Sharp Stabbing Pain Just Below Left Knee in Front of Shin

[robp97]

About 5-6 months ago (October/Novemberish), I started experiencing a strange, sharp, stabbing (presumably nerve) pain just below my left knee, in front of my shin. I can't pinpoint exactly where it is, but it is roughly a centimeter below my kneecap and 2cm to my left from the knee cap. This stabbing pain was on and off, and was so painful that it would wake me out of my sleep in the middle of the night and I had to bury my face in my pillow to avoid waking my roommate up (I am a college student).

This pain went away for a few months until around February of this year. This time, the pain was more prominent and repetitive. It would happen roughly 3-4 times a day for no more than 1-2 minutes. It completely inhibited me from anything I was doing - it happened during one of my lectures once and my professor stopped to ask if I was OK. This happened in February for a window of ~2 weeks and just strangely stopped out of nowhere.

Between February and now, no serious pain has occurred. Maybe once or twice in those 2 months, but now it is starting again and the duration of the repetitive stabbing has gotten longer. Just today it has happened 3 times for roughly 6-10 minutes each time, and the pain has gotten worse. I have no idea what it could be; I am at a healthy weight (5'9" 150lbs maximum, probably less), I exercise 3 days a week on average, and have never experienced physiological health conditions like this before.

Nothing I do during these episodes can stop the pain. There is no clear pattern to what triggers it to start; I am never bent down, kneeling, etc. It can happen at any position at any time and seems to just end randomly. One thing I have noticed, though, is that the pain becomes more intense if I try to touch it, or if i bend my knee in.

I have been reluctant to going to the health centers at my university, as I have been busy with school work, doing research, and finals, but if this pain continues like this every day it will prevent me from being able to focus.

If anyone could point me in the right direction towards how to solve this, I would really appreciate it.

UPDATE:
Last night, the pain would come every 2 hours and has not stopped since. I have found that gently holding my hand over the area of pain causes the stabbing to slow down.

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