# Any advice for chronic bursitis?



## Ravenlost

A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with bursitis in my right hip. The neurosurgeon gave me a shot in the hip and it really helped...until now. The pain and swelling is coming back. 

I also have bursitis in my left shoulder, right elbow and right ankle.

Are there any home remedies for bursitis? Maybe an herbal miracle cure?

:help:


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## Kee Wan

Get some MAgnesium Citrate. 

Bursitis can be caused by muscles that are chronically tight - pulling the joints together adn causing destructive friction over a long period of time.... Calcium is the mineral that works with the nervous system to help muscles contract - MG works to help them relax.....If you're taking a Ca suppliment, and not balancing it wiht MG, (and ZN - in bioavailable forms) then you'r esetting yourself up for stuff like this.....

It's estimated that about 75% of the population is chrinically deficient in MG. Citrate is the most easily absorbed and bioavailable form of MG. 

If you take a vitamin that has in it MG oxide - you get about 4 % of that available MG - you pee out the rest. 

When I get "pains" muscular or whatever...my first course of "action" is to either eat somethign with MG in it, or to take some Mg citrate tablets. Almost always works. 


If yuou want citations for this....I can hunt them up...or you can go get "Pain free in 6 weeks" by Dr. Sherry Rogers. I think that's the book that has most of hte MG citations in it.


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## Ravenlost

Thanks. I don't take any vitamins and can't take calcium because I have kidney stones. Will do some research on the Magnesium Citrate!

Thanks again.


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## Sher

Oh my..first off..I've had bursitis once in a while. I cannot imagine how I would be coping if I had it Chronically. So..I am sorry for your pain.

I would try some of the following. Omega 3's. Its been great for the pain of fibro. I would also..topically .. use a product called..Chinota gel..I don't know how it does it..but it is probably close to the best topically used pain reliever I have used.

I just read about celery tea being good for bursitis, arthritis..rheum..etc. I am going to be looking for some myself. Until you find it (or until I find it) I think I will be adding more celery and celery seed to my diet.

Good luck..bursitis pain is just horrible..


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## Ravenlost

Thanks Sher. Did you know that fibromyalgia and rheumatism is the same thing? Anyway, I developed another problem yesterday that I am sure is related to the arthritis/bursistis. Twice yesterday my right thumb was pulled inward toward the palm. The second time it happened I couldn't move it at all and hubby had to pull it back into place. It's quite sore today and scared me badly.

SIGH...I probably need to go back to the doctor.


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## suburbanite

Ravenlost, it sounds like your calcium levels are screwed up, probably low.

Check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chvostek's_sign

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trousseau_sign_of_latent_tetany

_(edited by Karen to remove non-alternative treatment -- please, keep all info relating to alternative methods only in this forum)_


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## Rory

I'm concerned about your calcium, too. How's your cholesterol? I'm post-partum cholesterol sensitive and have been reading up on it...gallbladder attacks...and read that chronic bursitis is tied to the gallbladder. Sounds like your muscular system is a little out of whack, but maybe it has to do with your kidneys or gallbladder. Chemical or mineral imbalance? Calcium and magnesium are a BIG deal. "The thigh bone is connected to the...knee bone. The knee bone is connected to the...shin bone. The shin bone is connected to..."

See a chiropractor? MD for tests?


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## Ravenlost

My cholesterol is sky high. Had my gallbladder out 17 years ago. Every time I have bloodwork done everything comes back normal, plus I had a bone scan done first of the year. Only thing that confirmed was arthritis in all my joints. A year ago January I had surgery for a ruptured disk in my neck that was affecting my right arm. Perhaps the thumb problem is related to nerve damage from that. Plus, I have MS and thought perhaps the thumb problem was due to that. 

LOL...my left eyelid has been twitching a lot lately, but I don't think that's related to the bursitis. Could be related to the thumb deal though.

I'll probably make an appointment to see my doctor again soon. Hubby is getting worried and wants me to see a rheumatologist again. He read that bursitis does NOT cause swelling in the hip and my right hip is very swollen and tender. SIGH...I hate going to the doctor almost as much as I hate taking pills.


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## LvDemWings

I get a twitchy eyelid and its related to stress. The more I'm stressed the worse it gets. The thumb can be related to arthritis. My sis gets it in her toes. I've been told that capsaisum (I know I didn't spell that right) cream is very helpful for bursitis but the oils in hot peppers blister my skin and I can't use it.


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## suburbanite

Raven, if your hip is hot as well it is possible you have a joint infection.

But where exactly do you mean by your hip? There's the actual hip joint, then there's the trochanter, a non-joint protrusion which sticks out to the side just below the joint, and then there's those dimples low on each side of your back which some people call the 'hips' but is actually the sacro-iliac joints. Here's a drawing of the area, I think you can figure out which joint is which.

http://www.netterimages.com/image/3381.htm


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## suburbanite

Raven, magnesium competes with the uptake receptor for calcium in the gut--most magnesium supplements will include a small amount of calcium to offset this problem. On a net basis you may absorb slightly less dietary calcium if you consistently take magnesium. So there is some basis to think that magnesium supplementation might make some sliver of benefit about those kidneystones, though it would probably be below the level of any kind of detection.


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## Ravenlost

My entire hip hurts from back to front. It is swollen from the outer hip around and down to the groin area. It isn't hot to the touch, but is very painfully sensitive to the touch. 

I have read that bursitis in the hip does not cause swelling, so I'm concerned about this. It's been swollen for months.

I'm looking into magnesium supplements.


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## suburbanite

Raven,

Does it follow a dermatomal distribution? If so it could be herpes/chickenpox related (I know that sounds bizarre).

Here's a map of dermatomes:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/epollak/PSY255_pix/dermatomes-netter2.JPG

If it follows one of these regions that would suggest that it is some kind of neurological dysfunction, unlikely as that seems at first thought.

It could also be an inguinal hernia with pain referred to the hip (one would hope your doctor would be able to correctly diagnose this, however!)

Here's a drawing (no gore) illustrating surgery for that problem, on a male though:

http://www.surgeryencyclopedia.com/images/gesu_02_img0123.jpg

Has anyone done an ultrasound or anything on that part of your body? 

Given the family history you mention of ovarian cancer, I have to worry that you could have cancer in a lymph node of that region blocking regional lymphatic drainage and thereby resulting in swelling. While cancer itself doesn't hurt (sic: it causes pain by compressing on surrounding areas, supposedly; yet I identified a skin cancer on myself because it stung upon sun exposure, which fact *my* doc to this day denies as 'impossible'), edema that resulted from lymphatic back-up might. Mind you I don't think this is the most likely problem but I think it is the 'worst case scenario', based on what understandably scant evidence can be discussed on a web board.

There are also some pelvic infections that might cause the situation you describe; in that earlier diagram I linked to, look at the path of the psoas muscle to see how pain, fluid, and infections might get from one area to another, contiguously. Some of these are sexually transmitted diseases--but they can go without noticable symptoms for many years in some individuals, so even if it proved to be such a bug that wouldn't necessarily imply any misbehavior on the part of yourself or a partner. The other structure that you can look for in an anatomy book and which infection or tumor can travel along is the ovarian ligament, which runs pretty well along the same course as that inguinal hernia pictured in the link in this post, and out to the ovary.

Are your symptoms the same now as before the shot, or different? It's also possible that you have some kind of infection now as a result of the shot, if the needle touched something non-sterile before the injection or if the injection fluid had been somehow contaminated (bad seal on the drug vial or what-not). But an infection will usually be red and hot, not just swollen.

add: scratch that--if the shot was several weeks ago then infection from the shot is unlikely as it would have shown up before now.

Also if the shot gave relief it suggests that the initial diagnosis and treatment was correct for the problem at that time. Is this the same problem or a different one? Hm.


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## suburbanite

Here is an illustration from a site about the STD lymphogranuloma venereum, a variety of chlamydia which has become more common in the US over the past two years. 

While the illustration was made for a discussion of STD's, it remains valid for *any* infection or for tumors which might affect that region of the body.

http://www.indstate.edu/thcme/micro/review/lgv.jpg


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## Karen

It could, however, be from your MS. It does effect joints and causes swelling.


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## Ravenlost

That's what I suspect Karen. I think the MS could be causing the eyelid twitch and the thumb problem. 

suburbanite...thank you for all the links. I am taking time to go over them. The thought of a tumor scares me as I have had surgery for tumors before. I had a three inch tumor in a lymph node (neck) which was removed 17 years ago and nine years ago I had a hysterectomy because of a thumbnail sized tumor in my uterus and a softball sized tumor on my right ovary.

The swelling and pain was present BEFORE the neurosurgeon gave me the cortisone shot. The shot helped the pain, but not the swelling.


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## Karen

Ravenlost, it kind of makes me wonder, with my doctors now making this new pre-diagnosis of MS (praying it's not!), and it could just be coincidence, but I'm finding a lot of MS victims have had several tumors prior to their diagnosis of MS. Seems rather strange doesn't it?

I've also had several removed: one on my hand, one under my arm/lymph nodes (when I was 12 yrs. old); an ovarian tumor in my 20's; one on my upper inside leg; and another ovarian + uterine tumor in which I had to have a complete hysterectomy. They are also watching another spot on breast that is suspicious in my last mammogram. I have to go back in 3 months for another spot compression mammogram.

Boy I can sympathize with that eyelid twitch. Is that ever annoying! I had it once constantly for days; and I still get it about everyday. I also have sort of the same thing in my ears. It's sort of like if you close your ears by moving the muscles to your ears. It's a constant muscle contraction that doesn't really hurt, but it irritates like fingernails on a blackboard. I also have times when my left hand curls up and I'm unable to use it, kind of like a stroke victim. It's been happening for years, but I always attributed it to my TIA's.


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## Ravenlost

Well, it's definitely not lymphogranuloma venereum! UGH...

Karen, I didn't know that about MS patients. I find that quite interesting. Couldn't find anything online about MS/benign tumors, but would sure like to learn more.


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## suburbanite

Raven--I think lymphogranuloma venerium should be included in all teenage sex education classes when they discuss STDs. With pics from the chronic cases...(scarring from this illness left untreated is quite dramatic).

But then I also think that mentioning pregnancy as the leading cause of hemorrhoids in young women would be a good idea too.

Much more immediate than 'God won't like it if you sleep around...'

Anyway I liked the lymph node drawing in its more general application for infection and tumor in that region.


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## Ravenlost

I had hubby feel it this morning and he agreed that there's a hugh swelling there. It hurt when he touched it...even the skin is painful. He wants me to make an appointment with our family physician.


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