Having cramping in fingers and calves. Do I need a potassium supplement? No other adverse sx's. Should I be concerned?
Taking diclofenac EC 75 mg 2x day -- one month for strained groin muscle?
Question posted by 1jashep on 20 Sep 2012
Last updated on 22 September 2012
3 Answers
AquariusAnneCA
21 Sep 2012
My direct answer to your question is to not take any medication at all for your problem! A strained groin muscle will heal itself with the proper treatment without medication. Physical therapy is the answer and also water therapy is a good comfort. Icing it and lying down helps. Comfort is all you get from that medication as it helps the pain but then you have to deal with side affects. Deal with the pain without the meds and you won't have all these side affects. Learn to relax on the couch, read, watch TV and anything where you are not putting a strain on that groin problem. Relax, relax, relax and enjoy the time for healing rather than taking pain medications. The body will heal itself. I had a terribly strained groin muscle and it takes a long time, like months, to get better but know that and in my opinion, do not take any meds for it... a tylenol or aleve is okay but not what you state above (diclofenac, etc).
Just another problem to deal with. Pain for a while is a part of our lives. Please learn to deal with it in a positive manner.
Aquarius Anne
meyati
21 Sep 2012
Not only what Aquarius said above about using ice, PT, soaking in hot water-some people call it a bath-there are issues that if your pain is killed-you will keep injuring the muscle. Then there is the variation of another problem in taking meds for everything. One, your body gets used to the pain killer and it doesn't work anymore, and you need something stronger--NEXT - if pain meds don't work, because your doctor over prescribed-WHAT IN THE WORLD R U GONNA DO IF U HAVE SOMETHING SERIOUS HAPPEN TO U LIKE A BAD CAR WRECK? Also many meds damage the kidneys and liver, as they filter the blood to remove toxins, and our organs are programmed to think that many medications are toxins. So, listen to Aquarius, and like I suggested, you should go over your meds to see if any of them could be causing the side effects that U R experiencing.
1jashep
21 Sep 2012
Thank you Aquarius and Meyati and others who have been so kind and helpful. Just to let you know... I am not taking any medications except the one I mentioned. I have been at this health stuff for over 70 years. I am having physical therapy, ice, relaxing, etc. I only became concerned due to this one medication and want to get off of it ASAP. I did stop a couple of weeks ago but the pain was still pretty intense and O/C meds were not helping.
When I began getting finger and leg cramps I did wonder if a potassium supplement from my health food store might help that side effect if I had to take the diclofenac.. I have now cut back to one tablet of diclofenac (75 mg EC) a day to see if that will provide relief until I can stop taking it. I want all of you helpful people to know how much I appreciate your input. Online help is really wonderful.
Thanks... Jean
AquariusAnneCA
22 Sep 2012
Hi Jean,
You are so welcome and thank you for being appreciative. I see you have the number "70" there so we are both in that "coming of age" time period... by that I mean all the little things go wiry in our bodies as we age. I sympathize with you having a groin muscle strain as I had the same thing happen and believe it or not, I had a knee replacement and the therapist caused the strained groin muscle and he felt so very bad about it so he gave me som kind of therapy that helped a little but it took months and months to feel normal again.
About the leg and finger cramps, believe it or not, just a couple swallows of tonic water will take that away... I used to have them so bad with a statin drug that nearly killed me but I used to drink the tonic water. I kept a small bottle of it on my dresser next to my bed. Once I no longer took statin meds, the cramps went away. It is inexpensive and it definitely works if you feel you have to take that medication... what is that med for, may I ask?
Good luck to you and relax and enjoy the time you need to heal... I have Netflix and love it and I have been reading some good books and I don't even have a muscle strain anymore! Life is good!
Aquarius Anne
meyati
22 Sep 2012
Bless you Jean-I'm 70 too. I think that some doctors forget that we're old or they feel sorry 4 us. So many people are on statins-that I thought that I'd warn you. Since you don't take any- it's a no never-mind. U don't need to worry about it. It takes longer sometimes, when a person is our age, but that doesn't mean we're down and out. Since you don't take very much medication, your body probably should have a smaller dosage. Most people take lots of meds-and doctors presume that everyone takes lots of meds, so they prescribe mega doses. My doctors mostly give me children's meds and dosages. Keep in touch with us. you can talk to us any time.
1jashep
22 Sep 2012
Thank you Aquarius and Meyati... The tonic water suggestion is amazing..I will do that. Do you have an opinion as to why that helps? As for statins... give me a break!! I had those prescribed about 8 years ago for a very minimal increase in cholesterol... I nearly died from pain and depression! I finally realized that I was ONLY taking the statin and got up in the night and researched it. Four hours later I threw all of it in the garbage and within 3 days was back to great and normal health. I have normal levels of that and normal blood pressure.
Thank you both, once again. Keep on advising people on this site. Every little bit helps! jean
AquariusAnneCA
22 Sep 2012
Okay, Jean, here goes the answer to "what is in Tonic Water that helps leg cramps"... it is Quinine! Now, do not and I repeat, do not try to buy plain old Quinine cause it is no longer sold over the counter or prescription... reasonb being is the FDA says it can be dangerous to use. It was used to prevent Malaria at one time... but the tonic water has so little in it and I know you are not going to drink gallons of it cause you won't need to... I love it but will not drink it as a regular drink. I am not a drinker but Gin and Tonic is a good drink cause it is the tonic water you taste and not the gin. Anyhow, if you stop that pain med you are taking, you probably won't have the cramps anymore. But the tonic water is a simple solution if you get the cramps really bad and just short term. Statins almost killed me too and my walking is limited due to the damage it did to the leg muscles... I had brown urine and pains in my ribs and so many side affects from it...
so, I agree with you, no statins.
Just take it nice and easy with your groin muscle problem and remember it takes a long time to get better... so just "move along with the tide" and you will recover.
Aquarius Anne is sending you hugs!
1jashep
22 Sep 2012
You are, obviously, a sweetheart. Thanks for the informative note on the tonic water. Of course! I had forgotten what the ingredients are. Jean
meyati
22 Sep 2012
Darling, I'm glad that you tossed the statins. I can't understand why they sell that poison. The problem is that statin seems to be like polio and makes a come back in later years. Some people can take it and never have problems-some are plagued for the rest of their lives after taking it for a short time-I'm one of those- Many people write to me about statins and I read comments on statin sites. There is a share of people that seem OK after stopping statins, but it hits them years later. At this point-has your doctor ordered a urine test to see if your muscles are breaking down. Considering many doctors being in denial-tell your doctor that you think that you have a kidney infection. If your urine is normal-fine- you have some re-assurance. If you have a problem, the doctor has to take care of it. I don't believe in dishonesty, but I will do this for the kidneys. Also ask your doctor about physical therapy-ultra sound.
Statin myopathy creates scar tissue on your muscles. I went from being completely bed-ridden to being able to walk the dogs around the block with ultra sound. Complain to your doctor that you're old and you aren't healing properly-and you heard that ultra sound works on it. I was fortunate-my specialist also is a statin victim. Cortisone shots creates scar tissue in statin victims, so don't let them do that. By the way--did you have a groin injury when you were younger? I'm just a nosy old lady--- But I hear so many people complain that the statin pain went into an earlier injury. Thank you for befriending me. Take care
meyati
22 Sep 2012
Aquarius-thanks for the tip about tonic water--- I'm having it sort of bad right now.
AquariusAnneCA
22 Sep 2012
Oh Meyati... I am so sorry you are having it bad... guess you are talking about the cramps? Yes, they can get really miserable! I rarely get them anymore and when I do it is from a lot of walking...
Get better soon and drink the tonic water!
Hugs to all,
Aquarius Anne
1jashep
22 Sep 2012
I think I mis-typed. IMHO: less is usually better, isn't it? Thank you for all of your help -- each of you -- and get well soon if you are in a rough patch.
Jean
meyati
23 Sep 2012
It's worse than that. The statin set off nasal drainage, and my doctor put me on an antihistamine-yes some people that I'm in contact have constant bouts of pneumonia from the statin nasal drip. He sent in the script for a refill-and the pharmacy told him that they didn't carry it anymore, but they had something similar-OK. I went in-saw it was different-same company-almost same name. I had a hissy fit and screamed at 3 clerks/pharmacists. They kept telling me it was the same thing. I think that I almost died. If you take thyroid do not take pseudoephedrine. According to my doctor it and meth works by stimulating the thyroid-which sends all of your glands into over drive. The company that makes this crap actually called me back to see if I was dead or alive. I called the number on the package and was transferred to scientists. The urgent care doctor and my primary care doctor said the dosage was way beyond extreme-extreme overkill. When I made the appt.
the doctor called the pharmacy and they told him it was a very low amount of psuedoeph, below 50 mg. but I took the packaging and paper work in. He was almost screaming how they lied to him. He said that I should have been hospitalized. I told him that I think that i would have died from the stress of being 6 hours in a waiting room-and probably any meds would have made it worse. I had unspecific symptoms-extreme sweating without a fever-which the drug company said usually happens to people in ICU, super headache, my BP went from 92 to 190 in less than 13 days, it seemed to bring back symptoms of statin poisoning, back spasms, foot and leg cramps, periphial neuropathy, horrible night mares, etc. I was told that thyroid doesn't mean anything-they want to counsel me about thyroid-I don't need counseling about thyroid-I need counseling on how their meds affect my thyroid-and the truth wouldn't hurt. It's about 50-60 degrees about midnight-I wear a tank top and slowly walk my dogs about half of a block, and I'm drenched with sweat.
My BP went down 144 when I saw my doctor. People here say-Meyati you should go to an endocrinologist for your thyroid-My GP raised hell. I went to pick up my antihistamine- they were showing everyone their bottles of meds before bagging it. The man ahead of me told them that it was about time they did this and thank you-so it's not just me. WOULD U BELIEVE THAT I GOT THE SAME MED THAT THEY DISPENSED 2 ME IN JUNE-AND THEY TOLD ME AND THE DOCTOR THAT IT WASN'T MADE ANYMORE? IT WENT GENERIC- THEN I HAVE MEMBERS TELL ME THAT I SHOULDN'T SAY THAT THE PHARMACIST LIED TO ME, AS THAT'S ACCUSING THEM OF DECEIT-WELL MY DOCTOR SAID THEY LIED TO HIM.
Dear friends, B4 u suggest going 2 another pharmacy, this is the only pharmacy that carries my stomach med-Librax. 4 some reason pilots, special forces, and former POWs use this-not-American med-and this chain of pharmacies that are near military bases have the med-Walmart-Walgreens, CVS, etc don't carry it- 5 European companies make it, but the FDA and DEA said that it wasn't healthy-while the VA, DOD and the DOD surgeon generals were able to get it imported. Without Librax, I'd probably die. I'm going to the state pharmacy board to see what my rights are. The national Board of Pharmacists is next door. All of the pharmacies around here act like that. It didn't used to be that way. What really makes me mad is that drug counseling comes after you pay for the meds. That's not right--- I'm thinking of writing out a paper that states they advised me about how the med interacts with thyroid. I paid $45 for the bad meds and have 2 doctor bills from it. I was scheduled for a day surgery that I had to postpone because I knew that i was to ill to go to a beauty shop-let alone have any type of procedure. I'll ask my son to get me some tonic water.
meyati
23 Sep 2012
I'm sorry to dump on you--
AquariusAnneCA
23 Sep 2012
Oh Meyati, please do not apologize for getting all of that out of your system... it is so sad that you had to go through all that you have been through. I think you have learned that your body is extra sensitive to medications and the doctors are not professed to be what we think they are and that the pharmaceutical companies are big business.But we certainly need all of those above so hopefully your meds will get straightened out and you will once again be able to enjoy the fun things in life.
I wish you a lovely tomorrow and good days to come.
Hugs,
Aquarius Anne
meyati
23 Sep 2012
I think that my doctor scared the s**t out of them. He knows that I'm sensitive-I'm allergic to bandaids and neosporin-it's the pharmacies. So if I get a boo-boo, he prescribes me antihistamines so I don't break out. Poor man was getting me set up for my little surgery. They don't what it is, never seen anything like it. We're all anxious to get it off of me and see what it is. i had like a zit under my nose about 30 years ago. About every 5 years I've tried to get it removed. It's slowly been growing, now it's painful, sort of green, it's under the skin where people don't notice it. It looks like pus-but it's hard. My doctor wanted to know why I didn't show it to him when he became my doctor. We had thyroid problems, high BP from thyroid-allergy from a dog attack, etc. I reminded him of that, and the 5 years is now-then it started hurting-B4 it didn't hurt. Now it does. Some of my doctors do say that I'm not boring, and I make them feel like doctors.
meyati
21 Sep 2012
Yes, you should B concerned--You do need to talk to your doctor, as some meds do permanent damage to the muscles and/or the nerves. Today there are many meds that cause leg cramps. R U taking a cholesterol medication? Some people, especially people with thyroid problems develop these symptoms of leg and hand cramps-and worse from statin, which is the main ingredient in cholesterol meds. I asked my doctor about taking potassium for my leg and foot cramps, but he had the results from previous lab work. I was in the proper range for potassium, but at the high end of it. Basically, I would have killed myself, and they say it is a painful way to go. You need to go over your meds with your doctor-also most pharmacists really know their meds. Good luck in finding the cause of this very quickly--
kaismama
20 Sep 2012
The diclofenac isn't the culprit. And no you should not take a potassium supplement. You should see your doctor. Potassium is one supplement I wouldn't play with without a docs order. Our bodies are very dependent on a balance of potassium.
1jashep
20 Sep 2012
Thank you kaiser mama... I also am retired from healthcare. I will take your advice under consideration.
Related topics
Further information
- Diclofenac uses and safety info
- Diclofenac prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Diclofenac (detailed)
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