New symptom--odd! Spasticity?

[Mariel]

I have not had this before. I awake with my lower leg twisted in a cramp which is painful, and it stays that way when I get up and limp to the bathroom and sit in my wheelchair for breakfast. It goes away, but now, this evening, I feel it again. I have lots of spasticity but this is a new kind for me. It's different than a Charlie Horse,
which is in the back of the leg and is controlled completely by magnesium intake. A Charlie Horse generally goes away pretty quickly if you work it out and stand on it and so forth. This takes a while. It's been there three days,
and I feel it threatening this evening.

My foot seems put on my leg at an odd angle while this goes on.

Maybe it's tension because I started low dose Hydrea today, liquid form which is a challenge to take with my awkward hands, using the bottle and the plunger. I fear Hydrea. However, the leg cramp started three days ago.

Any ideas? The Hydrea is for Polycythemia Vera and very high platelets (I have not heard of this symptom with PV but it's possible it's from Porphyria. I posted about it on the Porphyria forum I go to. Porph does produce neuropathy, but I think this is an odd presentation for that. For one thing it goes away and comes back, so far.
Maybe permanent next? That won't be fun. With Porphyria I can't take a muscle relaxer. Up the magnesium?

[funnylegs4]

I have spastic diplegia Cerebral Palsy and I hate to scare you but I have had almost the exact same thing. For me the pain and tension was actually caused by a break up of scar tissue from a surgery and my muscles didn't like it. It went away in about a week. It might be the start of spasticity but I cannot tell you for sure. The odd alignment of your leg is due to the tension. That is why people with spastic CP have knees that turn in etc. I really hope it goes away!

[Mariel]

I have not heard of spastic diplegia Cerebral Palsy but I will look it up. So many things are inter-related. It's not as bad today.
Thanks, funny legs.

[Mariel]

This problem seems to be gone.

[CanadianMSer]

This problem seems to be gone.

That is good news, I am glad it resolved rather quickly! Do you have any insight as to what caused it?

[Parsi]

That is good news, I am glad it resolved rather quickly! Do you have any insight as to what caused it?

Since it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, my guess it's MS.
Perhaps you had a flare, Mariel. I'm happy for you that it was so short.
Did it go away on it's own, or did you take something? You did ask about upping the magnesium.

[Mariel]

Parsi and Kim, I can't remember what made it go away. Possibly I DID take more magnesium, probably I did, since I am in the habit of doing that when spasm or spasticity is intractable.

I had another problem 9 days ago, which put me in the ER, and no one is certain what caused it. I sometimes have intermittent
blindness, for perhaps 8 or 10 seconds. Often it happens when I'm moving, and I have to stop suddenly, freeze, because I'm not used to walking when blind, even for a short period. No one I talked to had any idea what caused this, although the doctor at the hospital suspected Narcolepsy, but when I read the description of Narcolepsy, it was not that. In Narcolepsy, one's muscles become flaccid, and mine did not, they were more spastic. Perhaps they became spastic to hold me up, if it was Narcolepsy.

I was asked to see a cardiologist, and she thought it MIGHT be thromboembolism, i.e., small clots which form and dissolve quickly. But she was not sure. Said it did not sound like stroke. I have other diseases, and this could be a vascular problem from Polycythemia Vera, in which I have too many platelets and red cells churned out by my bone marrow. I am probably going to have to have radioactive phosphorus to reduce the activity of my bone marrow, given by shot at Mayo Clinic. I am of course
terrified of this, although the procedure is described as having no side effects. I have been fighting doing this since February,
trying to take chemotherapy, and giving up with the awful side effects. (My leg problem did not occur while I was taking chemo).

I have to go alone to the Mayo, too--probably in two weeks. Aetna has already OK'd the expense. I have no idea what effect, if any, the shot may have on my other diseases! So it's really walking blind.

Other things I take to keep spasticity out of my legs are calcium (taken at a different time than Magnesium) Vitamin E, and Vitamn B1.

I think another thing that might have caused the problem was that I was exercising my legs fairly regularly.

But it could be, as you suggest, a neurological flare. I am on the Swank low fat diet, incidentally, and do not think I have many MS flares.

[funnylegs4]

I have not heard of spastic diplegia Cerebral Palsy but I will look it up. So many things are inter-related. It's not as bad today.
Thanks, funny legs.

You're welcome! I'm so sorry it took me so many years to see this post! I wrote a description of Cerebral Palsy on my website here if you are curious Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... see the part of the page that says "More". Basically Spastic CP is where the brain thinks I’m going to fall all the time so it constantly sends a signal to my muscles to tighten up. Spastic means tight as you know. My CP pretty much only affects my lower body which is why it is called Diplegia, but like many other people with Diplegia, it does affect my finger movements and upper body alignment and some of my eye movements. I take calcium,Magnesium, Omega 3, B1, B12 and Phosphatidylserine for spasticity and better brain function.

[Frog42]

The majority of these posts are 5 years old. Is this info still valid?

[SalpalSally]

The majority of these posts are 5 years old. Is this info still valid?

And that I am 5 years older....grrrrrr!

[funnylegs4]

Quote Originally Posted by Frog42 View Post
The majority of these posts are 5 years old. Is this info still valid?
And that I am 5 years older....grrrrrr!

So Sorry! Did not see that this was from 2011 when I posted again. My bad!

[stillstANNding]

I thought Mariel was back. ;-(

[Lazarus]

Hi Mariel,
My only thought comes from severe leg cramping I get when sleeping. This new, to me, cramping does not go away when I jump up and stand. After months of experimenting I got the idea that maybe it was related to not drinking enough water.

Now I have bottles of water all over the house. When I am hydrated I do not get the cramping. So I think they are related.

I am glad the pain you had has flown the coop!
Linda

[renee]

Sally, you are 5 years old.
Like me.

We feel all better now.