I have been searching everywhere for answers for mysterious symptoms in my legs that began early last September. I had a bad panic attack that landed me in the ER in late August, and afterwards, at the suggestion of my doctor, I started cardio/HIIT exercise for anxiety relief. It felt great to exercise but about 2 weeks in I started feeling stringing, pinching/popping feelings behind my knees (worse behind my left, but sometimes behind my right, as well). I shrugged it off at first, but it continued to get worse and the pain began radiating up into the back of my thighs and down into my calves.
I went to my doctor and she said structurally my knees seemed fine. No swelling or redness, just the sensations/pain. She diagnosed me with hamstring tendonitis and said it should improve with anti-inflammatories and time off of intense workouts. But that did not help. Sitting around typically makes the sensations/pain worse, and anti-inflammatories do nothing to change what I feel in my legs.
Over the past few months I've tried so many things...supplements, chiropractor, massage, foam-rolling, yoga, stretching. I will have good/better days (with no obvious explanation as to why) and worse days. My legs feel best when I am exercising or doing something active that I enjoy like gardening, camping, or hiking. They feel worst when I am standing still. The sensations/pain change daily...my knees feel generally weak, but the pain moves all day long between calf muscles, thigh muscles, muscles surrounding the knee. I would describe it as aching and burning.
I just finished reading *The Mindbody Prescription* and I've been perusing the forums and I think I am definitely a TMS personality. I definitely struggle with anxiety, and I have quite a bit of stress in my life currently (multiple close family members with cancer, homeschooling my three young kids with not much support, large mortgage, my husband works long hours, I work part-time from home...). I also grew up in a very emotionally-repressed religious culture. I can see pain patterns looking back at my life that I think were definitely TMS (lower back pain, shoulder pain, extreme pelvic floor tension after third child's birth). But this leg pain feels so extreme... I feel like I have not had "normal" legs in 6 months. I keep wondering if I should go demand an MRI "just to be sure".
I guess my question is...does this sound like TMS? And has anyone experienced or heard of others experiencing TMS pain centered mostly in their knees/legs and manifesting as hamstring tendonitis?
I went to my doctor and she said structurally my knees seemed fine. No swelling or redness, just the sensations/pain. She diagnosed me with hamstring tendonitis and said it should improve with anti-inflammatories and time off of intense workouts. But that did not help. Sitting around typically makes the sensations/pain worse, and anti-inflammatories do nothing to change what I feel in my legs.
Over the past few months I've tried so many things...supplements, chiropractor, massage, foam-rolling, yoga, stretching. I will have good/better days (with no obvious explanation as to why) and worse days. My legs feel best when I am exercising or doing something active that I enjoy like gardening, camping, or hiking. They feel worst when I am standing still. The sensations/pain change daily...my knees feel generally weak, but the pain moves all day long between calf muscles, thigh muscles, muscles surrounding the knee. I would describe it as aching and burning.
I just finished reading *The Mindbody Prescription* and I've been perusing the forums and I think I am definitely a TMS personality. I definitely struggle with anxiety, and I have quite a bit of stress in my life currently (multiple close family members with cancer, homeschooling my three young kids with not much support, large mortgage, my husband works long hours, I work part-time from home...). I also grew up in a very emotionally-repressed religious culture. I can see pain patterns looking back at my life that I think were definitely TMS (lower back pain, shoulder pain, extreme pelvic floor tension after third child's birth). But this leg pain feels so extreme... I feel like I have not had "normal" legs in 6 months. I keep wondering if I should go demand an MRI "just to be sure".
I guess my question is...does this sound like TMS? And has anyone experienced or heard of others experiencing TMS pain centered mostly in their knees/legs and manifesting as hamstring tendonitis?
