I'm 49 and have been an extremely active and healthy person for most of my decades. A year ago BFS symptoms set-in perhaps one or two months after I had a sinus infection. The symptoms came-on rather abruptly but were limited to my calves. Within 2 months time, I could no longer take my dogs out for our usual 2-mile walk without spending the next two or three nights with a heating pad on my legs. It got worse. I soon noticed that I could no longer climb the flights of stairs to my office without experiencing deep pain in both calves.
By the time my neurologist appointment rolled-around, my beautiful, intelligent wife had come across this web site. After reading about 100 posts, I knew I had BFS. It was a huge relief just to put a label on my symptoms (thank you web commander!). I went to the doc not seeking a cure but instead hoping to find something to take the edge off the pain. By this time, I had put-on almost 10lbs because my activity level had gone way down.
I took 900 mg of neurontin/day. The doc stated that I could cut-back or double the dose if needed but do either gradually. I’m now taking 1200mg/day. For the first month, it felt as though I was back in HS and just finished smoking a joint! Interesting feeling but it eventually faded. After the brain-fog lifted, I noticed that I could do more w/o as much pain and began to slowly increase my activity level. There’s still rarely a day that goes by that I don’t experience rapid-fire muscle twitches all over my body. The pain is still there when I exercise but it’s tolerable. My BFS with meds, is like my allergies with meds…….annoying but bearable. I can walk my dogs; I can go to the gym twice/wk and I just returned from an 18-mile backpacking trip.
I’ve lived long enough to meet all kinds of people with all kinds of health problems. Some of the happiest, most well-adjusted people I’ve met have had some of the most severe health problems. I believe how well you cope determines a lot about how well you feel. I’ve known cancer patients that laughed and partied till they died and other friends……well, they were dead long before they hit the grave. When I visit my brother-in-law, who can’t speak and has been a quadrapalegic for 40 years, I thank god all I have is BFS. I hope those of you who have BFS can achieve the same. I remember a line from “The Shawshank Redemption” that said, “you can get busy dying or you can get busy living.” I chose the latter.
By the time my neurologist appointment rolled-around, my beautiful, intelligent wife had come across this web site. After reading about 100 posts, I knew I had BFS. It was a huge relief just to put a label on my symptoms (thank you web commander!). I went to the doc not seeking a cure but instead hoping to find something to take the edge off the pain. By this time, I had put-on almost 10lbs because my activity level had gone way down.
I took 900 mg of neurontin/day. The doc stated that I could cut-back or double the dose if needed but do either gradually. I’m now taking 1200mg/day. For the first month, it felt as though I was back in HS and just finished smoking a joint! Interesting feeling but it eventually faded. After the brain-fog lifted, I noticed that I could do more w/o as much pain and began to slowly increase my activity level. There’s still rarely a day that goes by that I don’t experience rapid-fire muscle twitches all over my body. The pain is still there when I exercise but it’s tolerable. My BFS with meds, is like my allergies with meds…….annoying but bearable. I can walk my dogs; I can go to the gym twice/wk and I just returned from an 18-mile backpacking trip.
I’ve lived long enough to meet all kinds of people with all kinds of health problems. Some of the happiest, most well-adjusted people I’ve met have had some of the most severe health problems. I believe how well you cope determines a lot about how well you feel. I’ve known cancer patients that laughed and partied till they died and other friends……well, they were dead long before they hit the grave. When I visit my brother-in-law, who can’t speak and has been a quadrapalegic for 40 years, I thank god all I have is BFS. I hope those of you who have BFS can achieve the same. I remember a line from “The Shawshank Redemption” that said, “you can get busy dying or you can get busy living.” I chose the latter.