bilateral lower leg pain
I'm new to this site and I am hoping somebody knows what's going on with my legs because I've been to 3 docs and they can't figure it out. I am a 38 year old female and I have been a runner now for 6 years. Last Sept. 2009, I was running (I've been running for a while and have never had any trouble on any kind of terrain, flat, or hills) up hill as usual and noticed some pain developing on the inside of both shins (NOT ON THE FRONT, but rather just 4 inches above each medial (inside) ankle where the soleus muscle is attached). Because I have a very high tolerance for pain and typically do not yield to pain, I kept going. I did fine, but the soreness was like that of a bad bruise and it seemed to be on the bone itself. A couple of days later, I went running again. Pain returned but this time much worse, to the point that my left calf went into a 'charlie horse' and my feet were so weak I could barely pick them up off the ground. I took two weeks off. When I went to run again, I ran on a flat asphalt surface and made it a mile before the pain became so bad that again my feet were weak and I could barely pick them up. I dropped and sat on my heels to stretch to alleviate the pain, but it became a burning like pain that was so bad I almost threw up. I was shaking. I haven't run for several months. I had an MRI and it was unremarkable (no stress fractures). My diagnoses have been: compartment syndrome (but I have had no swelling or discoloration), shin splints (used to play hockey and had shin splints before. Shin splints eventually go away), overtraining (I have never changed terrain, increased mileage, or speed too fast. I gradually work my way towards my goals). I should add that in Sept. 2009, I was undergoing allergy shots that caused me to have asthma. I was not able to breathe like I normally do because of allergy induced asthma. I used an inhaler and I am not sure if while running and experiencing a struggle to breathe, thus resulting in O2 deprivation, if this put strain on my legs to the point of something happening (I'm no longer on shots and my breathing capacity has returned to normal). I was also taking Prilosec and am not sure if this could have caused this injury(no longer on stomach meds). I am just at a loss. I've done nothing different in my running. I am in excellent shape and have very strong calf muscles. I am extremely frustrated and extremely worried that this is permanent. I should add that I have taped, and it doesn't help. Ice does not help. Heat seems to help. Ibuprofen helps temporarily. Stretching helps temporarliy. Also, I have not changed shoes. I have stuck with the same brand (Asics) for 6 years. I hope you can imagine my frustration in all of this. I now can only run about every 3-4 days. The pain is there when running but doesn't seem to get worse like it used to; it would if I ran every day or every other day, so I have had to take more time off between runs. And, I have stopped running hills entirely (huge disappointment for me). Does anybody at all have any clue what is going here? Anybody deal with this before?
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