HomeAnswersGeneral Medicineacute leg painI have severe pain in my right leg. Please help.

Why do I have severe pain in my leg?

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The following is an actual conversation between an iCliniq user and a doctor that has been reviewed and published as a Premium Q&A.

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Published At May 29, 2016
Reviewed AtFebruary 9, 2024

Patient's Query

Hi doctor,

I am a 59-year-old female. I underwent a radical mastectomy one and a half years and underwent regular checkups every six months. Recently I had pain in the right leg, from the knee to the ankle region. I got an entire medical checkup done. They showed high TSH levels and also high urea levels. Please review the attached reports and provide your advice. Till now never had diabetes, but little higher side sugar levels seen. My current medication includes Tamoxifen 20 mg for the last nine months, Losamax-H and Absolut 3G. Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I had gone through all the reports posted (attachments removed to protect patient identity). Many of the reports posted were normal, so to make it easy for you I will comment on each of abnormal ones and what to be done for them. Urine routine showing 10-15 white blood cells with esterase positivitysuggestive of urinary infection. If she had fever and burning micturition antibiotics course needs to be taken.

I suggest tablet Bactrim DS 160/800 mg (combination and Trimethoprim and Sulfmethoxazole) in the morning and night for one week. This medication may produce mild gastric sensation and some people may have allergy for that rarely. So, stop in case of any itching all over the body. Consult your doctor, discuss with him or her and take the medicine with consent. Also, drink plenty of water. You have a low vitamin D3. Normally, our body synthesizes vitamin D3 when we are exposed to sunlight. There are no specific manifestations of vitamin D3 deficiency. But, it is necessary for calcium absorption that is indirectly for bones and general health.

Take capsule Cholecalciferol 60,000 IU once a week for six weeks and this will take care of vitamin D3 deficiency. Mild lymphocyte predominance in the complete blood picture may be because of viral fever she might have suffered in recent times and no need to worry about that. You have raised uric acid levels. Raised uric acid levels commonly occur with eating more non-vegetarian foods, alcohol, chemotherapy, etc. Take tablet Febuget 40 mg (Febuxostat) at night for two months and repeat the value again. Try to avoid meat. Your TSH is high. Thyroid-stimulating hormone more than 10 is called as hypothyroidism. T3 and T4 were normal, so needs to be started on a mild dose of thyroid supplement. I suggest tablet Thyronorm 12.5 mcg once daily in the morning in empty stomach. Avoid cabbage and cauliflower. Repeat TSH after four weeks and may need dose adjustment. At this age, we need to do a proper cardiological examination before starting high dose. So, let me suggest lowest dose. After seeing the repeated value we can adjust the dose. HbA1c of 6.6% is suggestive of diabetes.HbA1c value more than 6.5 is diagnostic of diabetes. FBS (fasting blood sugar) is high but PPBS (postprandial blood sugar) is normal. There should be some problem with that report. So, she needs to be started on medication for diabetes. I am suggesting medicine based on the mentioned report and she requires only a mild dose, as there is no risk of hypoglycemia. Tablet Glycomet SR 500 mg (Metformin) once daily after food at night. This tablet may produce gastric and nausea, which will subside with continuation within two days. There are no interactions with Tamoxifen and can be taken along with previous medicines. Repeat FBS and PPBS after one week.

My dietary advice is to avoid potatoes, beetroot, fruits like banana, watermelon and grapes. Add rice once a day, preferably in the afternoon and eat roti for dinner. Do physical activity of daily walking 30 minutes per day.

Patient's Query

Thank you doctor,

Many thanks for your detailed response. I have a few clarifications as below. Firstly the reason we went for this entire checkup was severe pain in right leg from knee till down in lower half. No pain in upper half of knee. Regarding medication, we had consulted surgical oncologist who had done radical mastectomy and we have been going to him for regular checkups. His advice is as attached.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I have seen the advice that was given (attachment removed to protect patient identity) by the oncologist. As patient was treated for malignancy we need to know some more details about pain in the right limb.

  1. Is there any fever or swelling of the limb?
  2. Is the pain continuous or intermittent?

The possibilities for pain are as follows:

  1. Deep vein thrombosis, where the pain will be more and associated swelling and fever may be present. To diagnose this we need to get venous Doppler of the limb.
  2. Peripheral neuropathy or radiculopathy pain. This is of dragging pain and no swelling or local tenderness.

As she is vegetarian, she needs to take a B12 supplement. So, I suggest tablet Pregabalin plus Methylcobalamin 75/750 twice daily in the morning and night for five days and seeing for the response. If pain does not decrease do a Doppler study of the venous system in the lower limbs. For TSH of 11 at 59 years we generally do not start with 50 mcg. So, kindly start with lower dose and most of the people may not require more than 25 mcg per day. Coming to Zyloric (Allopurinol), Febuget (Febuxostat) is a superior drug to Zyloric with fewer drug interactions and side effects.

Same symptoms don't mean you have the same problem. Consult a doctor now!

Dr. Naresh Kumar M.
Dr. Naresh Kumar M.

Internal Medicine

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