Aching leg at night keeps me awake

[Middleagedmotheroftwo]

For the last several weeks my left leg has been aching at night to the extent that it's preventing me from sleeping. It feels tender when I lie on it, but the area of most tenderness moves around - sometimes it's my hip, sometime my thigh, knee or calf.
Has anyone experienced anything similar and if so, how do/did you deal with it? I could really do with a good nihht's sleep

Hello MiddleAgedMother!

Not sure if it's the same thing or not but when I was pregnant and now also when I'm not pregnant since having DC3, I get an ache (best word I can use to describe it) in my right calf. I don't have it all the time and can go for months without it and then it comes back (like now!) and can be there all the time for two or three weeks.

Have seen a neurologist (I live overseas), had blood tests and MRIs. Most likely it is caused by a nerve being pressed in my spine as two of my (low-down) vertebrae are pushing the discs a little bit and this presses on the nerve. I was told it would probably be worse when I am going through periods of tiredness or have my period as more fluid in the whole area. Was advised to keeps abs and back and generally core muscles very strong as this helps.

It can keep me awake at night or stop me from going to sleep. The only thing that I found that works is rubbing Deep Heat or Sports Gel (or similar) on my calf. I don't know if this will work for you as not sure if you have exactly the same thing as me or not but surely worth a try.

Perhaps you should also check out the pain with your doctor?

Let me know how you get on and good luck

Forgot to say that it does sound to me like the pain is caused by a nerve (although I'm not a doctor!) and that would account for the pain moving about. Do you have any problems with your back/pelvis or did you hurt your back recently or pull anything?

Hi Purple, thanks for your response.

I am considering going to GP if things don't get better as I'm fed up of not sleeping.
I will try some Deep Heat - that's a good idea, and I hadn't thought of that. I took some paracetamol at bed time last night, and did sleep better, though that may be because I was so tired!

It's weird because I'm fine all day and evening, but about 30 mins after being in bed, I can feel the pain coming on. I can't lie on my left side because it feels to ??. "Tender" is the only word I can think of to describe it.

I no longer have periods , so it's not linked to my cycle in anyway, and has only just come on in the last 3 weeks or so - since just before Christmas.