Wednesday, March 21, 2007

ARE YOU READY FOR THE FINAL LEG?

Check this out.

So, for about a week now I've been experiencing this strange, warm sensation in my lower left leg.

It's not painful. There's no tightness. It just completely freaks me out.

What does it feel like? My front calf will just suddenly feel very warm for no reason between my ankle and my knee - almost as if that part of my leg is resting against a space heater. The warmth spreads and fades rapidly. It doesn't burn or ache, and when I touch that part of my leg with my hand it does not feel warm to the touch. The entire sensation occurs inside, and many times throughout the course of the day - always in the same location.

The first few times it happened, I would stand up and stretch and rub it out just because the feeling was so weird. Now it just happens and I ignore it. But I definitely feel it, and it naturally concerns me. So yesterday I did the absolute worst thing any hypochondriac can do: I googled my symptoms.

warm feeling in lower leg

ENTER

The link above was the top match for my search. There were no other matches. I could find no explanations for the sensation on any website. Not a single medical resource documented a recurring warm feeling in that particular area as being symptomatic of anything serious. And yet the top match directed me to a men's health website where someone had posted a question regarding the very same sensation. And the chain of responses was nothing short of amazing. Apparently, this is a real thing. It's happening all over the place. Men are having a warm sensation in their lower left leg for no apparent reason.

I read through dozens and dozens of the follow-up posts. People had found the thread the same way I had - by typing in a similar string of words. And they all realized there were no other places to look...except here in this one place.

That's it. People describe their own experiences with the sensation. Many have reportedly gone to doctors anticipating a blood clot, but tests have revealed nothing. Others suggest ways to make the feeling go away. Some armchair physicians offer speculative diagnoses from pinched nerve to vitamin deficiency. After a thorough examination of the content, I was only certain of two things:

This is a popular, out-of-the-ordinary physical sensation that's been going on a lot lately and it has managed to elude credible medical explanation.

It forced me to draw a conclusion of my own. Friends, it is with great anxiety and sadness that I report to you this:


The ships are coming. Some of us are going home.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This has been happening to me for well over a decade. Very warm inside but not to the touch. Mainly the sides of my thighs
but always confined to my legs.
Maybe an adverse reaction to excersize?!

Contact me! said...

Or maybe you're on "the list."

I SEE YOU!