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1415174 tn?1453243103

myofascial pain and supplements

Hi everyone, This isn't quite an herbal question rather a supplement question.
I just saw my integrative medicine doctor regarding my myofascial back pain. He wants me to strenthen by walking more hills. I have been tired and having sore muscles and also my myofascial back pain has given me small strains when I do too much. So he gave me the following:
Coenzyme Q10 1000 mg a day
D-ribose as directed
Acetyl-L-Carnitine 1000mg twice daily
Fibroplex: take two tables twice daily. Fibroplex is a combo of Thiamin 50mg,Vit B6 50mg,Magnesium 150mg, Manganese 5mg, Malic acid 600mg.

Has anyone taken these supplements and had any good pain relieving or muscle strenthening or bad side effects?
thanks
mkh9
Best Answer
Avatar universal
Sorry for your pain, and I share it -- PT didn't help me, either, though it didn't hurt me.  I've got a bad knee, arm pain, and lower back pain and what feels like a pinched nerve in my buttocks as well, and doctors can't agree on a diagnosis.  I can tell you that the B6 neurotoxicity only affects a minority of people who take it, but I wouldn't want to be one of them.  My own feeling, having managed health food stores for 18 years, is that it probably wouldn't hurt to take those supplements, but I wouldn't look for great changes, either.  Magnesium might be a good one -- do you eat enough organic green veggies?  Do you use dairy products?  I ask because they're high in calcium but hard to digest and low in magnesium, and an overabundance of calcium leaches magnesium out of the body.  Because magnesium is responsible for relaxing our muscles and the heart, it's not good to overdo calcium by itself, which is what dairy does.  Other than that, I can only tell you that my fibromyalgia customers did well on dietary changes and building up, but I'm not sure they responded all that well to the supplements.  That's more hit and miss, and since you don't have fibro, I'd think given what's gone on I'd trust the doc and see what happens.  Good luck.
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1415174 tn?1453243103
Hi Paxiled,
thanks for your info. yeah I don't know for sure this isn't  a pinched nerve but I do respond to relaxation and the flexeril (at first). So, he probably is right. I have been taking slowmag which is magnesium chloride but it has calcium in it too. I drink soy milk not milk. But it does have added calcium.  I take the RDA of CA most of the time. We try to eat grean leafy veggies but since I have had this back pain, I have only had salads about 2-3 times a week. We are trying , but my husband has been doing the cooking. I don't expect a whole lot from the supplements but hope it will give me some additional energy (in the muscle especially) so that I can walk more without fatiguing the muscle and causing these slight strains I get which I call a tweek. Lately the tweeks haven't stopped me from walking but it does increase the pain. I am thinking of a cortisone shot in the future if these things don't work. I had this problem 3 years ago and went to a PT and got stronger but not out of pain and got a cortisone shot and all my pain went away for 2 days and came back. Then about a month later it went away and then stayed away for about  a year and a half. So, I don't know...

take care,
mkh9
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Oh, I meant to say the organic green veggie are good for magnesium and calcium in a good balance as opposed to dairy, which is unbalanced.  Made it sound like green veggies was a bad idea and it's not.  Hopefully we both figure out what's going on with time.
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1415174 tn?1453243103
Hi Paxiled,
Well I'll give you more info: I am on an NSAID called Limbrel 500 (I can't take Ibupropin or naproxicin due to stomach problems and can't take Celebrex as I get insominia from it), and muscle relaxant Flexeril.  I'm going to an integrative pain medicine doctor. I have been to a orthopedic surgeon, neurologist, physiatrist and pain doctor and GP. All said I have myofascial pain syndrome. I am also doing biofeedback and accupuncture. I have been injured badly by a physical therpist then reinjured again by another and so the doctor doesn't want me to go to another one. I have had this for two years and have been walking a hour an a half and so instead of the traditional PT I am strengthening via hills. I go up incrementally. The supplements are to give me energy and some muscle pain relief. The doctor said no to trigger point (though he gives them) and massage therapy. He things at this stage it will aggrevate my pain rather than  calm it down. His goal is to first get the pain down and then go from there. So far he is the only one that has helped me. As for fibro I dont' think I have it. I only have pain in one single spot in the left buttock and also a muscle knot developed in my left neck on the same side but no other pain anywhere else. I do have tightness in the left leg when the pain goes up. So, I was mainly wanting to know if vitamin B6 will cause nerve toxicity at 200 mg/day and I think is it boarderline. I was also wondering if anyone has had muscle pain relief from the B6 and it has thiamine, magnesium, manganese and Malic acid. I know that it is a long road but at least I am driving and able to get to my doctors appointments. I occasionally get out to lunch but have my husband push my chair in. I am reluctant to try another PT after the pain the two PT's caused. Also, the third PT didn't tell me not to bend or do certain stretches and I got hurt by that too. I know I need to strenghten but if you went through what I went through you wouldn't go back either. I had great mobility but had a slight strain when I started. I was doing all my normal activities and so forth until the PT did a manual adjustment on the wrong leg and I had to take pain pills and couldn't walk much for a month after that. I haven't been the same since. The second PT then pushed me too fast and I pulled muscles several times, then he did traction to loosen up my upper thigh muscles and it felt like he pulled by sacrum out of alighment or I couldn't walk right, then he readjusted and bruised my ribs by putting pressure on my side when he was trying to readjust my sacrum by pushing the muscles around. That PT disregarded my doctors diagnoses and he also told me to stop taking my muscle relaxant. He is not a doctor and my GP was really mad at him for that and apologized for sending me to him. It is a long story and so I am taking this slowly and carefully and trying not strain the spot in my back. Wish me luck. If you have any other suggestions let me know. I am getting impatient but I guess I have no choice.
Thanks,
Mkh9
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
If you have myofascial pain and you know that's what it is, you probably want to consider myfascial massage therapy and get into a program for strengthening your core muscles.  But the fascia itself is a problem of stretching, as it's a hard substance.  I don't think those supplements will hurt you any, so why not try them?  It sounds like a treatment for fibromyalgia, though, rather than just ordinary back pain.  It's also a bit unusual there are no antiinflammatories included if it's indeed muscle strain rather than chronic fibromyalgia or something like it.  As for walking hills, that's fine, but if you have a strain, you first would want to relax it down before you start to work on the muscles.  You might want to consult a good sports physical therapist or a good physical therapist of some kind to get the pain under control before you move to strengthening, and walking hills wouldn't be high on the list for back pain with a physical therapist.
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