Walking any Distance-getting harder to do

[boxman55]

Lately it has been getting harder for me to walk any distance. After about 2 blocks I start to get tired but mostly I start to get weak in the legs to were I'm walking funny (unstable) and my lower legs start hurting. If I rest for a little bit it goes away but after 2-3 blocks it all starts again. I would guess it is because of low blood flow to the lower legs from diabetes and water retention from kidney failure. Any one else experience this?...Boxman

[LightLizard]

i experience exactly what you describe. it's really frustrating, too, because walking used to be one of my favourite pastimes. i don't drive, either, so it really has put some unpleasant limitations on my life, and my spouse. we used to walk for miles, literally.
i'm slowly trying to rebuild the muscle i lost during my bedridden phase, but my condition doesn't leave much stamina for me to work with, and after a few blocks my legs begin to feel so heavy that i start to doubt that i can make it home. i use a cane now, mainly for balance and 'security' on the streets, but i also find myself using it like an oar, sometimes, when i'm walking.
sometimes i'll just walk around our apartment, to get some movement happening, in a big, figure-eight pattern, over and over, until my legs get tired. i hope this can help to rebuild my stamina a bit, and it's also a way to work through the restlessness i feel when i spend too much time indoors.


love

~LL~

[KT0930]

I had what you describe, but I had ignored my symptoms for far too long, and by the time I was dragged to the ER by family, I couldn't make it up the stairs at home without feeling like my legs were going to fall off. When I got to the ER, my creatnine was 12, my BUN was around 150 and my potassium was 1.5

[Sluff]

I hope you find the answers and get this problem corrected soon.. it's a long walk to my house at that pace

[stauffenberg]

As the arteries in the legs narrow, it can become necessary to stop walking every now and then in order to let the oxygenation of the tissues in the legs catch up with the extra demands made on them by exercise.  In Germany this condiition, known in medicine as 'intermittent claudification,' is called 'Schaufenster Krankheit,' meaning 'store window disease.'  This refers to the fact that people who suddenly have to stop walking try to make their behavior look more normal by pretending to have stopped to look in the store windows! 

[boxman55]

I hope you find the answers and get this problem corrected soon.. it's a long walk to my house at that pace

wow stauffenberg nailed it. I do exactly that I will find a chair and sit a spell like everything is normal. Knowing full well if I try walking I will stagger like I"m drunk. Now as far as making it to your house Sluff people in the valley are always drunk so I'll fit right in.....Boxman

[Sluff]

Now as far as making it to your house Sluff people in the valley are always drunk so I'll fit right in.....Boxman

 

[alrightstill]

This same exact thing happens to me.  It got so bad they did one of those nerve conduction tests where they stick the little needles all over your legs.. The test came back fine, so my question as to why this was happening was still left unanswered. 

Its funny, I do try to play it off like I'm looking in a store window -- or I'll pull out my cell phone and pretend I can't walk/chewgum AND talk on the phone at the same time and need to rest for a minute.   

[paris]

It is so nice to know I am not the only one!  I always want to push the shopping cart at Target, so I can lean on it!  My daughters want to "help" me by pushing it----but I either need to lean or sit.   

[keefer51]

Before i went on dialysis i was stuck in a storm where i couldn't run. I knew dialysis was around the corner so i waited. I was out of breath from fluid overload so i just got wet. Now since i am on dialysis i still can't walk far at all. I just don't care and sit or wait till i can walk again. My legs get very tired. I used to love to walk long distances. Now i can only do a couple of blocks.

[goofynina]

I have the saaame problem too... Even pushing the damn cart in the grocery store gets harder and harder.   Most times i will get in those little driving carts and Sam pushes the cart, i feel so bad doing it but Sam understands (i just wish people didnt look at me the way they do though) 

[boxman55]

I have the saaame problem too... Even pushing the damn cart in the grocery store gets harder and harder. Most times i will get in those little driving carts and Sam pushes the cart, i feel so bad doing it but Sam understands (i just wish people didnt look at me the way they do though)

I just can't bring myself to drive one of those carts yet. but I bet you look good putting around in one. Do you ever race anyone?    Boxman...

[Ohio Buckeye]

I need to use one of those motorized carts but am too afraid to.
I'm sure I would clip a corner too close and knock off a stack of cans or something.
or a little child would race in front of me and I'd have to slam on brakes.
I just have not been in store for months.  Have friends who do my
shopping for me right now.  Thank God for good friends.

[MyssAnne]

Wow. I felt like such a malingerer, I couldn't understand WHY I would feel so tired from walking, just from my car to the building at work. I feel better now. I thought it was me being lazy somehow.  Thanks guys. I do feel better, just knowing others have this same problem.

[boxman55]

Glad we could help...I guess     Boxman

[MyssAnne]

I know, Boxman. Mixed feelings. But knowing it's not me, does help. That tells me I'm not alone!