Without a Leg to Stand On...

The past few days have been troublesome for me--although as Susan reminded me, some of the early symptoms may have begun a couple of weeks ago.

I began to notice a little stiffness in my right leg and my right hip a while back, particularly when I first got out of bed or got up from a chair after sitting for a prolonged time. I didn't think much about it, writing it off as one of those things that happens when you're over fifty. I'm still in pretty good shape for an old geezer, and I exercise twice a day (I wrote about that a little while ago...), so I figured maybe it was a little bit of arthritis.

This past week, though, the problem escalated to severe pain in my right hip. It would hurt a pretty good bit until I walked a mile or two, at which point it would begin to loosen up. I was a little more cognizant of it, but not too worried.

By yesterday, though, I found it difficult to do parts of my weight routine because many of the exercises I do with my arms still require some tension in my legs--and that caused shooting pain in my right thigh. Today, it was so severe that I had trouble finishing my pushups--and I even found that it took some maneuvering to finish a couple of hundred situps because of the pain on the outside edge of my right leg.

I can't lift my right leg to the side more than an inch or two without severe pain. I have trouble walking with a normal stride, at least for a while (after a couple of miles, I manage to walk through it a bit). And standing still or lifting heavy weights is very uncomfortable.

I'm wondering if I'm having a reaction to the generic simvastatin I've been taking. I started on Zocor back in 2000 and have taken it regularly since then; a few months ago, they switched me over to the generic, simvastatin. I had remembered Doctor Mike telling me to let him know if I began to have unexplained muscle pains and weakness, so I did a little research and it seems like a lot of other people have the exact same symptoms I'm experiencing.

It's too early to say for sure if that's the problem, but I'll call Doctor Mike's office tomorrow and see what they think. I've been spoiled by my ability to walk long distances and do my daily routine without pain, and I'd really like to get back to that state as soon as possible!

(And yes, I'm still exercising... it just requires a little more forethought to accomplish the same results without a lot of pain.)