[Blessings2You]

I'll be so glad when this little downturn is over!! It hurts to sit down, it hurts to lie down, it hurts to stand up, and it hurts to walk. It just hurts in different places. Some of it's MS, some is arthritis, some is mystery owies. Grrrr.

It seems as though I can find a "comfortable" position for only a few minutes at a time, then I have to rearrange myself because a muscle is starting to spasm or my leg starts to ache or my back hurts. I've changed chairs and pillows and positions so many times today, I probably burned off all the calories in my fancy chocolate.

My poor husband. I can't even stand to be next to myself today, I can only imagine how sick he's getting of hearing me whine and whimper today! I promised him that if I didn't feel better tomorrow, I'd stay in the basement except for meal times.

[Kitty]

Aw, B2Y, I'm sorry you're in pain. I know how irritating and exhausting that can be.

I'm sure your hubby won't want you in the basement! I hope tomorrow is a better day for you.

[mrsD]

When you are ready.... let me know. Strong magnets really help me with this, esp at night.

I've used them for a decade. So let me know when you are ready to think outside the box!...

[Erin524]

ditto that.

I cant get comfortable enough to sleep. I cant get comfortable enough to sit down, and I cant stand up long enough to comfortable doing that either.

I swear, the MS Trolls in my head are sadistic little <swear words> that could give the CIA torturers at Gitmo a run for their money. (maybe that's where the MS Trolls learned their little torture skills? altho, to the MS Trolls, "waterboarding" means a whole different thing)

[karilann]

This type of thing has been bothering me for a couple of weeks now. Thinking I may have to increase my baclofen

[Blessings2You]

What kind of side effects does Baclofen have? It sounds as though a low dose of that might help me.

[Erin524]

Baclofen makes me sleepy. I pretty much only use it just before bed, or in the evenings if the spasticity is driving me up a wall.

My physiatrist told me that the valium I had been taking was probably better, because even tho the valium has a risk of being addictive, you can stop it cold turkey (he said if you're using valium correctly, there's not that much of a chance of getting addicted) but he told me that if you take baclofen regularly, if you stop it cold turkey, there's a chance of seizures. I've always had to back down on the baclofen over the time of a week or two because of that possibility. But I've never had a seizure that I know of.

[hollym]

I've used Baclofen for about 4 or 5 years now. At first it made me sleepy, but that side effect went away. My neuro had me titrate up on it slowly. Now, 80 mg of Baclofen per day isn't enough and he added Clonazepam and Gabapentin to the mix. It helps if I remember to take it all. If I miss doses or stay in one position too long, it gets bad.

I think I started out on 5 mg of Baclofen three times a day. Now I'm taking 20 at times and 30 or 40 at bed.

[Erin524]

I started at 10mg x 3 a day on the baclofen, and then I backed off on it and quit the baclofen because my spasticity let up on me for awhile.

Right now I'm probably at 20mg of baclofen once a day (at night, take one 10mg in the early evening and another one just before bed) so that I can sleep without my heels trying to kick myself in the butt in the middle of the night. I've basically switched from valium to baclofen because my neuro is being a jerk and wont re-up my valium Rx. So, I'm saving the valium for really really bad days. (or for the next time I have a panic attack...hope that doesnt happen again. Had a panic attack on Xmas night. It was scary)

I'm trying to do stretching exercises in the afternoon in the hopes it'll keep the spasticity from getting really bad at night. Just started that tho. Not sure if it'll work.

[hollym]

I forgot to add that when I first started Baclofen, even though I felt sleepy, the deep fatigue (feeling like I was slugging through water) was relieved. I think it was because my muscles weren't fighting me so much.