you gave aperfect description of ADult or Spasmodic Torticollis. Essentially the neck/head doesn't move for a while (like when sleeping) and some muscles go into an intence spasm.

Making it move gently can relieve(some people can be also be low in magnesium, sodium etc which can cause spasms). Heat and gentle forced but sustained movement seem to work best, as does adjusting your sleeping position. Stress, overworking the shoulders &/or neck or not moving during sleep {or all above} can easily lead to torticollis.

Mine was relieved greatly by buying new pillows and fixing my electrolyte levels (they were out of wack). Every time I slept on my new & expensive "memory foam" pillow I would wake up to intense pain and a stuck head. Turns out the new pillows made me sleep more still - and it made my tired old body move very little at night - thus the neck would go into spasm overnight.

Whatever your issue- it is no fun, to say the least! Good luck and relief soon!!

Jane- thank you for that info!
ANN

so sorry you are going through that. compounded by an oblivious partner can only make it more frightening as you feel alone. I only wake up with hand/feet cramps. literally have to uncurl my fists and manually straighten out my feet. good times. I hope you get some relief very soon.

Jprinz, its funny you mention memory foam pillow, because that's what I sleep on. Actually, I have to sleep on 2 pillows and this little stuffed doggie that has pretty much lost most of his stuffing. I have to start my sleep in the fetal position and I wake up straight as a board. The memory foam is the only pillow I actually can get comfy on. The regular ones hurt my neck. All I know is my MS is getting worse and Im just getting alittle more scared each day.

Speaking of memory foam, I once tried one of those mattresses which are made of that.
I lasted two hours before the intense pain drove me back to my old bed. I guess it's the way Jprinz described it with the memory foam pillow. One does not move much on those things, relaxing into a fixed position, and the reaction of cramping up can be awful. I had them remove the mattress the next morning, had to pay 10% of the mattress cost, but there was no way I could ever sleep on that. This was long ago.

KittyLady, please try some magnesium pills to see if that helps. My potassium tends to take a dive, too, if I don't use 20 MEQ potassium pills a day. I regulate salt carefully, as Jprinz suggests is needed, to get about 1500 mg a day, not too much and not too little.
Since you don't get the baclofen pump for a while, it might help to try some other remedies.

I had NO reaction to the spinal tap years ago. I could not feel it. I am wondering if I am numb in that area, or if the great neurologist was so good at doing this that I couldn't feel it. He was a brilliant man, the one who told me to take magnesium when I could not tolerate Baclofen. Baclofen made me run into walls--one pill and through with that. Zanaflex made my muscles too weak to walk, released too much spasticity. Maybe I needed a smaller dose, but the magnesium relieved enough spasm and jerks so that I didn't try drugs again, except for the small Klonopin dose. I might add that I also take calcium, but always at a slightly lower amount than the magnesium, and for me that is also necessary.
It scares me how close I live to being a jerking spastic monster. What if I can't get magnesium pills some time. I'll be nothing like I am now. I will need intense sedation.

I guess all of this and all of our variables just goes to show that MS is not for sissies :wink:

Second me for being someone who spent good $ something new that turned out to be absolutely no good for my MS.

Like many of us KIttyLady, you may have to do a lot of trial and error to find what works best for your MS.