Frequency pulling muscles..side effect of sugery??

[qhcrazy]

Hey all, I seem to be pulling my quadricep muscle over and over again. It is soooooooooo painful and I'm wondering why this is happening, since it never happened prior to surgery. Anybody else finding this to be true for them as well?

[Joel]

I will say that part of the problem may just be the gimpiness regarding how we all tend to walk after surgery. This throws our entire body out of whack. For me, it tends to be my lower back and knees. It seems every few months I am hurting my back or knees, and it comes from the way I now walk. It is your body rebelling....
Joel

[Tmasgio]

I agree with Joel. since surgery things pop and crack all of the time and one false move and I can be down for days.

[shannan]

You may want to look into having this assessed by a physiotherapist. It may very well be from the way you are walking or getting up etc. I have learned that our bodies tend to be very lazy, yet smart; in compensating for weakness. My physiotherapist explains that the body wants to be able to do things with the least amount of effort, often resulting in a strong side taking over for the weaker side; however, this can throw things out of alignment or shorten other muscles. My issue is that currently my left leg is too weak to support half my body weight so when I stand my right leg puts forth more effort. Unless I consciously focus to make my left leg work it wouldn't put out any effort at all. The over use of my right leg has also now caused some shortening of the lower back muscles on my left side and some hip alignment problems. Woo hoo the work never seems to end does it. The other question I have is if you do any stretching on a regular basis, I do know that this is also helpful toward not pulling muscles. Hopefully it is something that is easily fixed. Good luck.

[Day]

Hummmmm....I had what I thought were wicked muscle spasms in my back, rump and thigh on the right side that started getting worse about 3 wks after surgery (in physical rehab). Neuro Dr. upped my Neurotin and added muscle relaxant then things settled down for a while.
Then about 3wks later at home I started have what I thought were muscle cramps that ran from my shoulder blade clear down to my calf. I would scream so loud my husband joked that the neighbors were going to call the law on him.

Anyhow, what I thought might be pulled muscles (from trying to do to much at home) turned out to be more of a spasm or seizure type thing. During this same period of time I was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia (possibly from damage done to my spinal cord).

What I am trying to say....I had almost stopped all my medications and was so proud of my recovery and the fact that my need for medications was lessening daily...when wham! Here we go again.

I still take the lowest possible dose of effective meds as possible, but I need to be able to function or else depression gets the best of me.

What stopped the nightmare muscle spasms or pulled muscle sensations? Tegretol.

In my 20's I used to cross country bicycle ride. So I do know what pulled muscles or over training feels like. The spams I spoke of (and what you might be going through) don't act like normal pulled muscles. It's worth a try.

:)Day

[susan]

I think a lot of what feels like pulled muscles or spasms is actually what are called paresthesias, which are abnormal sensations.
One of my sutble pre-op symptoms which got worse after surgery is feeling like my right hand is cramping. Prior to diagnosis, I would find myself frequently shaking out my right hand while typing at the computer. Now that I know I have damage from my SCT, when it feels crampy and I look at it, it is actually not cramping at all, the muscles are lose & pliable. It just feels like a cramp. I get them in my arm as well.
I have been complaining of feeling like I can't hold my head up. I thought my neck muscles were weak. When PT tests the strength of my neck, the muscles are very strong. I have come to realize that that feeling is part of the damage to my cord at C2.
I am in the process of trying to find a combination of meds that will control those symptoms through treatment with a Chronic Pain Specialist. She is confident we will find something that will work. It is good to know that Tegretol has worked for others. Another one I was interested in trying is Topamax. It is one med that doesn't make you gain weight. (almost all of the others make you gain).
I would recommend consulting a Chronic Pain Specialist. I've been looking up "central neuropathic pain" on the internet. I have read that all the odd sensations we get are considered "pain" as well. Chronic Pain doctors can help with those as well.

[susan]

Please excuse my typos on the prior post. Maybe my hand is cramping while typing................Seriously, you re-read and think you caught them all and you didn't!

[Day]

Thanks Susan for reminding me so much of what we go through is so different from the norm and yet so different from each other.

Because of another weird thing I deal with (neuro) possibly due to surgery (Trigeminal Neuralgia) I take a combination of things that are supposed to be "synergistic" in relation to each other. I have been almost pain free for about a week and a half now due to this combination:

Xanax
Topomax
Tegretol
Lyrica
And good ole Advil

I do still take a low dose of muscle relaxant.

Side effects for me swollen feet and ankles, which means my meds will probably get shifted around again.

So just find a great Doc your comfortable with and be willing to experiment until the right combo is found...then hope your blasted cord doesn't change it's mind and send new signals...Ugh!

Peace ;D
Day