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This may be a strange symptom, but has anyone had the symptom where the cartilage(upper half of ear) is painful at times? Not real painful, just annoying at times. Also my calf muscles have been giving me fits lately and it usually happens in the evening. I took one of my husband's vicadan (that he has taken on occasion for kidney stones) last night just to get some relief. I try to stay away from the strong stuff but was troubled by my legs last night. Seems like that's been more of a problem lately. That was one of the symptoms I dealt with when my MS symptoms showed up after a 14 year hiatus fom initial symptom of postpartumoptic neuritis.

hi coach! you taking any supplements? like vitamin d3, or magnesium, anything like that? could be an interaction. or if not, could just be a typical ms nutrient problem.

fyi child-bearing exacts a heavy zinc toll and zinc deficiency is seen in ms patients and in a variety of eye problems, including optic neuritis.

zinc and optic neuritis:

Zinc in the eye
http://www.surveyophthalmol.com/article ... 3/abstract
"The highest concentration of this trace element in the human body is measured in the eye..."
"Diminished serum zinc levels have also been shown in cases of ... optic neuritis"

zinc levels pregnant and non-pregnant: (all participants were deficient by my reckoning - healthy control zinc levels should be high teens)

Zinc concentrations in maternal blood during pregnancy and post partum, in cord blood and amniotic fluid.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3439449
"Maternal serum zinc concentration in early and term pregnancy was significantly lower than that of the non-pregnant controls (mean values +/- SEM being 9.8 +/- 0.6, 9.3 +/- 0.2, and 11.5 +/- 0.3 mumol/l, respectively). Maternal serum zinc concentrations reached the non-pregnant level by one week post partum."

improved zinc status 30 days post partum:

Antepartum/postpartum depressive symptoms and serum zinc and magnesium levels
http://www.if-pan.krakow.pl/pjp/pdf/2006/4_571.pdf
"...the early post-delivery period (3rd day) was characterized by a 24% lower serum zinc concentration than that found on the 30th day after childbirth."

hth

Going to check on some supplements. My husband does not support their use but I think there can be something to be gained by their use. Will be checking out the magnesium and zinc. Thabks JL for the recommendation.

hopefully hubby will come around, because the list of nutrient issues that are seen in ms patients is long, and includes vit d3, vitamin b12 (and the rest of the complex), potentially vitamin e (if you have sensory ataxia), magnesium, selenium, zinc, etc.

supplemental forms and doses must be carefully selected! feel free to ask me questions

off the top, for the pain try 500mg/d of magnesium GLYCINATE.
as for zinc, 50mg/d balanced with 2mg copper would probably be a good idea.

if you can get bloodwork, make sure your magnesium level is at least 0.90 mmol/L and the zinc level in the high teens, around 18.2 umol/L.
the 'normal' ranges for both those nutrients are very wide; the targets given above are healthy places to aim for within the broader 'normal' (which includes a lot of sick people).

hth!
jimmylegs