave me a ride the rest of the way.

So now I have pills for dizzyness and avoid the steep hills.

I have increased my vitamin and mineral intake and have not had the problem as much, but I have the use of a car now so I don't have to walk so far or as much anymore.

 

[702702]

Hello ! I was diagnosed last week. I am feeling the same thing in my right leg. It is so weak, I had trouble moving it over to the gas pedal....scary.
I started Neurontin (gabapentin) that has helped some. I also take soma and percocet for the wide spread pain. Taking all 3 religiously keeps the weakness manageable. Sometimes I just want to crawl out of my own skin. Hope this helps. Your post definitely helped me.

 

[1sweed]

Thanks for your comment. I think this symptom is the hardest one for me because I have always been a active person. I loved hilking in the woods in my younger days but now I do not have the strength for it.

This one symptom is so much like M.S., because it can cause loss of muscle strength and sometimes cause a foot to drag. And my one doctor had thought this M.S., was my problem.


Your very right when you say it is scary. It keeps you from doing the fun things you want to do on your own, but now must ask a friend to go along. I am glad that just knowing someone else has this problem helped you.

 

[BrendaMarie]

I've had this problem coupled with the same thoughts too. There are still times when I just seem to freeze in a sitting position and can't seem to will myself to move. It comes and goes but I found that Tai Chi and walking have helped me.

 

[1sweed]

I have experienced that freezing in place symptom. Usually I would be walking along and suddenly get a pain in my back and stop walking.
Then when I moved to walk I found I could not move. The pain would come back stronger if I attempted to walk. So I would have to stand in one place and wait a few minutes until able to move again.

The weird part is once you have it then suddenly just as fast as it came it was gone and I could keep walking. And not have it happen again for weeks at a time. So it seems to behave like sciatic nerve problems, but it only last for a few minutes which leads me to believe it is connected with fibro.

 

[SulaBlue]

I've had this since about 2005 when I was diagnosed with degenerative disks in my lumbar spine area. In my case it has to do with aggravation of the sciatic nerve and a tightening of the piriformis muscle as well as that feeling of weakness in the fronts of my thighs. In my case I think my right thigh may well have atrophied some, but there's still the 'freezing' problem. I'll hurt, and I just can't take another step - literally! The only thing to do is to sit down, even for 30 seconds and let it 'unhitch'. I also get that where everything is fine and suddenly WHOOSH, my knee collapses.

I started using a cane but found that it was irritating the nerves in my hand and making my fingers numb. I've gone to a rolling walker. Keep in mind in my case this also helps take some pressure off the lower back so I hurt less, but it also gives me a place to sit down when my leg freezes up. It can be embarrassing, especially as I'm young and overweight - I've put on weight since the accident that lead to the degenerative disk diagnosis - with me thinking people are looking at me and judging, but I've learned to ignore it. The wheels on mine are BIG and handle both pavement and grass, even somewhat uneven grass. I've seen options with wheels more like lawnmower wheels that supposedly go over even the roughest terrain for more the more adventurous.

 

[1sweed]

Today, I had my first experience in a long time with my legs giving out on me. I had my camera in one hand and was going down to the edge of the woods to take pictures of the forest and snow covered ground. I was trudging along and stepped on the edge of a small uneven spot in the ground. It was just enough to make me lopsided for 1/2 second and I put my weight to my left side, but it being weaker than the right side did not support me and the next thing I knew I was falling toward the ground.

I held my camera up in the air and landed quite hard on my right side. It took me a while to get up because my right leg was folded under me and at first it didn't want to hold my weight. So I was trying to push myself up with a hand buried in cold snow with no glove on, and my right knee was covered with mud. I was finally able to get up and go take my picture and get back up to the house.

Tonight I feel the ache in my right leg and pain in my foot. I may have twisted my foot a bit as well. But I will live on and hope this goof does not lay me low for too long. It is strange a weakness that comes so quickly and then is over. I get tired of all this weakness too. But I guess it is here to stay.

 

[Donna10112]

The only thing I can add that I don't see listed above is possible trigger points in the affected muscles. They can cause entire muscle group weakness and knee buckling. Trigger Points are the main issue of Chronic Myofascial Pain and can be treated. If you'd like to know more this web site is great:
National Fibromyalgia Partnership, Inc. Good luck. Hope you are all better soon.
Donna

 

[1sweed]

Donna, Thanks for the info.

When I was in Florida, and was working I had phyical therapy for a misplaced knee cap and the people who did the therapy noticed this area of my skin that was not right. They used their massage and ultrasound treatments and exercises on these areas with no improvement. I will check out the link you provided and see if anything could be done to help. I know I have balance problems because of this condition, and how much that has to do with the muscle problem I don't really know.

Anyways thanks for the tip!

 

[SulaBlue]

Oh, the trigger points. Isn't it such a weird feeling for something to hurt like a son-of-a-gun and yet feel so good at the same time?

I almost made a fool of myself today because of it! I was getting up out of a chair and leaned to one side and just happened to catch a trigger/pressure point in my glute (my piriformis muscle tends to tighten up something fierce!) and there I am, gasping in pain and groaning because it feels good at the same time as everything starts to let go. I can only imagine what people were thinking, what with the look of bliss that must have been on my face!

 

[1sweed]

Does it not always seem that things only happen when there is a crowd around to watch. lol SulaBlue, I hope you are doing okay. This muscle problem that causes our aches and pains, sure has it's moments. We are either with people or all alone with no cell phone to call for help.
By the time help comes we would be alright anyways, but it is a sad state of affairs when you can't do what ever you want to do cause your muscles won't behave.

I have found that wearing tight leggings under by jeans helps to provide supoort for my upper leg. You can get some that just go to your knee and so don't make you to hot in warm weather. In cold weather the longer ones help keep your legs warm, or you can wear womans long john pants. They fit tight, but allow easy freedom of movement.

 

[SulaBlue]

1sweet: There's no such thing as 'not hot in warm weather' here in Texas. It's only March 18th and we got up to 90F today! I'm not looking forward to summer at all! I can't actually imagine ever needing long ones to help stay warm down these ways, it only got below 40F for about 2 weeks somewhere in Dec-January. By February we were already having days in the 70s and even up to 80F. It's just nuts. When my husband retires, we're heading up to Washington State. We plan to live close to the Oregon border so we can live in a state with no state income tax and shop in a state with no sales tax, and where the weather won't just outright kill us in our dotage.

 

[exploreandrespawn]

I had Chronic Fatigue in the 1990's. I went to a dentist, had my teeth cleaned. the next thing you know, I'm having seizures and collapsing all over the place. After that I had CFS. I was almost ruined by that. There is so much more to my story, but for now, that is enough. Just to let you know how I came to get mine. My CFS lasted for about 10 years. I hate to tell people this, but it did. I had the leg problem. It was horrible, because you never new when you would fall down. The weakness is in the upper thigh area, and there is a feeling that you fill 'fold' as was previously stated.

There is one exercise that helped me in the beginning. That was wall pushing. I just stood, facing a corner, and pushed myself off the wall, let myself fall back, and pushed back again. It sounds really silly, but at that time, it was the only kind of exercise that I could muster, and my legs were stationary, and I would not have to move, like walk.