Hello,

i am a 29 yo female. Since the age of 4 I have had gnawing bone pain in my femurs. Sometimes it wakes me up at night. At that time my pediatrician thought it might be cancer, but when the tests came back negative he told my parents they were growing pains and to ignore it. I came to the realization that I am fully done growing and went to another doctor last year and wanted something done about it. He ordered a bone scan. The technologist told me she saw unusual "bone spots" in my femur (where it hurts) and that she would mention it to the doctor. The doctor said it was fine. My blood tests came back mostly normal, but my iron was low even though I am not a vegetarian and take a vitamin every day. The doctor wrote me a prescription for iron. The other item I noticed was that my white blood cells had decreased by 67% in one year, but the doctor said it was fine.

The other major problem I have is that the nerves in my face and bottom of legs are numb and tingly all the time. If I smile really hard such as for posing for pictures, my cheek will start to shake. This has been present since middle childhood. Ms was ruled out early on by periodic mris; an eeg and nerve conduction tests did not show abnormalities, so the cause has not been further pursued. The skin on the bottom of my legs where it is numb all the time also looks strangly shiny. I don't know if these nerve problems can be related to my bone pain. What else could be causing my nerves to bother me for half my life?

My first instinct as a layperson concerning the bone pain was to ask for a bone marrow biopsy, but the orthopedist said he didn't want to order it since it would be at another facility besides his. Does anyone know what could be wrong and why my leg bones hurt, or what I should ask to have done?

Any comments would be appreciated.