Chronic pain in left buttocks and leg

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queenrider

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I have had cramping pain in my left buttocks, Hip bursitis and muscle cramping right above my left knee. At times my left calf. If it's really bad my left foot will cramp. I have had both knees replaced. Back surgery and then my right foot had a tendon repair because all my weight went on my right leg because of my left leg pain. All this for ten years. None of the above surgeries help the pain problem. My Primary Care Doctor made the call of Fibromyalgia. Now I've got slot of research and learning to do. I'm on a pain killer, muscle relaxer and tequila to help with muscle cramps at night. We were able to to deduce when this happened. December on 2010 I almost died of Hypoxia because my Pain Mgt Clinic user methadone for pain. At the time I had atypical facial neuralgia. A local hospital saved my life. Two months later the symptoms started and have lasted ten years. I've dealt with depression and sleep problems. The VA is going to love me!
 
Hello queenrider and welcome to the forum.
We are here to support one another and to help with answering questions to the best of our ability and experience.
For starters, I recommend you read this post, which has a lot of information and some ideas on how you can successfully manage FM.
 
I have had cramping pain in my left buttocks, Hip bursitis and muscle cramping right above my left knee. At times my left calf. If it's really bad my left foot will cramp. I have had both knees replaced. Back surgery and then my right foot had a tendon repair because all my weight went on my right leg because of my left leg pain. All this for ten years. None of the above surgeries help the pain problem. My Primary Care Doctor made the call of Fibromyalgia. Now I've got slot of research and learning to do. I'm on a pain killer, muscle relaxer and tequila to help with muscle cramps at night. We were able to to deduce when this happened. December on 2010 I almost died of Hypoxia because my Pain Mgt Clinic user methadone for pain. At the time I had atypical facial neuralgia. A local hospital saved my life. Two months later the symptoms started and have lasted ten years. I've dealt with depression and sleep problems. The VA is going to love me!
Welcome, queenrider!

Wow, it sounds like you've been on a really tough journey to get to this point. I'm so sorry that you've been through so much trauma and disappointment, but hope that your fibro diagnosis might help you find a new path towards something positive.

While it's true that fibro had no cure, there's a lot we can do the manage the condition. I suggest going all-in on exploring symptom management strategies beyond medications - most things will do you good, whether they help the pain or not, so there's nothing to lose!

Sunkacola's post linked above is a fantastic place to start - don't underestimate the difference that it can make when implementing these small things together, and staying consistent.

Things like pacing (look up "spoon theory" if you're not familiar), stress management, sleep hygiene, solid nutrition, and a very gentle daily exercise practice can make a big difference. This forum is loaded with other suggestions - it's a case of being your own guinea pig and gradually stacking things that make a difference. Trial and error, but many of us have made a lot of progress!

There's a whole bunch of great people here who can answer any questions you might have. Several of us have experience with things like back issues, sciatica, and a long-term depression - including having an understanding of how much fibromyalgia muddies the water! Don't hesitate to reach out if you want to 🌻
 
Thank you for the advice. I've started researching and am wondering if there are any books that you know of that will help?
 
Hi @queenrider, have good physiotherapists tried their/your luck with these problems?

Books? There's loads. I'd collected about 15, but've now scanned the forums for recommendations and validated them reading reviews.
The one most highly recommended is:
Starlanyl, Devin (& Mary Ellen Copeland) “Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain: A Survival Manual (2nd Edition)” ("Fibro Bible") (has fibro himself)
The most trustworthy recent one is:
Abril, Andy & Barbara K. Bruce, Mayo Clinic Guide to Fibromyalgia 2019.

The rest I'd best post separately.
 
Hey queenrider,

I read a couple of books after I was diagnosed, and can honestly say I didn't find anything very useful at all - a whole lot of words without saying much of anything. I should have been as scrupulous as @JayCS in my selections! At that point, I decided I'd rather spend money on supplements than books and find information online, but we're all different, and I'm sure some books are worth every cent.

Looking elsewhere, one of the resources that I found invaluable was content from a woman called Lisa Ehler who runs a website called Living Smarter With Fibromyalgia. The website's got a lot of useful information on it - going really far into less-discussed symptoms and co-conditions - which helped me understand what I was dealing with. Not everything she recommends or concludes chimes with me, and I ignore the product offerings beyond reading through why she recommends them, but it's the most in-depth resource that I've found online (aside from this here forum!) Her lengthy Facebook videos, in particular, helped me understand triggers better, and also made me feel a lot more like this was something I could handle! Good luck finding the helpful resources that suit you best.
 
scrupulous as @JayCS in my selections
Sorry for miswording "I'd collected about 15" - I actually meant only that I'd been collecting the names of books people have recommended, before getting my research-flash (is that the word?) to do the "complete" list yesterday.
Myself I actually read 2 German ones, plus 2 English & 1 German one on pain etc. and decided like you they weren't helping me much at all...
Maybe I shd've been as scrupulous as you believed I'd been :LOL:. In the 90s I read absolutely "every" single reputable book there was on things like ADHD, OCD, Social Phobia and Autism, esp. specialist stuff, that was probably more than 15 on each of these... and tons of mailing list posts too, with newest research. But the knowledge that was emerging in these areas at that time obviously had a basis which I don't see yet for FM. So I prefer to concentrate on medical studies, as critical as I am of them.
Two websites I think I ought to read more on are Health Rising and precisely the one you mention: Living Smarter.
 
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What is a psycophyicians
Hi queenrider - aside from the following sort-of-fun-facts it'd seem you've misread something?
Perhaps my word "physiotherapist" which is another name for physical therapist, and abbreviated PT?

Psychophysician - now that's a fun word and interesting question! :) - (Love to make a mountain out of this molehill...)
A psychophysician - that would probably be a neat new name for a doctor (physician) treating both the mind (psyche) and the body... How "revolutionary" that would be....! 😏😎 - (well, a psychiatrist claims to be doing that I spose, altho many would contend that most do either properly; but also all functional docs & alternative practitioners).
But actually the closest real words are psychophysical and psychophysics, meaning
"The branch of psychology that deals with the relationships between physical stimuli and sensory response."
So what the psychologists involved often do is measure when a sound or a light can be detected, e.g. how intense/big etc. does a blue triangle have to be for people to detect it as a blue triangle. Apparently important, altho it doesn't sound it...
-physical and -physics might sound as if the name of the profession involved would be physicist. But as it is a branch of psychology that doesn't fit. So we're far off from physician = doctor.
 
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Health Rising
You're so right - another good resource.

I also wholeheartedly agree on the value of reading studies. There's so much to discover, and we can gain some understanding of developments without the cherry picking that often happens in media coverage. Great advice!
 
Low calcium and potassium levels can cause muscle cramping-especially in the calves!
 
Low calcium and potassium levels can cause muscle cramping-especially in the calves!
Interesting you should say that, esp. as people usually blame it on low magnesium and taking that has never worked for me.
And thanks for reminding of supps that might help.

Bottom line of what I've checked up below about cramps is:
💥Try drinking more and muscle exercises first.
Next try magnesium malate.
Next get checked if your potassium level is too high or too low, never just take potassium.
Next try adding vitamins E, B6, C and D
.

The details:
"Dr Oz" marketing & of course highly praising "Cramp Defense" - which is just the magnesium malate generally recommended most for muscles anyway, also supposedly best for FM & CFS, as well as not being laxative.
"Dr Oz" refers to Mayo Clinic about magnesium, and Mayo Clinic do also name magnesium, however along with like you calcium & potassium. Generally however they recommend drinking more (dehydration), as well as exercising.
Uniquenutritionsolutions (in depth page) explains: calcium for contraction, magnesium for relaxation and potassium for the blood flow. However that studies haven't really been able to show that it's magnesium and that they refer mainly to dehydration, like Mayo Clinic which can cause some electrolyte imbalance (all three, incl. occasionally sodium & chloride). This is / was my number one cause: Drinking more helps me.
Haiden Heath on Rampfesthudson however stresses that too much potassium can also cause cramps. So just taking it can be counterproductive. Too much potassium can cause quite a few bad effects. So you'd always have to check your levels first. He also recommends vitamins E, B6, C and D.
Calcium is also a difficult one, as it seems taking it can decrease magnesium. So it's strange when both are offered in one supp.
 
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