Is my tibia damaged or infected?

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So last time I asked you guys if my tibia was misaligned and I had said I was experiencing sharp pains in the left leg, lower tibia, front shin area

Here are my latest x ray's (below)

If you look at my left tibia (right side of photo) and look at the lower part and you see the dark/black area inside my bone?

That is exactly where I am experiencing pain in my lower left leg shin area.

I took a blood test, the blood test ESR = 49 (which is high) and the CRP is 6.36 (which isnt that high).

From my understanding if CRP was 30s, 40s, 50s then I can say with a very high degree of confidence I have an infection, but if CRP is only 6.36 then it leans much more on the not infected side rather than the infected side.

I started experiencing pain here after I started exercising, I started on the stationary bike and at first I couldnt even power the machine lol. I had almost 0 strength to get the machine going fast enough to turn on.

Now I can power through about 30 minutes ++ at a level 6-7 on the bike.

But since the beginning when I started to exercise and push myself to stand and walk, I started to experience sharp pains in the exact area as the dark/black area in my x rays. My guess was the Stryde nail was somewhat loose or the misalignment (previous topic) was causing the stryde nail and my bone to not work in harmony and whenever I put pressure on my leg to do some exercise the stryde nail felt like it was trying to force it's way outside of my bone.

Has anyone else have experience with this?

I don't really know what is causing this and I can only guess it is due to something not correct in my leg (misalignment or something loose or etc)

Could it be an infection? After I had my infection excised and cleaned out I was told by my surgeon that I did not have any traces of bacteria on the nail itself. And I have been on antibiotics for almost 2 months now. Plus my CRP score which I took just yesterday was only 6.36. So I guess it is not an infection? Or could it still be an infection and I actually had traces of bacteria stuck to the nail?





Here is another x ray showing my legs without the dark/black spot

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Oh my, any idea why it didnt happen to my right leg as well?

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Thanks California2, in terms of misalignment, I did reach out to 2 other LL doctors to ask if my tibia was indeed misaligned, both said yes. Reason I posted was there might have been others in my situation who might have faced similar problems and could help share their experience.

I wouldn’t agree that folks here know less than a plumber, I actually got some great advice both from PMs as well as in the forum itself.

All I was looking for were people who might have faced a similar problem and if they could share their experience. Of course I also asked other medical professionals but ortho doctors in the country where I work are not familiar with LL so they weren’t sure if it’s an infection or not, they didn’t rule it out. I’ve also reached out to multiple other LL doctors as well. So I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m self diagnosing, just trying to get some direction from people with similar experiences and medical professionals as well.

Just curious, how’d you come to the conclusion my misalignment doesn’t exist? Is that your own self diagnosis? It seems at least 2 other LL doctors would disagree with your assessment buddy.

Do you have any experience with a bone infection? Or you just trying to troll my post? Thanks but if all you’re going to say is to not post on here and instead ask ONLY medical professionals.. I’m doing that already as well, but for me it’s always good to hear from those that may have faced a similar situation.

Temaki: I sent you a PM already.

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Here is a photo of my infection before I got it excised.

So the culture report we got back was negative (according to the doctor most likely due to the augmentin I took)

And since the culture report was negative it was hard to pinpoint which exact antibiotic to use to treat this infection.

I got it excised and was put on a regimen of Ziftum and later to Cravit.

So reason I am asking about the dark area in my x ray is due to a previous infection I had. Previously my CRP score was only 3.xx, this blood test was taken around 1 week after infection was excised.

Now approx 6-7 weeks post infection excise (still taking Cravit) I went in for another x ray and blood test. CRP is now 6.36 so it doubled from before.

So my ortho surgeon here who isnt familiar with LL said it might be bone damage from the stryde being loose inside the bone or it could potentially be an infection seeing as how my CRP score doubled. But he said flat out he is not familiar with LL so it is hard for him to diagnose.

I've reached out to my original LL doctor as well as other LL doctors to try to get an opinion as well.

So yea.. if anyone has any experience as this would love to hear from you. Dont be afraid to express your opinion, this is a forum for LL where we can all ask questions and share/listen to other's experiences.