@Beth Gallagher So glad you have the appointment today. I sure hope it is an easy fix and nothing serious. It could even be viral. I wonder if it could have anything to do with your lymphedema.
I, too, am sorry you are experiencing this. I have it occasionally in my core muscles. I usually attribute it to magnesium deficiency. Thank goodness you are not on statins. The cramping with statins can be serious and life-threatening, and it is common enough that it was the first question the office asked.
If you have Epsom salts, try a little in the bathtub of hot water and lie in it, or at least soak your feet in hot Epsom salts bath. Your skin will absorb the magnesium from the Epsom salts, and if you need magnesium for either your heart or the cramps, this should help until you can get to the doctor and get test results, and it can’t hurt because your body will only absorb what you need, @Beth Gallagher .
Thanks, Krys. I don't believe it's fibro but I really don't have any idea at this point. I just hope I don't have kidney failure or something.
We're home from the doctor, and waiting on lab results before any treatment. I hope they get those soon. My BP was sky-high in the doctor's office (180/93) so something is definitely going on. I was relieved that my EKG was normal, so the doctor wasn't concerned about this being heart-related. I guess the lab results will trickle in starting tomorrow. I forgot to ask the doc for an Rx for a muscle relaxer so I just jumped on MyChart to ask. Hopefully she will call something in for me. Yvonne--great minds think alike. I soaked in Epsom Salts last night! Thanks.
Well my doctor refused my request for muscle relaxers. She said they could "mask" the real problem and she prefers to wait till all the labs are in before any treatment. Gonna be a loooooong night so I'm headed for another epsom salts bath.
That sucks. Did the epsom salts help last night? And you didn't say if your doctor threw out some thoughts...you don't have to if you don't wanna. And some internet browsing says that high electrolyte levels can cause cramps just as much as low levels...so you were smart to go have tests done rather than roll the dice.
No, the epsom salts didn't help but it felt nice at the time. And no, my doctor is a "wait till we have the data" type who doesn't speculate. She did agree to do the EKG when I insisted and mentioned the cramp across my chest. I think that she has to wait on me to mention my symptoms so she can justify the tests to insurance. Sad, but true. She did ask a lot of interesting questions, though... like had I had any kind of skin cut or piercing that might lead to tetanus.
That is interesting. I'm due for a booster, and the current environment has me in a "defer all shots" mode. Then someone pointed out how rare tetanus is these days, and the decline is not due to being vaxed against it, but did not say exactly what caused the reduction. I once read that the risk come from scratching yourself in an area where livestock resides, as though cattle deposit the bacteria on fences. So it's likely our citified lives than have reduced incidences of exposure. There's an 80% survival rate among the unvaxed.
I've had a few tetanus shots in my lifetime, but I haven't heard any horror stories about tetanus shots. However, when I jumped off of the roof of a shed at our place when I was a kid (about ten or so), I landed barefoot on an old rusty nail that was in a board that was lying in the long grass alongside the shed. The nail was a rather large nail, as it went completely through my foot. Being a country boy and all, of course, I cried. It was a weekend, so my dad was home. He washed out the wound with what was probably hydrogen peroxide (because it bubbled), then filled the hole with iodine, and bandaged it up. That was it, and it healed up just fine. We didn't need doctors as long as we were breathing, and then, being twenty miles from the nearest hospital, it would be too late anyhow, so why bother? It was pretty scary, though. At first, it didn't hurt although I knew I had landed on something sharp, and I figured it was a nail. But it got scary when I picked my foot up and the board came with it. The next time I was outdoors, the board with the nail was still there, waiting for the next victim. I was kind enough to turn it over so that the nail was in the ground, though. I guess they figured I was the only one dumb enough to jump off the roof without looking at where I'd be landing, and even I wouldn't be dumb enough to do it twice. Taking no chances, I turned it over.
I kept up with the tetanus vaccine when we had livestock, but haven't since we got rid of them. We always kept the antitoxin around for the animals, and I guess we could have used it on the humans too. One of our friends actually developed tetanus form an injury, but got to the hospital before she got too bad.
I am surprised that they didn't make you get one before your cancer surgery. I certainly hope you get a diagnosis and not the old fibromyalgia failure to diagnose. If they tell you it is fibromyalgia and want you to take drugs like Lyrica or Tegretol, tell them to go back to school.