Wiz, I've been on 10 mg 4 times per day…now I take 2 in the am, 1 at lunch, 2 at dinner and 1 at bedtime. I also take Clonazepam .5mg. I take one in the am; he increased it from 1 to 2 at bedtime.
Wynn told me I could take much more baclofen without adverse affects. He knows how hypersensitive I am to some meds, especially drowsiness, so he monitors how I'm doing when he changes things.
I still get the stiffness/soreness in the later evening; I'm considering taking my bedtime meds a bit earlier.
I'm also trying to remember to do stretching a few times per day; it really seems to help by giving the muscles something productive to do, kind of like a puppy who gets into things unless you distract them by giving them a new toy;)

Yesterday was so bad I ended up having DH take me to the ER. They checked for a blood clot-but only in the thigh. Told me blood clots don't occur in the calf. Bull poop-my mom had one in her calf…but I forgot about that until this morning.
Anyway, he gave me some hydrocodone and a nausea med. It helps lower the intensity of the pain, but sometimes the pain from the spasms breaks through. What is so strange is it gets worse if I walk on the leg; usually when I have spasms being on my feet makes it a bit better, unless I stand still.
Now I am so sleepy and loopy I can't do much of anything:( DH put a call into the neuro to let him know what happened and the fact that they gave me a pain med and recommended that I increase the baclofen even more.

I am so afraid of how this is going to affect my other knee's replacement. If I can't walk on this leg without causing painful spasms, how in heaven's name am I going to be able to get around?

Debbie, if your other knee is replaced, you'll have to be in a wheelchair full time for a bit anyway, then on a walker. You won't go anywhere without the walker, even to the bathroom. My husband had a knee replacement and that was the routine. Finally he got off the walker, but we felt the operation was a failure as the replaced knee was still affected with the arthritic stuff that killed him eventually--we were told his heart valve was damaged by the same mechanism that destroyed the joints. I think if we had known that he had this arthritic disease we would have passed on the knee replacement, as he was worse after it than before--but in your case, it's probably a different reason to have the knee replacement. I'm just saying you will be off the leg with the terrible spasm/neuopathy pain anyway for a while.

I would be afraid to do anything if I were taking so much medication that causes drowsiness--all the various kinds you are taking since the ER visit. I forget whether you are trying to help the spasm/PN pain with magnesium. I think you said you already took it. Do you take 1000 mg a day--I MUST. I also must take 1000 mg calcium or the legs will spasm and jerk clear up into the hip area all night long--that is ALL night. I don't even know what they'd do during the day--not so dramatic, I presume, but probably hurting.

i tried oral magnesium but I got severe diarrhea from it, which I don't need since IBS comes and goes…my neuro advised me to take a multivitamin instead of all of the supplements I'm taking (except the calcium/d3-keeping that).
I do get those nasty spasms in different parts of both legs, as well as fasciculations. The spasms hit in different areas of the leg; sometimes from the hip to the knee, sometimes the hammiest, and then the inside or outside of the calves and the band around the bottom of the foot. They've been a 10 on the pain scale lately.
But today they are actually a lot milder. I put a knee brace on the good knee…I told DD about missing a step on a ladder a few weeks ago and twisting the good knee; but these spasms began long before that. The brace does seem to be helping the pain in the knee area, but I am still experiencing spasms in both legs.
So I am trying to spread out the baclofen every 2 hours as the neuro told my husband to try when he talked to him yesterday. I hope that this gives a more constant amount of antispasmodic in the body to calm things down enough so I can at least enjoy the kids visit and Christgiving next week.
So please include me in prayers…I'm a tough old bird-I gave birth to 2 of my 4 kids without any anesthesia at all, and they were in the 10 lb range. So I do have a high pain tolerance…that's why DH took it seriously when I asked him to take me to the ER.
If my leg doesn't have the severe pain, and I don't have to take the narcotic, I'm going to venture out tomorrow and get some of that magnesium lotion…and a few other things I need…I hate being housebound. It sucketh...

It is so unfair, if we try to do something to get exercise or move around, we get the spasms. :mad: I'm so sorry you're going through all of this and with knee surgery approaching as well. :hug: My sister had knee replacement a year ago, and the most important thing is the PT afterward and to keep moving it afterward, it is the utmost important thing, to keep scar tissue from forming around the new knee.

They will give you pain meds so that you can keep moving. DH went through it too and he took the pain meds and was religious about the exercises even with all the pain, and he has a low pain tolerance.

Try not to do too much, I wonder if you are :confused:, and the spasms are a way of your legs complaining? I hope they get the meds figured out. Feel better soon sweetie! :hug:

:eek::eek::eek: WOW!!

(I guess that wasn't really useful, but still..)

Wiz, I'm trying not to do too much…but with the house still in disarray from having several rooms painted, and DH still working on laying vinyl flooring in the basement, I was at wit's end worrying about getting the house in some sort of order before the kids come in from out of town next week.
Once the basement floor is finished, we'll just set up the furniture/game tables around and the heck with everything else down there.
Then we'll hang the pics that are waiting to be put back up, and dust & vacuum the guest bedrooms. We'll do a quick cleaning of the main floor;
I have my food list started, and will divvy up what some of the kids can bring/make so I don't have too much to prepare. The heck with trying to have the house sparkling-it's family…I'm going to rest up and enjoy my new grand babies and my wonderful family, and worry about prepping for knee surgery after Thanksgiving weekend.

I dropped a new bottle of sherry this afternoon and spent so much time washing the cabinets and trying to clean all that had gotten splattered, as well as picking up shards of glass…arrgghhh:roll eyes: oh well…such is life, right?:)

It surely sounds like you are doing "too much"!
I'm sorry oral magnesium gave you diarrhea. My neurologist, when he prescribed it many years ago, said to look for a type that gave the least diarrhea. In other words, I'd have to experiment. The type of magnesium most prone to giving diarrhea is citrate. The ones I take have some citrate but it's definitely the minority. I do have minor diarrhea but it's better to have that than spasm.
You have to be careful if you are taking a calcium supplement and not a magnesium supplement, from everything I read on this subject. Calcium and magnesium ideally should be taken in balanced doses, such as 1000 mg magnesium, and 1000 mg calcium, not taking more calcium than magnesium. That's a general rule, not specific, since you may get a lot of calcium from dairy products, and need to balance that out with the magnesium. Some foods, needless to say, have high magnesium but I'm not sure which they are. When I started magnesium, prescribed by a Scripps Clinic neurologist, I was taking calcium, which just made me more imbalanced.
I know it's not an easy thing to work out, but I worked it out so that I have a lot of help. Not perfect help, but probably 90% help if you consider how very bad the spasms would be if I were not using this help.

i'm happy/relieved to say that the spasms are abating…i didn't take a pain pill for over a day now, and today I didn't even wear a knee brace. I break up any tasks with rest. I cleaned our bedroom today, got the grand babies' gift bags put together, polished the railings on the stairs and finished my grocery list.
Tomorrow I hope to clean both guest bedrooms and get some of the shopping done.Saturday will be a quick vacuum/dust/mop of the main floor and maybe some baking. Sunday will be gift wrapping and bathrooms and then DIL and grandson arrive!!
So I have a plan plotted out so I don't overdo it. Once DH is finished laying that dratted basement floor, he can help me…he only has about 6 ft by about 12 ft left.
He is begging me to sit down and rest, but it's so difficult…I'm dying to mentally let go of it all, but that is an exercise in itself:rolleyes: