Question:
I took a look at my daughter’s labs in Thursday just before she had her chemo treatment. Her calcium, magnesium and potassium levels were all okay. She has some significant lymphocytopenia as a result of the Cytoxan, but her WBC and RBC levels have come up. Her rheumatologist says that this shows the chemo is working. Her BUN had been edging up very slowly over the past several years and had reached a high of 21. That’s not terribly high, but it was something to keep an eye on. Anyway, after years of steadily increasing, it’s suddenly half what it was. She had a slightly elevated blood glucose level of 123 which wouldn’t be a major concern except that she also had some ketones in her urine. Since she’s on Prednisone and this can cause diabetes, we’ll be keeping a close eye on this. Besides that, I noted that her urine specific gravities have been running a little high, and that she had some uric acid crystals show up this time. I’m pretty sure she needs to be drinking a lot more water than she has been. She tends to get busy online and forget. So far as her musle twitching problem goes, I really think it’s related to her CNS involvement of her lupus. She’s had a lot of CNS symptoms including what the neurologist called a "mini-stroke" or TIA. She’s also had mild seizures in the past though to my knowledge she hasn’t had any in the past month. Thanks for all the help and support. Sandra
Response:
HI Sandra, I dont know if it is the same but I used to have muscle twitching when I had myoclonic seizures. I think that is how you spell it. I had constant twitching in my arms mostly but all over at times. When I had an EEG the doctors picked it up. karen
Response:
Dear Sandra, The muscle twichings are probably not connected to the CNS and peripheral neuropathy, but to the prednisone. Prednisone tends to reduce potassium in muscles as well as magnesium and manganses. Defficiency of any of these can cause these painful muscle twitchings. The most common cause is potassium depletion, is her plasma level of potassium being assayed frequently, does she recieve any potassium supplement, such as slow-K? Hugs, Boaz http://www.acor.org/lupus/ http://www.zeta.org.au/~sioux/mira always consult your medical practitioner
Response:
She is taking supplements which include potassium and magnesium. though not anywhere near 100% of the recommended amount. Since my daughter is also frequently nauseated and has vomiting, you may very well be right about the potassium. She sees the doctor this Thursday before her chemo treatment, so I’ll ask him about it at that time. Thanks. Sandra <<The muscle twichings are probably not connected to the CNS and peripheral neuropathy, but to the prednisone. Prednisone tends to reduce potassium in muscles as well as magnesium and manganses. Defficiency of any of these can cause these painful muscle twitchings. The most common cause is potassium depletion, is her plasma level of potassium being assayed frequently, does she recieve any potassium supplement, such as slow-K?>>
Response:
Sandra, I had responded earlier to this post and it never showed up. I too thought you should ask about the magnesium and potassium level. In the research we did on magnesium it was important to measure it intracellularly by a blood test (RBC Magnesium level) not serum. Serum is in the blood only and is not a clear indicator of how much magnesium she actually has working for her. Many physicians are not aware of the RBC magnesium levels or how it needs to be drawn. The laboratory is though. We use LabCorp, they are familiar with this test. We dealt with people with major and minor muscle twitching. They responded well to magnesium and/or potassium supplements,whichever was perscribed for their particular needs. Do let us know how she is doing. Susanrn
Response:
Hi Sandra, I had really bad muscle twitching as a side effect of dilantin, you didn’t say if your daughter was on this drug. I thought I would mention it. Jessica
Response:
This is a long shot but check her calcium levels and magnesium levels. Sometimes an imbalance in these can cause muscle twitching and/or cramping. Judy S SCroyle909 wrote in message
<19990605211122.24052.00000…@ng-fq1.aol.com>… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->My 13 y.o. daughter has been having a lot of muscle twitching lately.
Response:
<<This is a long shot but check her calcium levels and magnesium levels. Sometimes an imbalance in these can cause muscle twitching and/or cramping. >> Thanks. Several have mentioned this possibility (actually potassium and magnesium levels). I’ll check it on Thursday when I get her lab printout. She has labs every two weeks. I think it’s also highly possible it’s related to her CNS symptoms. She’s had a rather hard time with CNS symptoms. In fact, I was told by the pediatric neurologist a couple weeks ago that it sounds like she’s had a couple of TIAs or ministrokes caused by vasculitis flareups. I didn’t think I heard him right at first, I was so surprised. Thankfully, the effects were transient. Her CNS involvement is the reason she’s on chemotherapy and Prednisone though. Sandra
Response:
My 13 y.o. daughter has been having a lot of muscle twitching lately. She has CNS involvement with her lupus stemming from vasculitis, has had a few absence seizures in the past, and has frequent migraine headaches for which she takes Midrin PRN and Pamelor q. day. The muscle twitching is pretty annoying to her though not painful. You can actually see the muscles sort of vibrating under the skin. She says it doesn’t seem to be connected to her headaches, but then who knows because she’s almost always got some kind of headache. She also has some peripheral neuropathy (numbness and tinging in extremities), and has had migraines which her neurologist says were almost stroke like in nature. Once, for example, she woke up in the morning with a headache and unable to move her right arm. She tried, but it just flopped around. Then, when she tried to walk, she could only do so with a lot of difficulty and kept falling because she couldn’t get her feet to "work right." The neurologist called it a "complicated migraine," kind of like a TIA (transient ischemic attack) probably from a flareup of the vasculitis. Fortunately, in a way, she gets auras (visions of dancing lights) prior to the really severe migraines, so she knows when one is pending and can take her medicine beforehand. I should probably mention that she’s being treated aggressively with Prednisone (currently down to 15 mg./day) and IV Cytoxan (1000 mg. q. 4 weeks). She has had some improvement in her overall health, but still spends most of her time sick and has little tolerance for any substantial activities. In fact, she’s been almost totally homebound for many months. What I was wondering is how many others have symptoms like these and what your doctors have told you about it? Sandra
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