Help! What do I do?!
 

Okay, I'm a pain in the butt, my doctor even knows. But I'm asking for your advise here because I know you guys are amazing. :)

The muscle spasms in my legs, that started in October, have been brought to the attention of my neuro. She wanted to put me on baclofen but it triggers attacks of paralysis in me so we can't do it. She wanted to try another muscle relaxer to see if I can tolerate it. Well, surprise :rolleyes: not really, it triggers attacks too! So I take it at night only, have attacks in my sleep, that also come with skip breathing according to my hubby, and an attack in the morning, then deal with the pain during the day.

But I don't get to do almost anything during the day because the pain is ridiculous! Is there anything, besides muscle relaxers, that any of you know to do for muscle spasms? I'm calling my dr tomorrow to let her know what's going on, but I know she's going to be so frustrated. I feel bad for her, she wants so bad to be able to help me, but no one around here seems to be able to.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Leg and feet muscle spasms DROVE ME CRAZY until my neuro prescribed IC Ropinirole HCL, 1 mg tablets. When the spasms come, which is usually twice a day, I take two of these and they go away.

This is also prescribed for Restless Legs Syndrome. Hope this helps you.

Ropinole is better known as Requip. I also take this and I really like it. However; I take it at night along with my baclofen. The two work better for me than just one drug alone.

Medical marijuana. Great muscle relaxer with few, if any, side effects.

So is Requip a muscle relaxer? I would try medical marijuana but I'm allergic to smoking it and afraid to try eating it. My primary physician wanted to prescribe it about a year ago, but when I told him about my reaction he said I was allergic.

Thank you all for your help!

I started taking magnesium for constipation, but also read that it was good for muscles, I haven't taken Baclofen in several months. I don't know if it effects all this way, but it has helped me. I will try to fine where I got that information. Hope you get better with it.

I'm not 100% sure my leg spasms went away when I began taking magnesium daily, but my legs used to feel like popcorn was popping in the calves. I was taking only vitamin D3 and saw the suggestion that calcium and magnesium should also be taken along with, so I tried it, the spasms stopped, but I've not stopped taking calcium and magnesium.

So it may only be coincidence, but that was my experience!

massage, a warm compress. magnesium, meditation, and yoga, a TENS unit (can buy cheap on ebay) muscle rubs like ben gay or tiger balm. make sure to stretch, and warm up that muscle before you start to hobble around. organize your outtings so you are spending the least amount of energy for the most amount of gain. Use the riding cart at the grocery store. Park up close and use that handicap tag if you have one. Avoid temp extremes. Cold can be just as bad if not worse than heat for me. I get jumpy, twitchy, and jerky in the cold.

There are a whole host of muscle relaxers other than baclofen, but you would have to experiment. Tizanidine, flexeril, valium, Marijuanna, and so forth.

I hope you are feeling better quickly.

Thank you! I do have a handicap tag and use it (even with the dirty looks I get). I need to get better about stretching, and I love yoga, just haven't done it in a while. Organize, yeah I am organized when it comes to planing the kid's birthdays and making cakes, other than that, I really need to work on that.

I'm going to talk to my doc and make sure magnesium is okay and I think we will start there along with stretching. It seems to help so many and is something my body is probably lacking.

As for muscle relaxers, I have been on baclofen, flexeril and I'm currently on tizanidine (only at night so the paralytic attacks happen while I sleep). They all aggravate the periodic paralysis. I haven't tried valium but I'm allergic to at least the smoking form of marijuana.

Now you see why my doc says I'm a pain in the butt! ;)

Thanks again everyone!

Yes!!!!!! try magnesium and calcium. Try to get it in a powder form that you can dissolve in water. It gets in the system faster. When my spasms get especially persistent, I take a dose along with my other meds.
The brand I got is called: MagIcal Ionic. I'm not sure you can still buy it, but I really like the powder form. Probably any combo form of the two would work just as well.

When asked how Requip works:
Requip is part of a class of drugs called dopamine agonists. Dopamine resides in the part of the brain that coordinates muscle movement. When there is less dopamine in this area, muscles tend to become stiff and rigid. Requip helps increase the amount of dopamine in your brain, "fooling" your nervous system into thinking that it has more dopamine than it really does. This helps reduce the symptoms of both Parkinson's disease and restless legs syndrome.