Shin pain and treatment

[3DStudent]

Hello all, I wanted to ask for advice for some pain I've been having for many months now. This pain can be traced back to summer 2012 or even earlier. There is no acute injury incident that I recall. I always noticed it when I would cook on the weekend, which is a 3 hour process. It is a pain right in the middle of my left front shin. It only really gets bad when I am standing for a long time, hence feeling it when cooking. Sometimes if I stand for a few hours, it gets so irritating that I have to sit down. I also notice that I've unconsciously started shifting my weight to the right leg to not put much pressure on the left.

I started to do something about it when at work one day it started hurting after only 30 minutes of standing. I figured that shouldn't happen and would excuse the long hours standing as something not to worry about. So I went to the hospital first and they X-rayed it and it came out ok. Then they referred me to an orthopedic doctor and I got an MRI on it, which was ok. Now he wants to do a bone scan, which apparently is an injection of a low dose radioactive substance combined with an X-ray that will light up areas that aren't healing or getting blood or whatever. So I have some reservations about that.

I got bloodwork last week, as ordered by my orthopedic doctor. I kind of wanted to get that done since it's been a long time since I've got it done. I actually got a light baseball sized bruise from the needle, something that I don't recall happening before. Before I got professional help, I was cutting down my salt intake, because it has pitting edema (swelling) on the shin. I can push on it and see my finger indentation for a minute or two. So I thought maybe I was retaining too much water and lowered the salt. I started taking Vitamin D I think, which was supposedly good to counter pitting edema. I also raised my leg when sleeping. Then I put some DMSO on it a few days, which seemed to help at first, but didn't completely heal it. I was just reading some of Lisa Guliani's thread and the IR sauna was mentioned. I have one, but didn't think of trying that.

So I'm thinking the bone scan with the radioactive injection is a little overboard. They've done an X-ray and MRI already, and nothing was found. I kind of wonder, if I get the scan and find nothing, what will they have me do next? So, any thoughts on something else to try and if I'm going the right course? Thanks for reading.

 

[Renaissance]

Is it the muscle next to the shin that is in pain, like a shin splint? Or is it the pitting edema that causes the pain? Maybe a compression bandage would help some while you figure this out?

edit to add:

Have you stayed in ketosis? I wonder if the kidneys might be involved since they should be using up your salt intake while in ketosis.

 

[3DStudent]

Is it the muscle next to the shin that is in pain, like a shin splint? Or is it the pitting edema that causes the pain? Maybe a compression bandage would help some while you figure this out?

edit to add:

Have you stayed in ketosis? I wonder if the kidneys might be involved since they should be using up your salt intake while in ketosis.

It's the bone right on the front side. I thought it could be a splint too, but they say runners usually get those, and I don't even do any strenuous walking exercise. I don't think it's the pitting edema causing the pain, but rather that it's related to the issue. I tried some kinesio tape as well for a few days, and it helped a little.

I'm pretty sure I've been in ketosis since the Paleo diet over a year ago. I might have had one or two occasions where I went out of it though. I thought maybe it could be kidney or liver function too, and I hope my blood test results will tell.

 

[Hildegarda]

could it be related to circulation? those pains can be pretty sharp as well.

 

[Gertrudes]

3D Student, have you seen an osteopath or a physiotherapist to check for any muscular unbalances? These are very common, more common then you'd maybe think, either because of poor muscular balance in the feet, knees, pelvis, and so on.

 

[3DStudent]

Re: Blood results, Lyme, and iron

So I waited a long time to get my blood work, which was in the beginning of February. Everything was normal except my white blood cells and Neutrophils (absolute). The WBC were 2.9 x10E3/uL, with a reference of 4.0-10.5. The neutrophils (absolute) were 1.6 x10E3/uL, with a reference of 1.8-7.8. My C-Reactive Protein was .4 mg/L, reference of 0.0-4.9. I guess that's a good CRP for being keto?

So my low WBC and Neutrophils are related to fighting immunity. I went to my primary doctor today and he said there is something lowering those white blood cell counts, but not other things like red blood cells, hemoglobin, etc. He was implying there could be something wrong with the bone marrow. I wonder if my shin bone troubles could be responsible for that?

I also had in my blood work in Feb. a tick test. Because I have a tick bite that I think is over a year old and there's still a bump and it itches sometimes. I never got the bullseye rash, but I heard not everyone gets it. I had read the blood test wrong and thought I was "Equivocal", when it really fell under the Negative status, with a reading for Lyme IgG/IgM Ab of < 0.91. The test was the Lyme Ab/Western Blot Reflex, Lyme IgG/IgM Ab. I've heard that these tests can give false negatives, as the initial antibody response is well over the few weeks period being a year plus after being bitten, and the Lyme disease bacteria will suppress the "memory antibody" thus lowering it. Anyone know about this?

I'm suspicious because I've had for the past eight months or more what I would call "mental decline". That is, I have a hard time choosing words in relation to speaking with others, and I seem to have lost my wittiness in speaking. At work I try to communicate something, and the right words never come out and I feel that I didn't say it how I wanted to say it exactly. If I had been infected by Lyme disease, it would have been long enough at a year after infection for the bacteria to pass the blood brain barrier and effect me neurologically. Related to my shin pain, I also get a little knee pain, and I wonder if the two are connected. Lyme can give Arthritis-like pain. But maybe the mind stuff is related to iron overload.

I had a hard time at the doctor today trying to get what I want on the next blood test. He didn't want to just let me choose my blood panel without any symptoms. But I managed to get ferritin and transferrin, so that will be good. I actually decided to eat lunch today, instead of skipping it as my usual Tuesday's IF day, thinking it would best simulate a normal day for blood testing. But there was a glucose measurement on the panel my doctor ordered and I have to fast eight hours, so I gotta go again tomorrow or another day for the next blood work, "doh" .

My doctor was reluctant to let me decant a pint of blood. He said try going to the Red Cross for that. I got the impression that he was afraid to administer someone with low white blood cell and immunity blood results a decantation of 1 pint of blood. My sister is a nurse so I could ask her if I have no luck donating it.

One of the questions the Red Cross asks is something like, "Do you live someone who has an infections blood disease?" My dad has Hepatitis C, and I tested negative for it back in 2009. I'm just wondering, is it immoral to say no to the Red Cross if they asked that question? I mean, even if I had it, they check the blood you donate as stated on their website. And I want to get started with the blood decanting because I started reading the Hemochromatosis thread.

 

[Gaby]

Re: Blood results, Lyme, and iron

I also had in my blood work in Feb. a tick test. Because I have a tick bite that I think is over a year old and there's still a bump and it itches sometimes. I never got the bullseye rash, but I heard not everyone gets it. I had read the blood test wrong and thought I was "Equivocal", when it really fell under the Negative status, with a reading for Lyme IgG/IgM Ab of < 0.91. The test was the Lyme Ab/Western Blot Reflex, Lyme IgG/IgM Ab. I've heard that these tests can give false negatives, as the initial antibody response is well over the few weeks period being a year plus after being bitten, and the Lyme disease bacteria will suppress the "memory antibody" thus lowering it. Anyone know about this?

Hi 3D Student,

There are a few very good articles published at sott.net. Just type "Lyme" in the search function, I remember some of those articles, they have very good pointers.

 

[3DStudent]

Re: Blood results, Lyme, and iron

One of the questions the Red Cross asks is something like, "Do you live someone who has an infections blood disease?" My dad has Hepatitis C, and I tested negative for it back in 2009. I'm just wondering, is it immoral to say no to the Red Cross if they asked that question? I mean, even if I had it, they check the blood you donate as stated on their website. And I want to get started with the blood decanting because I started reading the Hemochromatosis thread.

Sorry, I realize now that that was a dumb and irresponsible question. After researching some more at the Red Cross site, there are a lot of criteria for being a blood donor. In addition to living with someone with Hepatitis C, there are a lot of other dis-qualifiers for being a donor. Looks like if you are being treated for Lyme disease you are disqualified. I'll have to find some therapeutic phlebotomy procedure or find someone qualified if I'm going to start the decanting. If anyone is planning to donate to the Red Cross, I'd advise going to the eligibility page here.

There are a few very good articles published at sott.net. Just type "Lyme" in the search function, I remember some of those articles, they have very good pointers.

Thanks, I did a quick search on the forum too and it looks like colloidal silver and the zapper may be good treatment other than the course of IV antibiotics. I'm going to read into it some more.

 

[3DStudent]

Re: Shin pain and treatment & Lyme update

The shin paint kind of tapered off. But it has lately come back a little, seemingly in concert with the cooling weather. But it hasn't been as bad as before. I still have a little pitting edema / water retention in that area.

I've been seeing a Lyme doctor since Late July. So I've been taking antibiotics for two months. It seems to help, but I get Herxheimer reactions sometimes. There are some days where I feel full of energy. I also take an ounce or two of colloidal silver twice a day. And I heard that 15 stevia drops can help break the cyst form of the Lyme bacteria, so I take that twice a day in tea. I'm taking milk thistle to help the liver, and garlic and boswellia for the anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties.

I never could get a positive result for a blood test. Even with some expensive lab called Igenex. The Lyme doctor says this is common and many times you just treat on symptoms alone. I'll see how it goes.

I also got my Testosterone levels and they turned out low, something like 149 ng/dL. Follow up results reveal it is gonadal. She recommended the supplement tribulus to raise the levels. I'm not familiar with oral or cream Testosterone, so I want to research them before I consider them. Low testosterone levels alone can cause some of the fatigue symptoms associated with Lyme's disease.