View Full Version : Leg pain and twitch--DVT?
Hi all. About a month ago I had a sharp pain behind my right knee, it felt like something had stung it, like a wasp. The pain would sometimes shoot into my calf, thigh, or foot. I went to the ER after feeling pain in my back when breathing, terrified of DVT/PE. They did blood tests (I'm assuming d-dimer but I'm not sure) and a chest X-ray, gave me a muscle relaxant, and sent me home seeing as I was a healthy 22 year old male with zero risk factors and negative tests. My leg pains went away but my chest and back still had on and off pains.
Skip ahead to today and I still haven't really gotten over my blood clot fear. Within the past few days I've developed a severe cough, runny nose, and the return of leg pain. Now, along with the knee stinging and slight intermittent pain elsewhere in the leg, I've been having "twitches." They're hard to describe--little pulses or beats, usually just one, somewhere in my leg. Calf, thigh, or foot. I also had felt some of these weird twitches in my other (left) leg the past couple days as well.
I don't understand how I can go to two different ERs within a month with DVT/PE fears and not receive a sonogram or CT scan of my leg(s) or chest. How can they be so sure I'm okay by looking at my vitals and CXR? I've read that so many clots go undiagnosed because of lack of symptoms. Why couldn't they just make sure to ease my mind? I was prescribed buspar today for my health anxiety and it almost feels like my doctor has given up on me. She doesn't want to deal with my problems anymore because they are apparently not life-threatening, even though there is no set-in-stone proof that they're not.
Could anxiety really be the cause of these weird pains and twitches? They don't feel musculoskeletal.
So you want ERs to give you expensive, not completely benign tests, without cause?
You site "to ease your mind".. You know,,, it will not ease your mind--at least for long. You will either doubt the test outright OR you will believe the test for a time, then your anxious mind will start lying to you again and you will be back to believing you have DVT AGAIN. OR this test will work and you will no longer worry about DVT.... However in a day, a week or a month some new ache/pain/oddity will pop up and you will think, for sure, that you have _______ . You will be again running to the ER fretting and expecting another round of unnecessary CTs or MRIs or ____ test....
This is the typical behavior of Health Anxiety.
Take the buspar. Maybe see a therapist. Really work both of those tools... Also add some hobbies, exercise, good healthy eating. Quit monitoring your body, quit seeking reassurance through unnecessary med testing, quit asking fam/friends for reassurance, quit googling, quit self-checking.... Once you really commit yourself to the above, over time you will find that what is REALLY ailing you---mental illness in the form of anxiety----is getting better. You will have taken your life back and will not be in a perpetual cycle of PANIC--reassurance seeking--panic.....
GlassPinata
09-02-17, 07:14
Also... ERs are a great resource for those of us who lack medical insurance (as I do; ER is pretty much my only option when I am sick) BUT they are not really there to do in-depth diagnoses on patients. They are there to treat emergencies.
That's why they usually patch you up, pat you on the head, and advise you to "follow up with your primary care physician within three days".
Ha. Primary care physician. What a joke, for those of us who are uninsured.
ERs are a great resource for those of us who lack medical insurance (as I do; ER is pretty much my only option when I am sick)
Only a great resource if you have great resources. A $1K+ bill for an anxiety attack or the flu is not a great option.
Positive thoughts
Only a great resource if you have great resources. A $1K+ bill for an anxiety attack or the flu is not a great option.
Positive thoughts
Absolutely true.
How do people pay for such things? Or do they?
PASchoolSyndrome
09-02-17, 13:58
Hi all. About a month ago I had a sharp pain behind my right knee, it felt like something had stung it, like a wasp. The pain would sometimes shoot into my calf, thigh, or foot. I went to the ER after feeling pain in my back when breathing, terrified of DVT/PE. They did blood tests (I'm assuming d-dimer but I'm not sure) and a chest X-ray, gave me a muscle relaxant, and sent me home seeing as I was a healthy 22 year old male with zero risk factors and negative tests. My leg pains went away but my chest and back still had on and off pains.
Skip ahead to today and I still haven't really gotten over my blood clot fear. Within the past few days I've developed a severe cough, runny nose, and the return of leg pain. Now, along with the knee stinging and slight intermittent pain elsewhere in the leg, I've been having "twitches." They're hard to describe--little pulses or beats, usually just one, somewhere in my leg. Calf, thigh, or foot. I also had felt some of these weird twitches in my other (left) leg the past couple days as well.
I don't understand how I can go to two different ERs within a month with DVT/PE fears and not receive a sonogram or CT scan of my leg(s) or chest. How can they be so sure I'm okay by looking at my vitals and CXR? I've read that so many clots go undiagnosed because of lack of symptoms. Why couldn't they just make sure to ease my mind? I was prescribed buspar today for my health anxiety and it almost feels like my doctor has given up on me. She doesn't want to deal with my problems anymore because they are apparently not life-threatening, even though there is no set-in-stone proof that they're not.
Could anxiety really be the cause of these weird pains and twitches? They don't feel musculoskeletal.
Hi yes! No one ever wants to miss a DVT/PE! I've had a professor who did and she can guarantee she never will again.
Just maybe to offer some reassurance, there are some specific criteria that a patient needs to meet before doctors go on the extremely expensive path of diagnosing a PE/DVT. I didn't see you're whole clinical picture but from your post I can tell you didn't meet enough of the "check points" for either DVT or a PE. Doesn't even sound like it could potentially be one!
And D-Dimer's are done in only low risk patients to rule out, not rule in.
So yay! I hope maybe a little insight on the process might offer a little reassurance.
GlassPinata
11-02-17, 01:34
Absolutely true.
How do people pay for such things? Or do they?
I don't. I can't. My credit score is sh!t.
ERs aren't allowed to turn you away, but they can certainly mess up your credit. :(
Thanks for the replies, especially Sixpack, allowed me to think and reevaluate.
As I lay in bed my legs hurt. Sharp prickling pains all over my legs. Thighs, knees, feet, even my butt sometimes. My hamstrings feel tight and my legs felt tired all day. What could this be? Even when my mind is off it, when I'm relaxed on the couch, eating cake watching basketball with my father, my legs had sharp prickling pains in all random locations and the occasional bubble-pop twitch thing. If it was sciatica wouldn't my back hurt?
Thanks for the replies, especially Sixpack, allowed me to think and reevaluate.
As I lay in bed my legs hurt. Sharp prickling pains all over my legs. Thighs, knees, feet, even my butt sometimes. My hamstrings feel tight and my legs felt tired all day. What could this be? Even when my mind is off it, when I'm relaxed on the couch, eating cake watching basketball with my father, my legs had sharp prickling pains in all random locations and the occasional bubble-pop twitch thing. If it was sciatica wouldn't my back hurt?
In my experience fight/flight hormones--cortisol, adrenaline-- cause these things. Yes, sometimes people have shortages in vitamins and minerals. So taking a multi-vitamin may be helpful. Or you can have your doc check bloods on those minerals and let you know if you need supplement. But, to be honest, an amped mind (freaked out, fearful, overthinking) causes the body to do these things. ---Just because you have had a moment or day or week of calm, just because you are not anxious in the moment does NOT mean your mind and body are calm and relaxed. It takes weeks, months of reduced anxiety/stress before a mind or body becomes less reactive.
I also had a host of leg pains and twitches and prickles when I was at my most anxious. It's really true that anxiety can cause all manner of weird physical symptoms - and if you've had other similar issues in the past which have turned out to be unfounded, then that's giving you pretty good odds that this is also psychosomatic.
Once again, thanks for the supplies. I'm back at school now and I actually went to a concert tonight and moshed violently with a crowd. I never once felt out of breath or felt leg pain which I guess would be impossible to pull off with DVT/PE! However now that I'm sitting relaxing hours afterward the sharp pains in my calf/behind my knee and twitches have returned and both my knees/thighs feel very very warm, even hot. But I'm trying to relax and get my mind off it. I probably shouldn't even be returning to this forum because it could cause me to think about the symptoms and amplify them.
I just appreciate everyone here to alleviate my anxiety and making me think straight.
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