At least, that's what I thought--I had pain and tingling through my left ankle radiating down through my left foot. I had recently "twanged" an ankle ligament (those of you who have done this will know exactly what I mean--at the time it happens, the ligament acts like a slack guitar string), so I wrote it off as the aftermath.
Then then pain radiated up past my knee and into my outer thigh. Okay, more of the same--I was driving 6-8 hours a day, and it wouldn't be the first time I had caused a secondary injury by overcompensating around the joint.
Then there was the night when I couldn't get to sleep because both feet burnt and tingled so badly. And I couldn't sit comfortably, because the cramping and pain in my lateral quads and hamstrings were so bad. First I thought it was beause I had been way overdoing it on the hamstring machine. Cutting down on that didn't do any good. Taking hot baths didn't help. Slathering my feet with liniment and wearing socks to bed didn't do anything but make the skin on my heels really soft.
And did I mention that my toes had taken on a life of their own, along with the soleus and gastrocnemius? And that my hands had decided to join the fun? As bad as it was, trying to find a comfortable position that wasn't completely prone, it was not being able to type because my hands were spasming, or so sore from the spasming that drove me into the Doctor's office.
He took one look at what was going on, and said--Calcium deficicency. Now, I've been the poster child for the dairy industry for most of my life, and I *like* eating leafy greens. How the heck did I develop a Calcium deficiency? And then the bloodtests, and finding the Magnesium deficiency that came along for the ride.
So, serious Calcium and Magnesium supplements. Nothing happened for a couple of days, and then *zing*. Or better yet, lots less *zing*. The major pain and cramping went away.
It keeps getting better every day, but it looks like I'm going to spend the 80% of the recovery time getting rid of the last 20% of the symptoms.
I'd really, really like to wake up in the morning, toddle off to the washroom, and not have my toes dance. But I'll take actually being able to properly *feel* my feet as a major victory.
And I can finally get my fingers to type again.
Posted by lsefton at November 24, 2004 11:46 PM