GBS, fatigue and severe knock knees
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September 4, 2006 at 11:22 pm
This is part question, part rant, part venting
Besides all the other crap associated with severe GBS, my knees are getting to the point I struggle to walk without the percocets ( 4 – 5 a day ).
While I knew I had knee problems from being overweight and from being severly knock – kneed ( when my knees are togeather my feet are 16-18 inches apart), I didn’t realize that one of the main reasons I “used” to drink was to kill the pain in my knees,
It wasn’t until rehab that it became clear, just what a problem it was. I could not get up out of the wheelchair to walk in the rehab unit. Once 3 or 4 people got me up, I could struggle to walk the bars and learn how to walk again.
Once they took X-Rays of my knees and gave me shots into the knees, I was able to progress to the point of the Munstere Stride. The MD at the time who was treating me in the rehab hospital stated that my arthrits was pretty bad and that I had knees of an eighty year old.
As most of you know, I’m a high school band director. The game this past Friday night was pretty hard. I thought I was doing ok with the fatigue until the legs started cramping up. I had only walked into the stadium with the band, walked up about 20 or so steps then went to the restroom. On the way back from the restroom it started.
The cramps are not in the calf but at 2 places on the inside of the knees that feel like a spike has been pushed in the muscle and used as a turnicate ( sp ? ) until I can’r move or get rid of the cramps. Once these start others follow right behind, usually on the inside of the theighs from the knee to the groin.
Friday night I slept with no charlie horses but the muscles never relaxed. Saturday I hobbled around all day as Herman Munster with the feeling that the muscles has been streached from here to mars and then tightened. It feels like I was beat with baseball bats and stabbed in the muscles with ice picks.
Sunday was the same and still no relief today.
I notice that getting up from a sitting position is giving strain to those muscles but it seems to be getting worse. Last year it happened once every two months then in the spring every month and no it seems to be every two weeks.
Does anyone else have SEVERE knock-knees ?
I can fight depression, I can fight anxiety, I can fight fatigue and I can fight pain, but it seems like the better I do, the more crap is thrown on me. And understand that I do not plan on suicide nor do I consider it, but I’m having a better understanding why some people do.
( maybe I should have not switched to Cymbalta, at least with the pain of depression draped over me I didn’t notice the other pains as bad ?. )
Sorry for the rant ………………..
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September 5, 2006 at 12:10 am
mike, you don’t need to apologize!!! i have knee problems, also. actually i’m back on crutches as of all most 2 weeks ago, i pushed my knee backwards while my foot stayed in place and my body stayed in place. i now am under consideration for double knee replacement. i just can’t find a dr who puts them in people as young as myself. have you had any scopes done to your knees? i had them and they worked ok, as far as the arthritis is concerned. the knee injections only last for soo long and the scope is the next step, ins has their paws in the treatments as usual.
for your muscle aches have you tried zanaflex at bedtime? i use it and it helps alot. also make sure you are well hydrated, that has alot to do with the soreness, i’ve found that out the hard way. take care. have you found any answers to your questions yet? have you tried the united way? just thinking about you and that organization today.:) -
September 5, 2006 at 8:10 am
mike,
i forgot why you are on percocet & not taking neurontin. also the switch to cymbalta seems to have made you worse. better talk to your docs & go back to the old way or someting else. take care. be well.
gene gbs 8-99
in numbers there is strength -
September 5, 2006 at 2:22 pm
Actually the Cymbalta has cleared out the general “depression pain” and in so doing so has allowed the spotlight to me on my legs and knees. As the shrink explained, Cymbalta works much better for depression in people with chronic pain. The percocets were cancelling out much of the effect of the Wellbrutrin. As the Cymbalta has begun working, there is somewhat less need for the percocets……….somedays.
The knee problem was there before GBS. The percocets are basically for the knees.
The general pain in my legs is only a 3 or a 4 where the knee pain is usually a 7 or 8 with a few days a months being higher.
I’m seeing my GP Wednesday and my neuro next week and then on to a knee specialist.
Before GBS, a half bottle of Bombay Sapphire a night helped me with the pain in my knees, the percocets are much cheaper and I can think better !
I don’t “think” I hvae noticed a difference in my legs since stopping the neurontin but there so many different pains and so many different pills, I’m trying to get it sorted out.
By the way, I was on 400 ml of Welbrutrin and was switched to the Cymbalta. The only thing with the Cymbalts is that I have to up my lorazapam.
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