Nuts...

[flammer]

So if it isn't detectable by scan, blood test, jacksie camera or other machines, how can it be detected.

I'm starting to think it's a curse, the evil eye or a hex.

Or, just a thought, you are 'nuts'. Sign in before they section you!

By listen I meant, for want of a better term, meditate. Takes time to get in touch with damage. I have to really concentrate to feel my dodgy upper back.

[wombatK]

I pretty much need a lie down every couple of hours or I get into too much pain...it isn't really about the bike anymore.I can't function full stop at the moment.

Not good to hear at all TLL. Certainly hope you can get to the bottom of it quickly and heal-up soon.

[MichaelB]

I do have a fit ball...but I spend more time telling the twins to leave it alone than I do using it!.
....

But not with your current state though. Good to hear that things seem to be getting better, but it would be nice to know WHY !!

Oh well, keep up the +ve attitude and hopefully we'll hear some race reports soon

[mikesbytes]

Seems the real problem is not knowing what the problem is. Until that is known, how can TLL be advised what to do?

[toolonglegs]

Well there is the obvious reason...of which I tick a lot of the boxes.But I am either in denial or I actually have a problem we haven't found yet.
Anyway blood tests were all good except for cholesterol...low good and high bad.Not super high but above normal...not sure why that has jumped up over the last few years...but a lot of it is probably heriditary.But that wouldn't explain anything symptom wise.
Also on the fatigue I will get my heart rechecked...well I will talk to the doctor about it anyway.
So maybe that does just leave depression .

[foo on patrol]

Hey Toolong, if your cholesterol has gone up and your diet is healthy, get yourself tested for hemochromatossis (that just made my lips bleed) as I had this happen to me. I couldn't understand why as I never had any problems before and it went from 3.1 to 6.4 in two months. Had scans on liver and spleen and liver was 5cm larger than it should have been and the spleen 3cm. Had more detailed blood tests and bingo, had one major gene and a minor that pointed to that big word. This also points to fatigue problems to.

I now take Lipodor to keep it under control. Worse case senario is you have blood removed every so often. Both my mother and her brother got tested after I was diagnosed and need blood take now, I am going back to the doctor next week for a check up.

Foo

[toolonglegs]

Thanks Foo,I had my iron checked (being a vege it is often on the low side)...92 ng/ml (in range but not amazing).If you had this would your iron levels be pretty high?.
Actually today I had a beautiful ride...carving single track for 90 minutes.Longest ride in a while.But what I notice is my lower back gets very tired and I start doing lots of different things to compensate for it.I feel very fragile in my hips and pelvis...and that is probably making me pretty tired coping with it especially when it is painful.
Anyway I am back to the doc on Monday.I must try and find my old blood work from Sydney.My natural hemocrit is bloody fantastic ...49!...and everything else seems to be healthier than last time I was checked in December.
But I wasn't checked for cholesterol then...but I was in 2007 I think.Don't remember the doc commenting on it other than my good HDL was low...which it still is.
Oh well...least I had a good ride today ...not pain free but a lot of fun...even cleared a gap jump for the first time that I have been hurting myself on for ages .

[foo on patrol]

Toolonglegs, I guess they would be up a bit but, the thing my Doc was taking about was the Ferritin levels in the blood. Mine was 460 ug/L and should have been in the 30-300 range.
This is all gobberlygook to me, but the thing I remember him going on about was the fact that the Ferritin levels were going up.
Women don't have a problem with this until the they stop their cycle, but they are the carrier of the problem! Thanks Mum.

[toolonglegs]

So right now it is 2.30am...and I can't sleep.Feel like I have DOMS,but I haven't ridden since Sunday and I have never had muscle pains in my legs that I have had to take pain killers for ...how many different symptoms can you have!.

[MichaelB]

Reckon it's growing pains !!!

[toolonglegs]

Who knows.... .
It was possibly my hamstrings aching like crazy in both legs...don't ask me why!.But pain killers and an ice bath at 3am seemed to calm them down enough to get back to sleep.
Maybe its shrinking pains!.

[roobab]

Interesting symptoms. I just resumed riding seriously this year after 20 years absence.
In the past two months have started to develop the exact same problem. Painful nuts.
I am convinced it is somehow back related. I have bad lower back pain on on side, the left side,
where most of the nut problems are. Is there a physio on board?

[toolonglegs]

YEs I have been seeing a Osteo/Physio.
I amped it up a bit today and the pain came back into my rh groin / thigh area.Not badly but it was there...considering I have lost close to a third of my strength in 6 weeks.
6 weeks ago I could probably of held 360w for an hour...now I can hardly hold 250 for 20 minutes .
Anyway on the 16th I see the top dog (full stop in the world!) to check my iliac...hopefully it is not that!.Especially seeing that professor chevalier is private and I wouldn't be covered by state medical if I need an artery graft ...all the top cyclist in the world can afford him...I can not.
But after that I have another surgeon to see for all things in the hip basin...getting a bit bored of this!!!.

[Bradwah]

Hi TLL,

I'm only new to the forum, but ive been reading your horrendous saga, so.

1) Have the physio or osteo hinted to you over the past weeks at what some of the possibilities could be?

2) Do you only get pain when you have been on the bike or just after a ride? Or do you get it during the week as well?

3) Do you get the pain doing any other physical activities, i.e. walking, lifting stuff around the house, chasing kids(if you have them and chase them) etc...

4) I noticed you couldnt get to sleep a while ago and an ice bath helped. How many times have you tried this? And if it is more than once, has it improved on the other times?

[toolonglegs]

Hi Brad...things haven't progressed much.I have a appointment in 2 week with the surgeon to check my Iliac.3 doctors have said I should follow that up...so I suppose I should.
But personally I don't think that is the problem.
I have been trying to do a lot of self diagnosis via the net ...I know I know...the only thing I can come up with is piriformis syndrome.Meaning I have a super tight piriformis muscle that is pushing on the sciatic nerve and possible affecting the pudendal nerve.It is the only thing that "could" account for all my varied symptoms.Unlikely I know but worth a chat with the physio / osteo next time I see him in a few days.
I nailed the reason I couldn't sleep that night to doing a fair bit of yoga that day,mainly the downward dog pose which does stretch the rear of the legs a lot...it was weird thou because the pain was all over and not anywhere I could press on etc...which adds to my piriformis syndrome idea.
So I am stretching that area a lot to see if I can improve it...but like I say,I am not convinced.But I did try to ride on Monday and it ws horrible and I was home in 30 minutes.
BTW the pain is very bad after I kneel,bend forward or sit on a low stool for 5 minutes or more (usually in my huge bloody garden!)...I have to lie down to recover.

[AUbicycles]

I have had that with yoga before - though am a bit of a novice in that field.

I would like to share an idea to actively concentrate on relaxing. I don't know if this helps though it is worth a try. Usually stress goes to my back and I end up with an almost permanently tense body. Relaxing activities and good body posture are important, however also regularly actively concentrating on breathing and making an effort to relaxe your body. May not help with the problems down there though when the pain and stress moves to your back, it may provide some relief and take it all back a notch so it doesn't build up as much.

[twizzle]

I have been trying to do a lot of self diagnosis via the net ...I know I know...

Absolutely nothing wrong with that. There are so few doctors that actually want to 'own' your problem, you are more likely to spend the time and work it out yourself.

Qs : Why are you twisted on the bike? Why don't you have even weight distribution across both legs?

[toolonglegs]

I don't know if I am twisted...but I feel twisted.If it is a muscle pushing on my sciatic nerve then they would have to be very tight and would account for twisting my hips.
Chris,I had two weeks off in the beginning...only got worse.I am having another week off the bike thou at the moment...last ride was too depressing to repeat!.
Fingers crossed I find something!.

[twizzle]

O.K. - I take it you have had a lower back XRay? If you are twisted and can't put even weight on your feet, does anything show up with the spinal/pelvic alignment? Are your legs the same length? Any pain around the pubis bone joint? Uneven loading of the pelvis can cause inflammation of the bone giving all kinds of 'fun' symptoms.

[Bradwah]

Hey again TLL,

I spend most of my time trying to fix people up sooooo, definitely see the physio again and tell him EVERYTHING that gives you pain and where it goes, that is any activity and where you feel it shoot to, or from to. Believe me it will... well should help him massively so long as he knows what he is doing.

From what i gather basically when you hip flex ie "kneel,bend forward or sit on a low stool" for a long, well not even long, more sustatined, period of time you get the pain, question i have for you now is exactly where and how far down does it go? For example is it from your lower back down to your hamstring or achilles? Also is it a sharp pain or a dull ache?

I'm having a stab you may have a tight, illio-psoas, which connects from the lower 4 lumbar spine, to your lesser trochancter (basically the inside of your hip). I used to have massive problems with this, and for the love of god could not get to sleep, i got this from playing to much soccer, running all day, then sitting down on the train for 4 hours a day, and sitting down studying for the rest of the time.

Anyway, ill prob have a few more questions for you when you get back to me, also have you thought about having any massage?

[trailgumby]

Distressed to hear about this, TLL - I can "hear" the worry in your posts. Hopefully this guy can put his finger on something that allows you to move forward.

Persevere - something will turn up.

[jules21]

it doesn't sound like your problem TLL, but just a general warning for anyone suffering acute testicular pain. it could be tangled tubes, that can result from squashing them against your bike seat. if you get this symptom, and you will be lying on the floor in agony, the only solution is urgent surgery - don't even think about waiting it out if you want to keep your full bag of dice

[twizzle]

My nads were very sore this morning. Side effect of hitting a bump while descending at 75km/h. I'm sure my face looked like this ->

[ValleyForge]

Sorry to come in late to the discussion.

Testicle height is controlled by the cremaster muscle as part of thermoregulation of the "landing gear". Control of the temperature of the orchids is imperative for spermatogenesis. To control wayward orchids I often recommend a pair of speedos underneath knicks. Then arrange the orchids and they will often stay there.

As for the night time pain in the "landing gear", a common cause is venous hypertension, where the backup in venous blood in the orchids (due to anatomical reasons) causes swelling inside the tight capsule. The pain follows exercise usually by a few hours. Seen commonly in weight-lifters or martial artists who do a lot of abdominal tightening & straining. If you have varicocele (varicose vein in the landing gear) this is a common association. Treat with support, ibuprofen before exercising and very rarely an operation.

Blood flow to the orchids isn't affected by sitting on a seat. Perhaps to the third leg (to quote Roy & HG), but not to the nads.

[toolonglegs]

Cheers for all the help guys...it does help as one big problem I have is the language barrier...sometimes it is rather hard to get the intricacies across!.
Brad (and everyone else)...here is the full low down.
2 months ago I had my last race...the day after the race I did another 4 hour ride at close to race pace.I was not feeling 100% and think I came down with a mild virus.But when I got back on the bike a week later I had a lot of pain (not disabling but very annoying) in the area around my hip crease (front and centre of r/h side).I had had this for a few months...maybe longer but I can ride thru the pain even for a couple of hours...this can also be combined with lower back pain around the sacral joint on both sides (but not always).I felt the pain worst when cycling hard (real hard)...but I do not lose power in the leg,well not much.My last 3 or 4 races I was coming into good form...but the last 2 races in Cat 1 were very painful.One where I was in a breakaway was agony for an hour before we knew we wern't going to be caught and backed off a bit...I would have quit that one if I didn't have team mates I knew would be blocking for me in the peloton.
Anyway I digress ...6-7 weeks ago I had this ride after my virus and it sucked big time...so I went to the doctor.He advised me to stop racing...ride gently would be OK till we found the problem.Well I had a couple of short rides where I pushed it but I was in agony afterwards in my hips...so I pretty much had 2 weeks off.I only got worse!.
So I have had a r/h hip Xray...all fine.I had this because I had an aching hip joint.But it did show some problems with my L-4 to L-5 and L-5 to S1 (I think thats right!).So I saw an Osteo / Physio...he cracked me a bit but didn't want to go too hard till my back was checked out.I did feel a lot better after that but not for long.
I had a scan for hernias etc and they came back clear...I also have had a ERM for my back.I have a bit of arthritis and compression in those previously mention verterbra,but nothing out of ordinary for a 40 year old 194cm guy.I have also had an echo doppler for my arteries which show all is good but desn't rule out an iliac problem.I have another appointment on the 16th.
I tried taping my nuts...as I thought that could be the problem with my r/h testicle rising and my thigh squashing it..well taping didn't work,too hard to do and too sensitive.I also got a new saddle which took a lot of pressure off that area.But not really any change.
SO as it is now...
I don't really have a problem in the hip fold at the moment...but then I am not really riding anymore.The road bike is worse than the mtb.My pelvis feels very weak like if I push it hard I will break!...but I think it is just a sensation as I am protecting that area now.
My groin aches (actually it is mild shooting pains).I think it is possibly in the bone area more than my nuts but it is actually quite hard to pin point.
I also have aching thighs...all the time.I have had this all year but just put it down to hard training...but obviously after 2 months getting fat it hasn't gone away...actually it is getting slowly worse.
I still have lower back pain,not really in the spine...more outside around the sacral joint and kidney areas on both sides.
The pain in my legs is only in the thighs (mainly the front )...I had one day recently where I had pain also on the outside of the right knee,but only the once.My calves and achillies are OK.
I notice I turn my r/h leg outwards...ie: my r/h foot is more at 1 to 2 o'clock instead of pointing straight ahead.
I am uncomfortable (my back) sitting on a normal chair...slouching on the couch with my feet up isn't too bad.Driving is not nice.Riding is obviously rubbish.Crouching,kneeling or sitting on the ground is very quickly painful (5 -10 minutes max).
I seem to have very tight hamstrings at the moment...a sore butt on both sides.Feel like I want a really deep painful massage all the time.My psoas muscle is weak.If I stand against a wall and lift my knee up to 90 degrees I can only hold it 15-30 secs before i go into shakes.
My bladder function has also changed a bit...I don't feel the sensation to pee as much until I am in a small amount of pain.It does not hurt to pee thou...also no pain after sex etc..no problems with the equipment .
My osteo / physio has talked to my two docs and said it is bizzare as my symptoms don't really match up to anything....but after a visit with him where he straightens my hips and I think releases my sacral joints I do feel better.
The biggest thing is (well to me that is) is that there is no trigger point...I can't really push anywhere to trigger a pain.I pretty much just ache all over from lower back to above the knees...with slight stabbing pain to the groin area.

Well there you go...if anyone read that they are a ledgend ...from a pretty damn good hour power to nothing in less than 2 months...grrr.