hey, my left leg is always hurting and cramping up. it doesnt wake me up much but it makes it hard to fall asleep sometimes b/c it hurts so bad. my leg hurts worse than my bladder most of the time.its so crazy

this leg pain is crazy!! my left side from my back, down to my leg feels like someone ran me over! and if i flex my leg my muscle cramps up so bad and gets locked, what the heck is that? anyone else ever feel anything like it?thanks!:)

hey everyone. wishing everyone well:). im having such a hard time with my darn leg. my thigh burns and then it radiates down my knees and sometimes my foot. has anyone had this more than bladder pain?matia says its common but u know how the anxiety gets when u cant wrap ur head around it. well if anyone experiences this i would greatly appreciate hearing from you, thanks

Hi Torey,
I haven't started treatment yet, so I've never been able to ask Matia what it might mean, but I have very intense leg pain too.
For me it's mostly in my left hip which seems to constantly cramp up and feel ...  sore or torn or something. Sometimes it burns. In the middle of the night I often wake up with extreme pain/burning or total leg numbing.
Before reading this post it hadn't occured to me that this would be related to the IC... hopefully this means it won't last forever....
I'm 25 and I feel 90!
Anyway, I wish I could help you, but you're not alone.

Torey,Burning in the back of my thighs, glutes, and sacrum are among my biggest issues. not quite on par with the vulvodynia, but at times have been so bad, it's felt like a VERY close second. through the years i have also had burning in my hips and a bit in my lower back - but the back has been few and far between. in my case excercise helps. usually sitting for long stretches without getting circulation to the nerve in those areas definitely exacerbates the problem. so, i usually feel better after a vigorous workout. also, massaging the area helps. my pt does that, but i also do it myself if the burning kicks up at home or in the car. as i understand it, it has to do with toxins settling in a certain area and irritating the nerve. my pain used to be only in my right leg/hip, etc. then it just suddenly switched to my left leg and now that is predominantly where the issue is. so, i have to think it has something to do with toxins travelling therough the lymph system and settling in different spots. not sure how else to explain the movement from one leg to the other. sorry i'm not wiser on this but matia has never seemed at all surprised that burning in these areas has been one of my major complaints, so must be pretty common. and supposedly, it will get better through treatment.

One of the most enlightening things about this treatment for IC has been that as I experience the range of symptoms that accompany the imablence currently healing in my system - I am seeing an immense picture of health and how things work from different angles. Its like a crash course in medicine. Well... okay I admit I probably know very little but you do end up just through your own rebalencing process find yourself learning things you never knew- learning how to eat, how to care for your body optimumly saving you future illness cancer maybe? and unecessary doc visits and how to improve what you were given in an unlimited way. Getting ill was a HUGE blessing in disguise. It's been deeply challenging and continues to be but you will improve and are improving even when you think NOTHING is happening.   While I have not specifically dealt with leg pain- (here and there for a day or two with flu die off symptoms I have felt it -it sucks!) I have had very sore knees and low back pain and some mild sporadic symptoms of restless legs syndrome at night. I have also suffered from intense dizziness. I suspected that since everything else in my body was falling apart it would make sense that the other systems like the nuerological and circulatory and muscle and tissues would suffer as well but I didn't quite really know what was going on until talking to others here at ICAMA and Matia.  We really have to appreciate our bodies seperate parts and organs while at the same time appreciating how they fit into the larger picture of whole health. We got the bladder which is where alot of us have begun- it was hurting so we went looking for releif only to unravel a sweater that led us to understand that our bodies have been sick and imbalenced for some time to have reached the point of searching for answers.  Our bodies are ingenoius and when functioning at a good efficient strong level can handle colds flus and a host of other natural bacteria exposures. When are weak physically like the major elimanation organs- ?GI tract/kidneys/bladder/reproductive system  then we have a tough time and are at war to survive battling an overwhelming list of ailments aches and pains. IC is a imbalence of the GI tract and usually the yeast and other stuff has gotten into the tissues of the bladder or muscles in the pelvic region. This is painful. This is unfriendly fungal paracitic sytemic grossness and its presence is felt as pain and inflammation. In TCM- traditional chinese medicine many pain conditions are usually looked on as an issue of stagnation. Interetingly enough its common to hear of ICers reporting numbness, pain, coldness, and loss of energy and vitality to the areas affected. In order to protect the body from further exacerbating the stressed out area the sometimes the body tenses the area around it- the muscles and tissue to keep it from getting used and further injured. Without use of these little muscles they get hard and tense and sore and lose circulation and energy. or the nerves can get shorted out from the pain?   This protection mechanism is about survival and is our built in evolutionary short term solution to stress and injury! Also since the pelvic,leg and hip area has alot of arteries/veins/lymph I think that  our systems are doing what they can to eliminate this toxic stuff- I imagine it gets stuckor backed up in the lymph/groin area deaing with so much and therefore we feel it as pain or perhaps we are just storing the toxicity in those places. for folks that stand on the feet/legs all day for work I imagine may feel it there as well as anytime we use our muscles like that its going to be extra sore- gosh I hope I got all that right. I could have given you some inaccurate information there but I think that is more or less what I have put together. The reality is that as you get better - your whole system including your muscles, ligaments and bones and everything is going to be healthy and toned and feeling the joint inflammation (I used to feel 90 years old too but I feel younger than I did at 21 years!) will be a distant memory. I met a chinese medicine doctor who practiced martial arts and Qigong-(something folks who are in later levels of treatment should investigate)he told me he was 50 years old! No way! He had wonderful wisdom that comes with age so it wasn't inconceivable that he was that age on a maturity level but I tell you he looked easily 15 years younger than 50 and his grandmother was 90 years old and spry as well. Each month I feel cumulatively better- slow but deep is the mantra! It is hard to beleive at first that a painful leg relates to our initial realized condition of bladder pain however it relates more to the bigger picture of imbalence. There are separate parts but they work together and rely on each other to run things smoothly overall. to think of all the work and the functions going on at one time in our bodies/systems is AMAZING.  I think it requires an expanding of vision regarding how it all fits together- our bodies are not like a machine with separate parts but like a garden with a many mutli dimensional facets and ecosytems. through this program I think we are working on getting to a point of vibrant health as a foundation and then using food and herbs as gentle maintenence- tweaking here and there where/when it calls for it. think of it in those symbols- a garden from time to time or regualrly  it needs soil turned-( exercise),( detox) draining if its too damp so roots won't rot, nourishing soil and good PH levels ( Food) watering- (hydration) and weeding/pruning- detox if in excess. kind of out there metaphorically but you know what I mean right?  as far as pork goes Pink Lady- if there are no nitrates or other herbs in the curing process it may be okay. proceed cautiously and try a little bit.  is it just smoked or salted? I mean what makes it bacon?  I think probably fresh hormone free pork is best as I think smoked meat is kind of carcinogic.  maybe once in a while is okay but then again its smoked than it might irritate you. I might just wait til you talk with Matia unless you're sure - plain ole minimumly processed meat is safest but I know what you mean about breakfast treats and all. Maybe you could try it and see what happens but I might even wait until a later list. I found that I can't even handle buffaloe as of a 6 weeks ago and I'm dabbling in list 3 right now. It can change- what you can tolerate over time. good luck and welcome.Mary

Hi everyone,Honeybee, what you tell about the stagnation, and that our body is trying to protect itself from the painful areas, I really feel that enormously the last couple of weeks.  I don't have a lot of pain in my abdomen this week, but I have so much stiffness in my right leg, groin and hip, it feels like I have been doing exercises all day long but I haven't done anything.  The areas feel swollen and painful, it's like a vicious cycle and I hope that these kind of pains will also start to decrease after a while.  When I was on holiday (when we went to Matia in March) my leg and groin area felt so much better, just from being relaxed, but as soon as I got home the pain started increasing again.  Do others also feel that it gets worse from stress?Vicky

Yoga and deep breathing exercises (I do them when I feel anxious) have been a lifesaver for me this year in terms of handling stress.  I can't suggest it enough!  I never thought I'd do yoga in a million years and now I go 3 times a week and can't wait for my next class!!