I am going to look into the magnesium! My neuro and rheumy didn't mention that to me. What brand do you buy? I have acid reflux so I don't want to deal with the indigestion part. Thanks

If you get the Morton Epsom Lotion, you don't need much oral at all. Available at WalMart and online at Amazon.

Carebear, I am sorry I didn't answer in 2012.. I must have been offline for a while.
I take a combo of Cardiovascular Research Mag Taurate and a combination capsule (several kinds of Mag) from Twin Labs. However, my new doctor thinks I can take less if I drop the calcium, as my calcium is high on the metabolic panel. They never told me to stop taking calcium before, even though I was tested years ago for parathyroid disease (which causes extra calcium in the blood--I did not have parathyroid).
I am looking for a new form of mag so I can take less, as it is causing diarrhea more than it did, since I upped the dose to control leg/foot/hip spasm and jerking.
I want an oral type, the one from Ancient Minerals is too expensive because it has a high shipping cost.
When I tried Lyrica I couldn't breathe well. Was this because I was also taking Demerol at the time? I had just been released from the hospital after a bad case of Shingles. The Lyrica was magical for the Shingles, even in a low introductory dose, but I still felt a tightness in my breathing muscles in my diaphragm. Now I read here that one can't take opiates with gabapentin/neurontin/Lyrica. Well maybe that was the reason, I was taking two things, one an opiate. I was still in pain from the Shingles after release from the hospital, and I was on a walker for two months. Then my husband died just when I got off the walker. Everything was so bad that I lived in a sort of spiritual dream world then, just waiting to join my husband in Heaven, but it's been 5 and a half years since he died (and I got over Shingles). I had a pain in my midsection all the time for a year, grieving for my husband, whom I felt was my other half.

I don't take demerol often, so when not taking it maybe I could take Lyrica. Hoping a change in magnesium and reduction of calcium will take care of the neuropathy in hip, leg, and foot (which is where the Shingles was, too.)