Quote:
Originally Posted by Erin524
I always take my baclofen just before going to bed. It helps me sleep, and seems to last longer than if I took the baclofen several hours before going to bed.
My neuro just gave me a ton of samples of Lyrica (med that helps with neurological pain) and told me not to take it at the same time as the baclofen (both meds make you sleepy) and the Lyrica seems to have actually helped some of the weird neurological acheyness...achyness? (is "acheyness" a word? aches? pain..whatever...finally! something that sort of helps!)
I do think I read somewhere that if you're taking baclofen for awhile, that if you need to quit taking it, it's best to step down slowly from it. I had taken it for awhile last year, and then quit taking it...got the surprise muscle spasms the next morning, so I ended up slowly stepping down from it.
Then after a few months, the spasticity came back a bit in my legs, so I started back up on it...one pill (10mg) a day, which was fine until last April when the latest flare lit up like a California wildfire. That spasticity really really sucked. It was full body stiffness. Giant invisible pythons wrapped around my ribs trying to kill me. Stiffness that made my toes on the right foot want to curl upwards. I went thru so much baclofen that a bottle that normally lasted me two or three months, only lasted me a month.
I dont like taking meds during the day, but there have been times where I felt like I needed to take something (stiffness from The Hug bugging me). That's when I break a pill in half and take the smallest dose that I can take. That usually helps. If it doesnt, I take the other half of the pill.
Once you know how baclofen affects you, you can usually figure out what's going to help and what might be too much. Even when I had the really really bad spasticity, I was still trying to take the least amount of baclofen that I could. It makes me really sleepy, and I like to try to stay awake.
It's really the only medication that I've been taking with any regularity for any of my MS symptoms. The Lyrica is a med that I havent taken more than 7 or 8 times so far, and that hasnt been every day. I just hate taking medicine.
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Neuropathic pain is the worst! and I hate it sooo very much! I have actually been suggested lyrica for that neuropathy. so it's helping eh?
I am too scared to try any other neuropathic pain killers as I tried Gabapentin out and it nearly killed me, that was the most terrifying experience I have EVER lived through (and boy am I lucky I did live through it) in my LIFE! But neuropathy is so uncomfortable! The electrical (both sharp and dull) shocks, stabbing, tearing, pinching, burning, freezing sensations
ahhhh!!!!
That's a bummer that the baclofen makes you sleepy, but I'd rather deal with sleepiness at this point than feeling like my back muscles are tied into a corset all the time.my stiffness and spasms are mainly in the center back muscles, down my spine, and they just tighten up so bad. Sometimes the tightness goes around my ribs too but the most uncomfortable to deal with is the tightness in the muscles around the spine, much like where you would tie a corset.
wow. that ^ was really repetative lol.
Thanks for letting me in on details for the baclofen and lyrica!
