Sam,I live in Wisconsin,I am so happy that you found a pain specialist!! Keep up the fight,we are all with you!! Breezy55

Many of us here on PN and on the other NT forums that are pain related...find low barometric pressures (from storms/rain) increase pain. It is common, I think. Even my kitties get sluggish when it is low barometric times. LOL

Some find high temps with high humidity also a problem. But those who normally live in those areas, don't complain as much as people in more temperate areas. I myself find burning more common during hot temps, than cold. But that is just me.

I find it difficult to breathe comfortably in very humid conditions, however.

Always feel free to post your questions to Neuro Talk. None of them are silly. People do care on this site, and will always try to help you. Glad you found Neuro Talk, feel welcome and at home here. ginnie

The weather has a huge affect when a person has RSD! Rain,snow,quick change's in temp's,etc!! Breezy55

To mrsD:--

I bought the "SlowMag" today at CVS. Magnesium Chloride: Included -- (238 mg of calcium, 143 mg Magnesium, chloride 405 mg, and sodium 5 mg - this amount based on a 2 tablet serving per day) It was 15 bucks for 60 tablets. But the only one I found was the one with calcium added with it.

I don't know if this is good or not. I heard calcium in high doses could aggravate your kidneys and or prostate, I'm not sure. I did have a Kidney stone last year. So I figure I'd take 1 pill a day instead of 2, with the idea that the better absorbing magnesium will equal out the old oxide type I was taking.

Is this a logical idea? ...I'd really like your opinion on this.

Also, I don't know what "Chloride" is, but 405 mg seems pretty excessive, so I'd appreciate your thoughts about that, too. ...Thanks.

The amount of calcium in it is not really in the supplement range for calcium. Don't worry about it. Supplement doses start at 1000mg a day and up. That little bit of calcium is in all the SlowMag versions, including the generic.

Chloride is just the carrier molecule. Most chemical compounds are in two parts. The most common chloride is sodium chloride, which is table salt. The amount of chloride in this is a spit in the ocean compared to one fast food meal in a restaurant. Just about every processed food is loaded with salt, and sugar in US. There are 2 chloride molecules for every magnesium in this product... this is because magnesium is divalent..remember your HS chemistry?
MgCl2.

Here is an article on chloride:
http://health.nytimes.com/health/gui.../overview.html
It is rare that chloride is a problem in people because the kidneys, do remove it. Those in hospitals on massive diuretic therapy may become
low in it. But it is so common in our environment that we consume it commonly.

There are some simple restaurant meals that can have 2,500 or more milligrams of sodium in them. Yahoo often has "Eat this and not That" snippets to reveal this abuse. In fact the men's book is quite interesting for everyone...
Read this site, if you dare...
http://eatthis.menshealth.com/home

example:
http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slides...staurant-meals
This massive burger has 6,600 mg of sodium !!!!!! And chloride is in equal measure since NaCl has one chloride per sodium ion.
http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slide/...sharetagsfocus

Magnesium chloride is one of the forms tested that showed good absorption. Neither the calcium nor magnesium is 100% absorbed, as the body has transport systems to do that and it is selective. However, a goodly amount of the magnesium is absorbed into the blood stream, to be effective for you.

If you eat magnesium containing foods, like almonds, beans, oatmeal, and yogurt, you need less magnesium. Two of these provides about 1/2 the RDA for those eating some but not ideal amounts of magnesium. People lose magnesium in urine daily, as well. Alcohol and caffeinated beverages, some drugs prevent normal magnesium levels in most people. Studies have shown that 70% or more of Americans are below the daily RDA of magnesium daily. If you take acid blocking drugs you are blocking its absorption from food, along with calcium and zinc too.

If you don't recall your high school chemistry, now is the time to
have refresher courses. I do not have the time to provide chemistry lessons for every poster. That information is easily found on the net.

the reason i know the exact date of my symptoms is because i was at a baseball game when i started feeling the tingling in my left foot and left arm. so whenever the doctors would ask me i would just think about the date of the game. they tested me for b-12 and it was normal. so was potassium and electrolytes. i wouldnt say i eat A LOT of gluten but i dont live on a gluten free diet either. as far as lifestyle i wasnt really doing anything out of the norm. working at a restaurant part time, going to college part time. since i eat out a lot i was thinking maybe it could have been something toxic in my food but doctors dont seem to think that. my bloodwork for spep/iep are now back and it is showing an abnormal protein band. my neurologist doesnt know what that could be so he wants to send me to a university so the medical team there can figure it out. please let me know what you think of all this. oh and also, no, i wasnt taking any drugs before this happened and no surgeries either.

Abnormal proteins thicken the blood. And so does eating high carb, high sugar, high fat foods. These foods raise triglyceride levels which in turn make blood more sluggish. When blood cannot circulate in tiny vessels (most of them in hands and feet) then metabolic byproducts cannot be carried away from cells, and oxygen and nutrients cannot get in. So the nerve cells, react first, because they are there as a warning system to tell us something is wrong.

This site for men (but also valid for women) often evaluates foods served in restaurants, and reveals the nutritional content of the meals.
http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slide/...sharetagsfocus
The whole site is very informative and I'd recommend it to you to help you choose foods that will not impact, strain or impair your health.

Some blood proteins are mostly benign....MGUS is one that only in small numbers of people progress to multiple myeloma. But you will have to see a specialist for further evaluation as your doctor recommended.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoclo...d_significance

We've had several people here over the years with MGUS.

25 is rather young for this, but if it is something you inherited, then perhaps, this is your time.

I'd try and not eat at restaurants so much. The sodium, fat and carbs can really be high there.
Also, MSG is almost always added to commercial foods to make them taste better. And MSG is very bad for nerves... it can make pain worse. The pain receptors, NMDA receptors run on glutamate and calcium. Magnesium blocks them to some extent.
So if you are low in magnesium (eating all those processed foods) as well, then pain will be increased.
This is why I post so much about magnesium. Besides working in hundreds of important enzymes in the body, having low levels, will impact the nerves and PAIN.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread1138.html

Another factor? Easy to deal with? The socks you wear. My son had a terrible time with some socks, that compressed his lower legs alot. They left deep impressions in his lower leg when he took them off at night. Sitting alot either in school or work, will make this worse. When he showed me his legs.... I was astounded! So now he wears special socks with wider tops, and it is END of the PROBLEM! (and BTW he is not overweight and does not have large legs). And I'd also suggest wearing relaxed fit jeans. Really tight jeans compress nerves at the groin.

And you need to know the B12 numbers exactly...not just "normal". This is because the lab ranges for B12 in US are outdated and very low.
You should be at 400 or higher. Anything lower than that is NOT normal any longer. This continues to be a significant problem with people here.
Some people have gone to many many doctors until they find ONE who knows of the new therapeutic guidelines. So don't let yourself be another casualty of outdated lab ranges:
http://www.aafp.org/afp/2003/0301/p979.html

thank you for all this information. you are of great help to me. i just looked at my b-12 level and it says 85. what do you think is the cause of the problem? the low b-12 or the abnormal blood protein? also i am not diabetic. i dont know if i mentioned that in my earlier posts. as far as b-12 i am taking the WSN nerve support formula which contains a lot of b-12 so maybe that will help? let me know what you think. when they did the brain scan they found no signs of MS but i heard MS doesnt always show on scans and abnormal protein is common in MS patients. could it in fact be MS?

85! That is terrible. Are you sure about that, and not reading another value close to it? Sometimes the readouts are narrow and single spaced and easy to confuse.

You need to be on methylcobalamin NOW...ASAP. 5mg on an empty stomach for 3 months, and have a retest.

Your nervous system, and visual abilities will really start to change radically being that low. You know I think 85 is one of the lowest ever brought here! WHEW!

iherb.com, Puritan's Pride and Swanson's, Vitacost, Amazon, all easy and inexpensive. Please do this for yourself and don't wait for doctors. Even with the old outdated lab ranges going down to 200 ...you are far lower than those!

I think you can spring for the 5mg of methylcobalamin... there is not enough in that mixture you are using now. You can go back to it if your blood levels normalize in 3 months. I hope you are taking that product on an empty stomach? If not the B12 will not be absorbed.

Why are you low?
1) are you taking OTC acid lowering drugs?

2) you could have low stomach acid called achlorhydria.

3) you could have inherited pernicious anemia from a relative. Or you have an autoimmune disease that is attacking the parietal cells of the stomach that make intrinsic factor (this is what carries B12 from food into your blood stream).
Did you have any CBC abnormal results? The MCV in the CBC typically elevates before anemia starts. So elevated MCV might show up. Doctors typically ignore this, because they don't understand it. MCV = mean corpuscular volume of the blood cells showing abnormally large cells in a given volume of blood serum.

4) if you are not eating meat/eggs/dairy/seafood/ and are following a vegan lifestyle, you can get low.

Those are the main causes that people can commonly have.

You'll have to ask the specialist about the proteins in the blood.
Also show him the copy of that B12 result too... that ought to spark an
interesting conversation!