pebblebeach3

Hi all. I don't think that I ever posted under this forum. But have posted in the back section/spinal & pain section.

First here is my history:

--- 1994 lumbar spine surgery;
--- 1995 cervical spine surgery; stenosis;
--- 1997 lumbar surgery with Harrington rods;
--- 2000 Cervical surgery with Harrington rods;
--- 2003 leg surgery for DVT; blood clot;
--- 2006 implant spinal cord stimulator;
--- 2007 surgery for pancreatic cancer;
--- 2011 spinal cord stimulator removed

EMG done and I was told that I have severe cervical and lumbar nerve damage; severe arthritis and peripheral neuropathy

Other medical conditions:

--- Diabetic;
--- born/congenital absent Left kidney;
--- Right Kidney disease

Symptoms:

--- Leg numbness both legs left worse then the right; balance issues; cervical pain; radiating pain to the shoulders; weakness in my arms; tingling feeling at times; pin and needle feeling in my feet; times that I feel like I am walking on pebbles. Intermittent burning feeling in thigh area of legs.

MRI of thoracic/cervical region also showed severe loss of disc height at one level; focal cord atrophy; stenosis; bone spurs in cervical region; and in the thoracic region protrusions/bulges of discs

But here is what also is occurring. For years I have had severe crampting of my legs. It always occurs at night time, usually in the middle of the night as I am about to get out of bed. The pain level is usually 10 Plus. I find that once I am out of bed, I have extreme difficulty straightening my leg. And when I try to walk I have to grap on to the walls or furniture so that I don't fall. It usually last 5 minutes or so.

Is this the result of the peripheral neuropathy? One thing I cant remember from my neurologist visit after the EMG. Not sure if the neuropathy was strictly spinal in nature or if I was told it was a combination of a spinal and diebetic neuropathy.

Usually after the cramps are gone I am fine. But occasionally I find that while the cramping has stopped I have this sore feeling in the thight that can last several days.

What can be done to reduce the cramping? Years ago a friend of mine had similar experiences said he drank Tonic water because of the quinine in the tonic water. Didn't seem to work for me though.

Any thoughts; comments; suggestions; thanks for listening.