why do your legs hurt so much ?

Hi, I am new to this . I have a family member that is detoxing from methodone. She tells me her legs are hurting so bad. I am at a loss as to why.could some one please explain why? and is there anything I can do to help easy her pain. we have tried all the things I ever knew that helped achey (achy) legs but it isn't helping.  I hate seeing her in so much pain.

[justme__]

I dont have any experience with methadone, but I do have experience with opiates and when I came off of them I too had leg pains. Most of it is because when you come off of things that depress your central nervous system your legs start to shake more, or you  move them more uncontrollably in anxiety and you dont notice it until your legs start aching. This is just my experience, this may not be what your family member is going through. But that would be my best guess if they didn't have leg pains before. Good luck and I hope that they feel relief soon.

[Ricksma]

Hi. Leg pain is very common. My son, who was on Methadone but relapsed back to heroin is now detoxing he is in day 2 and he has horrible leg pain and pain in his sides. It is because the pain receptors that were once blocked are firing all over the place and it causes pain to occur. He described it as cramping but he said it also feels like when your legs fall asleep and when they wake up they tingle and hurt.
Sorry your friend is in so much pain. Stay with her. I've heard methadone w/d can be very hard and dangerous. Lots of water. And check out the health page it gives a lot of info there. I've been using magnesium, motrin 800, heating pads and epsom salt in really hot baths for my son. Its not a cure but it relieves some of the pain. Also I gave him melatonin to help him relax and sleep. He's getting about 2 hours every 6 hours or so. Good luck.

[nuggetone]

Potassium helps cramps in legs try that along with heat.  

[worried878]

there is an article in my journal on helping this stuff...support hose at the med supply can help or ace wraps for compression..ice heat, stretching and exercise helps too...some of it has to do with the dopamine shift and taking it away from the body suddenly as drugs cause an onslaught of dopamine release on the brain and hence the high

[worried878]

rls or achy legs is not like Parkinson disease but the reason is similar..parkinsons and the jerky uncontrolled movement is caused by the person being unable to make dopamine anymore in adequate amounts/due to the disease process...when a person uses drugs for a long time the body senses the outside source and will quit producing enough dopamine for a while in adequate amounts after quitting until it heals and starts working again/it will eventually sense the outside source/the drug/is no longer there and the dopamine mechanism will kick in...exercise kicks in this dopamine producing mechanism for him as well

[TrayCee]

scalding HOT baths were the O N L Y thing to help meand I mean it really really helps.  RLS is the worst part of wd for me

[kim715]

sent you a pm

[Ciscokid66]

my son is trying to deal with extreme leg pain after being clean from drugs for 6 months ...nothing sems to help...they now have him on percoset ..tramadol...& gabapentum ( I am sure they are spelled wrong ) ...they helped for a few days each and now nothing helps.....at first they thoughtit was nerve pain for his diabetes ...but I do not think so ....

[dovecottage]

great suggestions just wanted to add tonic water which has quinine that helped me, each day is easier...dove