I get those horrible middle of the night leg cramps from time to time and it gets me out of bed fast. Usually takes a good deal of stretching to where I can get back to bed. Then the area is sore for a few days after. I think I might try that diatomacious earth smoothie I just read about. (I dont know how to spell Diatomacious so I guessed. She also calls it fossil mud) Whine, cheese and fossil mud MMMM!

I think you will find that magnesium would be very helpful for those legcramps, birdman.

I posted to you about that already.
There is also a lotion you can apply directly to your legs where the cramps are, at night before you go to bed. It is called Morton Epsom lotion, and still new. At WalMart's and online at Amazon.com

Many of us here use it...with spectacular results.
http://www.amazon.com/Morton-Epsom-L...n+epsom+lotion

A little goes a long way... just use about a quarter's diameter for each leg/calf. Do not apply to broken or damaged skin. (it will sting).

The magnesium in this lotion does 3 things:
1) improves circulation in the area
2) decreases pain impulses (blocks the NMDA pain receptor)
3) relaxes cramps of muscles

Also there are many many biochemical reactions that magnesium is a cofactor for...to numerous to list here.

Just venting a bit.
All is still going OK, but a full day of work yesterday sent the finger joints into their reaction phase. Two of them are so swollen and stiff that I have to use the other hand to bend them to squish the swelling out. That lasts for about half an our before they fill up again. Figures that they are the index fingers on both sides.

I'm working again today and am just home for lunch break, but I have another 4 hours to put in. Just took some Ibuprofen, which I have avoided doing for the past few days, but I want to do some gardening tomorrow and I don't think that I can with the fingers the way that they are misbehaving.

I see the specialist on Tuesday and am really hoping that he has something in his little black bag of tricks, as the IVIG seems to be wearing off.

With love, Erika

Awww, Erika... I hope too, that your Doc has a magic pill for you.
Darn this MS and all it's tag-along carp!!

@Erika: I'm glad that your mood is lifting. Hopefully, that feeling will stay as long as possible.

Thanks so much Sally and Dani,

I did actually get out in the garden yesterday but these stupid fingers prevented me from doing some of the stuff that I wanted to do because those tasks required finger dexterity. I'm stubborn though, so I did some raking and even took a few trips with the wheelbarrow to move the lawn thatch and also some mulch onto the vegetable garden beds .

That will most likely be what I'll do this morning as well but I'll be shutting it down in the afternoon as I have scheduled myself to work from Monday to Thursday. I do have Tuesday morning off from work when I will go see the specialist, so there is a break in those four days.

Sally, I hope that you are doing well. Have you hired some hunks to do your yard work yet?

With love, Erika

I saw a new specialist today and it was a total waste of time...for both of us. He knew nothing about chronic Parvo and for the first few minutes I sat there while he looked it up on his computer. I even told him what site to visit (Mayo).

He then suggested that I try prednisone to control the inflammation, and kept on suggesting it after I told him that I've had negative reactions to it in the past, and that steroids are not recommended for infection reactions. He then proceeded to do a physical exam, taking close notice of my hand joints and ankles.

He also tried to test the range of motion of my knees and insisted that I relax my legs so that he could bend them without the resistance of the muscles. I said "Uh...did you read my history? I have MS and the muscular resistance is spasticity from that, so it is not under voluntary control."
Hearing this, he tried to shove my right knee into flexion and just about got kicked in the head (darn hyper reflexes).

This guy was internist (from another country), and all he could offer was to refer me on to a rheumatologist if I wanted that. They must give out medical licences there in Cracker Jack boxes .

I called my PCP and told him how the consult went, so he had his nurse schedule me to see him on Friday. I'm pretty much done with this doctoring stuff now, but I'll go to see what he has to say.

With love, Erika

Sure he didn't just print off his diploma from the internet? Was he using Wikipedia to look stuff up?

I don't know where he was looking it up but he said that only 2 people with arthritis symptoms due to Parvo have been treated with IVIG. I asked him "In what universe?", but he didn't get it.
When I told him that I had already received IVIG for the Parvo, he asked me where I had received it (here).
Obviously we were not on the same page...or in the same universe.

With love, Erika

I am never eating jelly beans ever again. Apparently I ate too many from my Easter basket last week, and now there is no "passing the cheese", or anything else.

That, and spasticity is causing me a lot of problems this week with walking, and standing. Which probably isn't helping the other problem.

geeze, I really hate MS. Really really hate it.