Random leg/foot weakness

[BmillsSkier]

I know, gimp central, or go see a doctor; but it’s Sunday and there’s more people in here so this is what you get.

Fell asleep face down Friday night after a long day of running around chasing the kid.

Woke up yesterday and my right foot, front right shin felt asleep; no big deal probably slept on it funny.

Then all day I’m having trouble lifting the front of that foot much off the ground. I start to freak out a bit. Driving was difficult.

It’s a bit better today and I can lift it about half as high off the ground (from a flat footed stance) and there’s no pain, just weakness.

Dr Google tells me I may have pinched a nerve or my sciatic sleeping on my stomach and not moving all night.

Never had anything like this happen and figured I’d ask the more experienced crowd here before going to the Urgent Care before the doctor tomorrow.

TL;DR, I hope my leg isn’t dying.

[Danno]

You're gonna die.

[The AD]

Sounds like sciatica, but what do we know? We're all dentists here.

[Self Jupiter]

Any history with back injury/pain?

Had an incident ‘’like that’’ about a year ago playing hockey, all of a sudden I couldn’t skate well and it freaked me out— sciatic pain was nothing new to me but a loss of feeling and motor function was. My back had been giving me some signals over the previous few weeks that I guess I should have taken more seriously. In this particular event my symptoms faded quickly. Got all kinds of testing, never came to any real conclusions about what happened that day but my back fucked with me all winter and pretty much killed my season. Hope it’s nothing like that mang.

[BmillsSkier]

Any history with back injury or back pain? I’ve had back pain since my 20s.

Had an incident ‘’like that’’ about a year ago playing hockey, all of a sudden I couldn’t skate well and it freaked me out— sciatic pain was nothing new to me but a loss of feeling and motor function was. My back had been giving me some signals over the previous few weeks that I guess I should have taken more seriously. In this particular event my symptoms faded quickly. Got all kinds of testing, never came to any real conclusions about what happened that day but my back fucked with me all winter and pretty much killed my season. Hope it’s nothing like that mang.

Yeah, about once every year or two going back to my bump comp days I’d throw my lower back out. It eventually fixes itself if I lie there and disappears until the next time.

Zero pain with this episode which is why it’s got me all freaked out.

Spent a bunch of the morning stretching and doing yoga positions that helped with my back when those happen so I’m hoping this is a big nothing.

Thanks for the insights fellas

[PB]

Drop foot due to pinched nerve usually resolves in a reasonable amount of time, depending on where the nerve is actually being compressed and why. If it lingers longer than a week or 2 or gets worse, get it MRI'd and consider a cortisone injection. I wouldn't call it random.

[chaka]

any numbness? or 'just' weakness. weakness likely points to nerve issues as others have suggested already. sudden onset of numbness without any trauma can be another story... possible stroke, clot etc. I'm not a doctor, but have had a few scares in this domain and have been to more doctors than I ever thought possible. I recommend a steady diet of surstromming until you can speak to your doc. good luck.

[skiballs]

Let’s see, passed out face down, any weird dreams about anal raping podiatrists?


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[Flyoverland Captive]

Google “Saturday Night Palsy”.

[old goat]

Doesn't sound like something you need to go to urgent care for if you can get an appointment with your regular doctor within a week or two. (The indication for emergency care would be numbness in genital/taint/anal area, any trouble with incontinence or unable to urinate.) I see an MRI in the future, even if the weakness goes away. In the meantime don't sleep on your stomach--duh. Even if the symptoms go away there are exercises you should be doing depending on the MRI. Probably the same exercises I should be doing but am not.

[4matic]

I had this. It got progressively worse and I ended up having back surgery. I still have some permanent nerve damage that causes weakness after extended exercise. No big deal though. Plus, MRI might show some damage but isn’t conclusive evidence of a problem. The MRI needs to show a certain level of damage to give the neuro the green light to do surgery.

[liv2ski]

No clue BM's, but my big toe has been numbish for about a week now and Google said sciatic. I have been doing a lot of physical labor at my daughters house and my back often hurts at days end, so I chalked mine up to a pinched nerve also.

[fatnslow]

Welcome to middle age. Wait until it takes you many minutes to take a leak with a trickle stream.

[PB]

By middle you mean late middle/early golden, right? Cuz if that's happening in early/mid middle age you're right fucked.
Personally I believe middle age begins at 27.

[fastfred]

when I jerk off to many times in one day foot and leg numbness and weakness as well as chaffing seems to be a syptom

[sb]

Welcome to oldman wurld.

Have a nice painful life.

[detrusor]

I’d see someone relatively quickly as Old Goat says. Foot drop is usually due to nerve root compression. If any symptoms get worse or bowel/bladder incontinence do directly to ER.


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[riser4]

when I jerk off to many times in one day foot and leg numbness and weakness as well as chaffing seems to be a syptom

How's your vision?

[BmillsSkier]

Status update. Still not 100% but I can lift the right foot/toes off the ground nearly as high as the left. I'd say about 85% of normal.

[basinbeater]

when I jerk off to many times in one day foot and leg numbness and weakness as well as chaffing seems to be a syptom

If you sit on your arm until it goes numb and then jerk off, way better. Leg numbness and chaffing still could be an issue.

[warthog]

I have been stretching my calves and hamstrings using one of those exercise bands hooked around the base of the foot up towards the toes.
I do it while watching TV, and it is helping everything.
Started doing it due to plantar fasciitis, and it helped a ton. Keeping up with it because it is helping my back and legs now too.
I had random foot numbness a while back, as well as some pretty decent sciatica pain. Stretching and moving more has helped a bunch.

[mattig]

I had this. It got progressively worse and I ended up having back surgery. I still have some permanent nerve damage that causes weakness after extended exercise. No big deal though. Plus, MRI might show some damage but isn’t conclusive evidence of a problem. The MRI needs to show a certain level of damage to give the neuro the green light to do surgery.

This.

Yeah, about once every year or two going back to my bump comp days I’d throw my lower back out. It eventually fixes itself if I lie there and disappears until the next time.

Zero pain with this episode which is why it’s got me all freaked out.

Spent a bunch of the morning stretching and doing yoga positions that helped with my back when those happen so I’m hoping this is a big nothing.

Bulging disk somewhere between L3 and L5. It'll wax and wane as you've experienced. Gotta be careful about "pushing through" an episode of pain and ending up like me with a massive herniation in the middle of a lacrosse game that required surgery that I probably shouldn't have waited as long to have.

I did all the PT, stretching, McKenzie, etc. Nothing helped. Surgery didn't even seem to help at first, but one year later and I'm almost back to 100%. Solid 90%+ anyway, which is good enough considering I didn't think I'd be able to balance on that foot again at the 3 month mark. Who knows if it was surgery or time that did the trick. Either way, the key is to not push through episodes of pain, and ALWAYS consider that what may feel like a pulled muscle in your calf could actually be referred pain from you back (this is how I fucked up in that lacrosse game... I was trying to push through a strained calf that wasn't really a strained calf).


Also be aware that most neurosurgeons and most literature on sciatica is focused on PAIN versus FUNCTION. My acute issue was 100% function, 0% pain and I had a hard time finding info and advice on what to expect. Only literature I found said that 90% of the restoration of function after surgery would occur within the first 3 months. For me, I had almost no improvement in 3 months, then fairly linear improvement for the next 9.

Lastly... I got set up with a solid PT person after the surgery. I learned I had no idea how to lift stuff ("lift with legs not with back" turns out to be bad advice. I also learned that some of the apparently permanent issues in legs/feet can just be atrophy from when the nerve path was impinged, and that pushing through the pain and cramps that come with trying to use that full range of motion will slowly but surely restore function in some cases.

[exsparky]

My uncle got a rare form of Parkinson's in his legs with symptoms like that. No pain, just leg numbness.

It took the doc's 2 years to figure that out. That was 5 years ago. He hasn't been able to walk in 1.5 years. He is too weak to hear on the phone and he shakes so bad he can't write now.

He isn't dead yet but wishes he was. He might make it to 2023.

[PB]

Well, that escalated quickly.

[oldnew_guy]

Interesting responses here. Last time I dealt with leg numbness and back issues I was told to not pass go and proceed directly to urgent care/ER if I had trouble lifting my toes.