extreme calf pain

[lrm128]

my wife has MS and experiences ramdom stabing calf pain. She can go days or weeks without any, then suddenly will get one that drops her to the floor. They last only a few seconds, but often will occure multiple times in the span of a few minutes. She has had steroid infusion treatment as well as oral steroids, these have had limited sucess. Has anyone else had a similar experience, and had a treatment with better or longer lasting results?

[xrds]

I have not been diagnosed with ms yet, however my doctor is quite adament this is what the result will be. I get major shooting pains down my leg that last for seconds, takes my breathe away. it continually happens for about an hour or so each time and is so intense. Along with muscle cramping almost non stop 24/7.

I tried Lyrica, made me feel off my face and vision was severly disturbed so didn't stay on it, I am a mum and still need to be able to spam. My doctor has put me onto Baclofen, I am taking a total of 35mg per day. it is starting to help, albeit slowly.

I know this months after your comment, so am hoping that your wife has found something that is helping.

[lrm128]

started a new treatment yesterday, Tegretol, as always, I have high hopes for success. I will let you know in a few days if we see any change or improvement. Keep your fingers crossed.
Thanks again all of you for all your help.

[twopack]

I feel the same way!  I take a rather low dose of gabapentin these days.  Some people seem to have no side effects from it but I got dizzy, nauseated and couldn't stay awake on it.  I had to start out very slow.  Everything but the sleepiness disappeared in about a week.  Because it seemed to stick around, I stayed on a once daily (bedtime) dose for months before I added a (smaller) morning dose to get better daytime pain control.

There are many similar drugs used for this type of pain.  Everyone has an individual response to each one.  I'd encourage her to trial other drugs in the same and similar drug categories.  There might still be one that works well for her with minimal side effects.

Of course I’m hoping her doc has been able to give her a reasonable idea of what is causing this pain.  Spasticity (among other things) can also cause pain without the appearance of obvious cramp-like knots.

A physical therapy evaluation with controlled stretching or yoga might help… or a TENS unit….. or progressive relaxation exercises…. or mindful meditation… or acupuncture.  Most of us have to keep on testing using a trial and error method to find what works in the here and now.

[lrm128]

Again, thanks for any and all input, somewhere out there a solution to the problem exists.

[lrm128]

tried those at one time or another, the trade off is her sanity. Both tended to
put her in a stupor of sorts and a drugged stae is one she does not wish to be in.

[twopack]

If your wife's pain is the result of nerve damage or from scrambled messages somewhere in the path between leg(s) and brain she might find the best relief comes from one of the medications that have been found to be effective against that type of pain - something like gabapentin or Lyrica.

[twopack]

A WORD ON SUPPLEMENTS:  
CAUTION and responsible educational research advised!!

Please do check with your doctor before supplementing with things like magnesium and potassium - everyone.  Some supplements really do need better monitoring than we can do on our own.  

Magnesium (even milk of magnesia) is contraindicated in people who have kidney disease.  At the very least blood work needs to be done to measure blood levels of substances before supplements are started.

Without a starting point how can a person ever evaluate the optimum dose of supplementation?  Adjusting doses by symptom improvement or keeping watch for signs of overdose aren't terribly accurate and can be potentially dangerous.

Potassium needs to be maintained within a fairly narrow range of normal and in balance with other minerals and electrolytes.  A well regulated potassium level is vital for normal heart function but can be easily thrown outside healthy value boundaries in summer heat or when the body's hydration level changes.

Potassium really isn't a substance anyone should be freely supplementing.  Yes, it is the main ingredient in salt substitute.  Yes, we can buy as much as we want in the grocery store.  Yes, Mrs. Dash says it is better for us than salt...  That doesn't mean it is harmless or that it will be tolerated by our bodies in any amount we choose to ingest.

Anyone with heart disease, hypertension, and/or kidney problems needs to be especially careful with potassium supplements.  Some medications to treat hypertension deplete potassium.  Others tend to raise potassium levels and carry specific warnings against potassium intake - including the amounts found in high potassium foods like banana and kiwi and in salt substitute.

I am a firm believer in the value of supplements but there are some things our bodies know more about than we will ever be able to master.  Electrolyte regulation is generally one of those areas.  If your body is not doing a good job regulating potassium you need to have a physician who is ordering blood work to monitor serum potassium levels regularly and ordering prescription supplementation as needed.

Sorry, I just thought this needed to be stated.  Each of us is responsible for our own personal choices.  Please make sure you are well informed with each choice made.

[lrm128]

Thanks again for the input. we will make a note of the potassium and magnesium doses and check with her doctor on his thoughts. I am a believer of acupuncture, just difficult to find a good one, I mean really, how do you know.

[jenphilly]

I am guessing the spasms are the same, mine are not like muscle pulls  or a charley horse, they are from the nerves going nuts and one end not talking to the other end, so the muscle is stuck in the middle like its having a seizure :)   Sorry, the image in my head is like being stuck between two people who just chatter away and you're in the middle ready to scream..  heat and cold are usually part of the problem, again, the nerve is the trigger, not the muscle itself...   The spasms from being too active are usually related to being overheated and the nerves acting up.    I would not even given them a try!    I have peripheral neuropathy in my left arm and hand full time and it usually joins the party when my calf and feet spasm.

I take double the recommended potassium (regular dose didn't do anything), I take a high dose magnesium and also have magnesium in my daily, so might want to take a look at what dose she is taking in, might want to check with your doctor about increasing and see if it helps.

I would still suggest you consider accupuncture.  There is a reason its been around for 5,000 years or so!

Good luck and hope she finds something works for her!  

[Eveningsun]

I am not a doctor, but I understand the feeling.  I never been given any steriods but the doctor was talking about them...I remember an ex-friend with her joint pains and the injections.  I take Tramadol for the pain, gabpentin, HAVE NOT BEEN TOLD that I even have MS, or anything really.  I do have episodes that the pain is so intense that is ver and above the Tramadol.  Those I kinda just have to deal with.  Or I can take Zanaflex (2mg) or Oxycontin (5mg).  I try to stay out of them because I don't want to get addicted to them.
One doctor is thinking the Lupus direction and I don't want that! Then Sjourn thing and I don't want that either.
My pain started when I was on medications for Hep C, I had to stick myself once a week and take 6 huge pills every day, for 48 weeks of hell.  6 months in, I started feeling pain a humming pain that was more a ugh feeling.  When I was finished, I thought cool I'm done.  NOPE, that pain decided to stay with me and I am going on 6 years and it is getting stronger very time.  And the docotr figured that since I had Hep C that automatically labeled me a drug addict.  So far away from the truth.
I keep hoping one day someone will find what I have and kill it (so to speak).

[lrm128]

Thanks for the response, my wife says her pains are not muscle related, but rather nerve. We have tried massage as well as heat and ice treatments. We gave some thought to acupuncture, but never got past the thought part. Supplements are something we use on a regular basis, however, they don't seem to help/hurt the pains.  

[jenphilly]

My leg and foot spasms are not quite as severe, I can usually still hobble around when mine hit.

I have found that massage therapy helps wth preventing the spasms...  I also have greatly reduced how often I have spasms by adding magnesim and potassium to my supplements.   Now I find that I only get calf or foot spasms when its really hot and humid or I way way overdo things (like shopping and errands for hours with lots of walking in hot weather).  

I am also building up the courage to start accupuncture.... have decided I should, just need to make that first appointment :)   I keep hearing from every direction that accupuncture is the best buy for any type of alternative treatments,even my massage therapist has encouraged me to try accupuncture to help with the leg and foot spasms.  

I hope she is doing well today!

Jen