I have no idea what is wrong with me, and it scares me to death.

FYI - Im an American. This is one of the first sites google popped up, so feel my misery from across the pond.

So back in mid-July I began noticing some pretty intense lower back pain while working (convenience store, I unload trucks into small spaces so I'm bending and lifting a lot) and thought little of it as my back has hurt since about 3 minutes after the doctor breathed air into my lungs. A couple of nights later, I began having diarrhea and spent a night on the toilet and prancing around as the back pain from two nights earlier had become a weakened feeling (it felt like I could feel circulation) in my right calf/foot and had intense pressure on my bladder like I had to urinate and very little would come out. So naturally I spent the night scaring myself to death thinking it was Cauda Equina. Eventually by 4:00 AM or so the pressure had subsided and I was able to get some sleep.

That following morning I scheduled an appointment with my family doctor. After doing an exam, having me provide a urine sample and listening to my stomach and lungs and heart, feeling certain areas of my back and testing strength and reflexes his diagnosis was salmonella, dehydration, back spasms and gravel (kidney) and blood in urine. He prescribed me two antibiotics and atropine for the diarrhea. A few days later I was back in his office because the diarrhea hadn't gone away, nor had any of the other symptoms. Dr informed me that sometimes the after-effects of a kidney stone would cause weakness in the leg. Told me to up take immodium with atropine and provide a sample in two days if no improvement. I became constipated. 

A week later, I returned to work after being told to rest. After an hour on my feet my legs felt like they were going to collapse and I had to run back and forth for fear of falling over. Needless to say, I was rushed to ER where the doctor on scene questioned my family dr's diagnosis of salmonella and suggested a viral infection.

Side note: I'm not insured so in the U.S. no insurance = no blood tests, MRIs, x-rays, etc etc etc.

A week later, still no improvement. I mean, I'm no longer having diarrhea but the right leg felt as if it was swollen and I quickly became concerned for blood clot or deep vein thrombosis. After my parents said they thought my foot was swollen, I went to another Emergency Room where the doctor on call immediately suggest sciatica.

Syptoms as of posting:

- Sensation in right calf/foot (has never gone numb and hasn't really tingled but I can feel that something is wrong)

- Right calf and hamstring are tight. Sometimes to the point where I feel as if they could blow apart.

- Occasional pain in side of quadriceps, left and right.

- Pain across the lower back that sometimes focuses on the left side, sometimes on the right side, and sometimes in the middle.

- Burning sensation across middle/lower back, tingling around left shoulder blade.

This has come on at the worst possible time as I've recently started a new office job Mon-Fri and at the same hours as my dr who is not open late or on Saturdays. I'm sitting at this job so there's not a whole lot I've noticed to keep me from working but I do still work retail every-so-often but I haven't had to call in wishing I were dead, yet. I also won't have insurance benfits until October 1st.

It's only been a month but it's gotten me to despair. I don't want to live the rest of my life like this. I'm 29, btw.

Please tell me it gets better...

Signed,

Broken in America

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