[Ben Raper]

Hi my name is Ben. I live in NC. In Feb of this year I had back surgery that consisted of removing the disc between L4,L5 and fusing them with a bone graft and the screws and plates.
Since then I have developed a rather odd but extremely painful condition. I have lower leg muscle cramps/spasms during the night that are absolutley out of the world in terms of pain. They almost always occur on the left leg, on the small muscle that runs down the outer edge of the shin and to the top of my foot. They do sometimes occur inthe right leg.
I have had a myleogram and ct and the neurosurgeon see's nothing. I just left his office and he's referring me to a neurosurgeon to talk about a backlafin? pump inplant. I don't think pain med is the answer to the question as I think someone needs to find the physical cause of the problem. The situation is getting very, very bad as I can't sleep at night as these cramps throw me out of bed about every 2 hours. The pain is severe, I can't tolerate it anymore. Has anyone ever heard of this? Know of someone I could contact about this. It's grown into a serious situtation and I'm kind of at the end of the rope as to what to do and being able to tolerate the pain. I would be so gracious for your input.
Thank you,
Ben

[Joyinsunnyohio]

I am a woman, but have had the same problem. I have read that a lack of calcium and or magnesium causes these leg cramps, and when I take a combination of calcium and magnesium supplement 3 or 4 times daily, (which also includes zinc). I do not get the leg cramps. Ask your doctor of course, because he may not want you to take these. Also licorice root stops cramping, but it is not for anyone prone to high blood pressure, because it can cause high blood pressure. I would highly suggest the calcium and magnesium supplement.

[simby]

hi Ben,
Oddly enough, i had the same level fused 2 yrs. ago. Almost since the very beginning, i have had leg cramps (more lower than upper) and feet that feel like they are always bruised (to the point of wanting to get "sponges" for my feet.) The soles of my feet are the worst, they feel like they have been beaten with a 2x4.

My surgeon also doesn't seem to think the spine issues are the cause. And my pcp thinks something else may be going on but hasn't said what,

So even though i have no answer for you, i can tell you that you aren't alone in this.

hope this helps.
sims

[mrsD]

calcium and magnesium to see if that helps. (most of the time it works)

I have a magnesium thread on our Vitamin forum...first page. Take a look.

I believe the mag is the main player, but if you are low in calcium already and take mag alone, then you need to attend to calcium too.

Read your labels carefully, many mixtures are mostly oxide form for the mag and this version is pretty useless.

Good luck

[watsonsh]

Calcium and Mag helped my cramps. We have a great magnesium thread in the vitamin forum thansk to MrsD

The other thing that helped surprisingly was salt. 2 years before all my health problems I cut out all salt from my diet. And i needed that salt for my adrenals were weak from too much steroids from epidural injections and prednisone for my TOS. And weak from too much pain and stress from too high of cortisol levels which depleted them. And inthe thryoid and I was a mess and the muscle spasms were unbearable sometimes.

So with a docs help I started back on some salt. Apparently when the sodium and potassium balance is out of whack (ie your electrolytes if can contribute). My sodium was very low and potassium high. And those gatorades are not helpful to correct this. I mixed a little sea salt with warm water in the mornings and drank it. After a while along with the mag and calcium my elctrolytes have balanced.

Please dont take or up your salt without talking to your doctor because it can make you hypertensive especially if you have heart problems already.

Just a tip not for everyone, hope it helps. There are some good websites out there on adrenal fatigue that gave me some good tips on balancing my electrolytes to help the muscle spasms.

[writerkaren]

Hi. I know exactly what you mean. I've had left calf severe spasms since my first surgery (L5/S1 X2), among other pain. I wake up just absolutely screaming and my poor husband can't do a thing for me. I went to specialist after specialist until one finally said very matter-of-factly, "Well that's because you have nerve damage." He said it probably happened before the first surgery even occured. He explained it like a rubberband tied around your wrist. Imagine you tighten that rubberband every day for a year, and then suddenly cut it off (surgery). Though the thing causing the damage (herniation) is gone, your wrist will still have that indentation,probably forever. Blood vessels and muscles have had to compensate and they don't just go back to normal. That finally made sense to me.

What worked for me was medication. I took Baclofen for a number of years, a small dose actually and it worked very well. When I was no longer able to take it, I switched to Zanaflex and that works well too. I find that if I overdo it with walking, standing, sitting too much it's worse. If I don't get my daily walk it's worse. If I don't get enough water it's worse. I'm sorry you're having the spasms...they're just awful, but there is an answer.

Hang in there! Karen

[Ben Raper]

Hi to all and thanks for the tips. I thought I would expand a little on the problem. I take the normal dietary supplements mentioned in the posts. My legs were fine after the surgery, my back still gave me some pain but I could walk fine. About 4 weeks they put me throught a series of epidural shots to alleviate the cramps and pain in my left left, hip downward. Since those shots, I am having trouble walking. Imagine how you move your foot when you press the gas pedal on your car, I can do that fine. I just can't make my feet move in the opposite(toward me) direction and there is some numbess that has set up in both lower legs. For some unknown reason the leg cramps have stopped in the last five days, but the problem with walking persists. I have just know associated the problems with my feet to the injections as I didn't have this problem before them. My doctor gave me a medicine, Lyrica, to take to see if it would help. I'm afraid that I'm heading for a wheelchair and I have no where to turn. I will try anything, anything you might suggest. I live in central NC but would travel to anywhere if someone thought they might know of doctor who could help me. My options are getting short it seems. Next week they plain on doing a disco-gram/ct as the myleogram/ct didn't show anything concrete to the neurosurgeon. I'm open to any suggestion anyone would be kind enough to offer.
Ben Raper

[Ben Raper]

Hi Shelly...that's a good point. I naturally have never been a big user of salt and since the surgery my appetite has gone away, so whatever salt intake I did have is gone. I will try your advice immediately, can't hurt as I don't usually eat much salt to start with.
Ben

[AK Kid]

Hey Ben...

Hydrate and guess what helps with my muscle spasms...it is not a medicine now.........drum roll.............................................. .......
dried apricots.

I take a handful before bed and have cut down on the muscle relaxants I have to take at night.

All natural -

take care
Kim