Spasticity
 

I've read a lot about spasticity but find it difficult to tell if what I'm experiencing is truly spasticity or just generalized pain with MS.

I have been having really bad pain in my lower right leg. It feels like it's generating from the inside. My leg isn't sore but just has a deep, dull ache all the time. I'm taking Neurontin for my right hand/arm and I'm hoping it will help my leg, too. It does make me loopy, though. :o I have no other pain relievers except Tylenol.

I go to the Neuro in the next month after I have another MRI on Tuesday the 15th. I want t ask him about pain relievers and what I can take to help me sleep at night. Seems like the pain gets worse at night but maybe that's because I don't have anything to distract me from it.

Does anyone else have pain with spasticity and what do you do about it? I hate to complain about every little ache and pain but this is interfering with my ability to get around.

I have pain with the spasticity. It's like living on the edge of a charley horse or a cramp when it's not bad, and it IS the full cramp when it is bad!

When I have the leg pain, I am scared to bend my leg because I am afraid it will go into the full cramp and stay there for days! There are times that pain is there for days, and then it will just disappear, as if the muscle just relaxed all at once. The hands - same thing. I will be steering my car and have to take one hand or the other off the wheel and stretch it out and massage it to try to relieve the "edge of cramp" feeling. I have to stretch my hands all the time when I am typing.

I have spasticity in both legs and both hands,and sometimes in my trunk area. I used to call the abdominal ones "lifejacket cramps" thinking I had my lifejacket cinched down too tight. I still get them now and I don't have the lifejacket on! I guess it could also be called the MS hug when it's abdominal, but whatever it is, the Baclofen helps! I'm on a minimal dose daily ( 10 mg TID) and I take tizanidine at bedtime for the night spazz. I just increase the Baclofen dose when it's really bad and go back to my usual dose when it goes away. :rolleyes:

( my doc knows this and agrees with my increasing the dose. He says I know my body better than he does, so go ahead and increase when needed and taper back when it's over.)

My spasticity feels like an almost Charley Horse. Does that make sense? I have spasms anywhere from my hips to my toes.
I sometimes have a dull pain with it.
I have a burning pain that I take Neurontin for. I am not too sure this pain has anything to do with my spasticity.
I take Flexeril, a muscle relaxant, for my spasticity.
My neurologist is treating two different symptoms: Burning pain and spasticity.
Hope this helps, someone else probably will add what their spasticity is like.
Good luck in getting relief. :)

I use a Thera Cane to relieve muscle spasms. It's a handheld device you use to work the spasm into a lesser state. You can get an order from your physician and maybe your insurance will pay for it or you can get one through a physical therapy regimen. It should not be too expensive, but you may need some instruction on use so as to not bruise or make your situation more painful.

Best of luck
(Broken Wings):p

That's exactly what mine feels like.....almost like a muscel cramp but not quite. Like you, I have to stretch my hands often throughout the day. I'm scared to stretch my legs too much because that will generate a cramp that lasts forever it seems! :eek:

I tend to have most of my symptoms on my right side - although I've had them on both sides at the same time.

I never know what I'm gonna get......the Neurontin at the dosage I'm on (600mg 3X daily) make me loopy as a goose and I cannot walk straight when I'm on it. I usually don't take all 3 doses but I do take the evening one. If my Neuro adds a pain medication to the mix I can only imagine what I'll be like. As it is now I rarely go out and when I do (like to the grocery store or drug store) I don't take my medication beforehand because I don't want to stagger. :o

I'm not complaining...really...I'm thankful I have access to these meds to help with the pain. Sometimes I just wonder what tomorrow holds.....guess we all do and we all just never know....

I've tried a couple of different meds for spasticity and the pain associated with it. One is Sinemet CR which is used primarily for Parkinsons. It worked great but the side effect of it was stomach upset. The neuro added an extra rx for 25 mg of Lodosyn which helped. But about 2 years ago, it just stopped working as the pain increased to the point that the med just wasn't touching the pain anymore.

I tried a couple of other meds, but finally tried Soma and it seems to be working (so far!). Like RW, it's just as she described! I also have a percussion type massager that I can grab at night to use if the charley horse takes hold. If it's in my feet, I massage my calf muscle to get it let loose...my massage therapist has shown me where the trigger points are to massage so my feet will relax, as well as where my calf muscles will relax. I hate those middle of the night cramps where I wake up screaming in pain!

I also take klonopin every night for RLS which helps but I still have that spasticity stuff that just never really seems to go away. I think I've been taking Soma for about 8 months. I know I started it while I was about halfway through the clinical trial because I had to get permission to take it.

I've never tried neurontin...it's been suggested, but I am so med sensitive that the doc says it will probably put me to sleep on the lowest dose! So, no point in me even trying it! :eek:

I can only take Soma at night!

Mine is cramping and PAIN. Sometimes feels like a charlie horse. I've been getting this pain in ummm..............my left side of my rear.:o Anyone else get this? It feels like a really bad pulled muscle in my backside. It comes and goes, but hurts like heck. My doc just gave me Zanaflex and seems to work but makes me dopey(er).

Said to take 4 a day!! Yeah right!

Yeah go ahead and take it! Be a zombie! That's why I don't take Zanaflex or Baclofen! Sometimes these doc's don't think we need to function during the day!

:eek:

No kiddin!! I am going to be taking at night, but guessing all 4 at once won't be a good thing!! :p I can't take Baclofen for that reason and I have no desire for the pump.

And you're right, I think they think we sit and home and just take drugs all day!

I guess we are all different. I cannot take Flexeril at all, but Baclofen is fine. The first couple weeks were hard to get used to it, but now I'm at 80 mg per day and it doesn't make me dopey at all. I just take it in increments throughout the day with the biggest dose at bed. Even still, I take at least 30 mg during the day and function fine.

It no longer really fully relieves the spasticity, but I function and can deal with it. At least I'm not getting "frozen" in a position anymore!:eek: