3 days ago I leaned over to pick something up and my legs collapsed. I do have spine injuries (old) and suffer from balance issues occasionally. Often I am unable to stand from a sitting position. But I never lost use of my legs. They felt paralyzed. I crawled on my belly to my sofa where I was able pull myself then my legs up. It took at least 30 minutes for me to be able to move my toes when I was pulling myself along the floor my legs were just dragging I was unable to move my feet or toes. The 1st time I tried to pull myself up I Used all my strength and could not lift myself
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Please understand that medical advice online, even from 100 MDs, would be just suggestions. Clearly you need to contact your doctor today! You may not have a medical emergency and an ER might not be the best place for this, but if you don't have a doctor at this time, you need one. If there are no walk-in clinics near you, then do go to an ER.

I have long standing back problems (over 35 years) from doing too much strenuous work when younger, and scarring around nerves that causes pain and inability to move, and more so as I age. You can develop scar tissue around the nerves you need to enervate your muscles. That may explain why you were eventually able to stand - you may not have disease - your nerves just didn't 'work' for a while, sort of like your arm falling asleep if you sleep on it. But again, I am not saying you are the same as I! There are many other reasons why someone can't stand up, some having to do with blood pressure and vascular conditions. But you did have the muscle strength in your arms to eventually stand, and don't mention feeling faint or dizzy. And you do mention that you often have trouble standing.

(Key for me is to keep WARM, and to keep MOVING, never sitting for too long at the computer, making myself walk around the house at least every 45 minutes, doing chores for 10 minutes. I sit on a heating pad when I do sit, which along with moving around each hour is my best self treatment, although I also take Tylenol and ibuprofin, and have Vicodin on standby. I have seen my doctor.)


You need a REGULAR doctor, not a different doctor each time you have something happen, someone who can not only go over your history, examine you, and do tests, but also follow you on a regular basis.

This is not a question for people online.

I find it almost impossible to believe, that when crawling or after crawling, before you could stand, you did not call and get rushed to the ER. Sorry, that would be the reasonable thing, I would think anyone would do. So at this time, you go to your doctor and get examined,

Fr_Chuck, it's not impossible for me to believe. For one thing, I don't have a cell phone (there is no coverage where I live), and for another, when something happens to me but then goes away, I don't rush to an ER or call 911. This person does have a history of back injury, and does have problems standing. I understand completely.