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Baclofen 3 days for leg spasms - all the side effects. Off 2nd day - rebound spasms in face!

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Posted 2/27/2018 6:46 PM (GMT 0)
Continuing on from my spasm post /www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=16&m=3982535 (violent, throwing me nearly out of bed)
I called my neurologist and he prescribed Baclofen 5 mg (1/2 smallest pill) 3 times a day. So I took 1/2 a pill that night and none during the day. I got a whole bunch of the known side efects, couldn't function for 3 days only taking the drug in the evening, and stopped the drug.

Now, the second day off the drug, I have twitches in my face and elbow, also the top of my left foot. I had none of these previously. Yesterday off the drug I felt nearly paralyzed in the morning and couldn't even get food out of the fridge.

The huge, horrible morning spasms in legs and abdomen have not returned, yet. They came on fast, unexpectedly, so I hope they are gone permanently. The small spasms and difficulty with fingers and walking I had before are back, but I'd rather have them than Baclofen side effects.

I'll highlight this one in my "Do Not Tolerate" list.
Posted 2/27/2018 11:48 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Alcie You know everyone is so different in how they respond to different medications. What works for one person might not work at all for another! I've been on Baclofen for years and years, I take 30 mg every eight hours, like clock work! and it has been a real Godsend for me! It doesn't completely relieve all my muscle s spasms all the time, but has reduced them a lot! All without any major side affects and it works better than any other anti spasmodic I've tried! I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience with it! Usually it takes up to several days or weeks to get the correct therapeutic level of this medication in your blood stream before it becomes effective at relieving your spasms. It sounds like your having a bad reaction to it! Hopefully they can find something else that will work for you!

Good Luck to You!

White Beard
Posted 2/28/2018 4:35 AM (GMT 0)
Alice:
What a harrowing experience you are going through with severe and unrelenting muscle spasms.

It is not only uncomfortable - but also frustrating - to have medication sensitivities. Like you, I tend to be hypersensitive to medications and their expressed side effects. Even at a children’s dosing level. It sounds as though you experienced a wrath of unpleasant side effects to a small dose of Baclofen. I am sorry for all that you have been through.

Valium might offer you an avenue for relief where Baclofen has failed you. Physicians are extremely hesitant to prescribe Valium due to its potential for addiction and a backlash effect where Valium was generously prescribed to women/young mothers in the mid- to late 1960’s as “mother’s little helper.” The negative stigma associated with Valium persists even today. That said, Valium is a highly effective smooth muscle relaxant. Smooth muscle is also called involuntary muscle. Smooth muscle is muscle that works/contracts and relaxes by action of the autonomic nervous system; smooth muscle controls the dilation/construction of the pupilsZ. . You need not give conscious thought to have smooth muscle function. composes the length of the digestive tract.

Anti-anxiety medications can have a secondary effect of promoting muscle relaxation. Elavil, a Tri-cyclic anti-depressant, is oft prescribed to promote muscle relaxation. Benzodiazapenes (ex. Xanax; Ativan) have relaxation effects which might benefit you. As most of us on this forum know, Benzodiazapens are also under intense prescription scrutiny. Their scrutiny is heightened when an individual also is on any type of prescription pain medication.

I recently came across information about clinicians recommending a “calming blanket” as a methodology to dampen upper motor neuron spasticity as well as more generalized muscle spasms due to anxiety or stress or sensory hyper-excitability (ex. multiple trigger points; fibromyalgia). The blankets are made of a Cool-Max fabric (to avoid overheating due to menopause or autonomic nervous system dysregulation/POTS) and have weighted pellets sewn into the pattern. The effects of the “calming blanket” are analogous to swaddling a crying baby or the soothing effects when a weighted lead apron is laid across you when taking dental x-rays. You can Google “calming blankets” to learn more about them and to locate a trustworthy vendor. It might be with trying.

I hope tomorrow is a brighter and better day for you,
Karen
Posted 3/1/2018 7:44 PM (GMT 0)
My pain doc won't let me take Valium. Too bad. It works fast and well.

I'm on Ativan 1 mg again, was on it before the severe spasms. It doesn't last quite long enough, which was why the severe spasms got severe, but Klonopin lasts way too long, makes me very sleepy all the next day.

I'm trying to take the Ativan as late as I can now. It seems to be working. Spasms aren't as bad.

Interesting comments. I hadn't thought of fibro and trigger points, also stress which is extreme right now but tmi for this conversation. Maybe I should get a lead apron smile
Posted 3/5/2018 9:23 PM (GMT 0)
I feel for you, as i also have the med sensitivities...

I have not been able to tolerate any level of muscle relaxer, i would try cutting it into the tiniest pieces and still no..

I take a calcium/ magnesium supplement at night..which slightly relaxes the muscles..

I also use acupressure mat and pillow, which helps me relax..

I am in a flare right now , so i am digging deep into my tool box.

Lj
Posted 3/6/2018 1:26 PM (GMT 0)
I've been skipping my Ca/Mg/Zn supplement because it's too hard to chew and way too big to swallow. I took a Mg last night and I think it helped. No cure, but less spasm and painful muscle tightness - maybe I need to try it again.

My pain doc had me get one of those S-shaped things with the knobs for self-massaging the knots in my back, shoulders, back of neck area. The knots were so bad that I thought I had something going on with my heart. My cardiologist checked both sides and told me I had muscle knots! So I went to pain doc.

Sorry about your flare.
Posted 3/7/2018 6:44 PM (GMT 0)
Alice:
There are several magnesium supplements available as a powder or liquid - no need to swallow a large sized horse pill.

I use a magnesium supplement called “Natural Calm” by Vitality Holistics. It is a powder that you add to a favorite beverage (water, fruit juice, tea). It is available at Whole Foods and similar holistic grocery/pharmacy stores as well as Amazon. I highly recommend it. It is also available as a magnesium/calcium supplement.
Karen
Posted 3/10/2018 3:04 AM (GMT 0)
Spasms back last two nights. I'm taking a Ca,Mg, Zn that isn't so hard to chew. Also taking my Ativan (lorazapam) every night for muscle relaxation.

I saw my hand doc a couple of days ago to get his opinion about my neurologist's diagnosis of carpal tunnel. He injected both wrists near the nerve that goes through the carpal tunnel using ultrasound to get the right spot. Boy, that pinched! I told him about the other possible causes from my grape-size parietal meningioma sitting next to a sensory area, pinched nerve(s) probable in neck after I broke it and had it fused and it continues to fuse more sections by itself, also my post-polio syndrome that is well known to get worse with age. But he reviewed the conduction study and said it's likely that carpal tunnel is at least part of the finger numbness and it's an easy 10 minute fix and you an use the hand right away. Not like trigger finger surgery! I had that and it was a lot of therapy. I use my hands a lot - today I drilled a hole in a furnace plug and used an easy-out to unscrew the plug, then put a new plug in the natural gas hole to convert the heater to propane. I had to use a big wrench with all my weight on it - not easy for a well- past 70 woman with carpal tunnel (or something).

So, while I'm waiting to decide if the injection does anything, I'm seeing the pain doc next week for my regular visit and will ask his opinion too. I have no pain in wrists or hands, just a nasty one in one bicep, the shoulder blade area and lower neck. Hand doc says carpal tunnel CAN go up and doesn't always cause wrist pain. The injection seems to be doing at least something. Finger numbness is less today and I can move the fingers a bit better. I didn't have numbness driving today either. If it lasts, and sometimes injections can, maybe I won't need surgery soon.

But that doesn't help the leg and abdominal spasms. Pinched cervical nerve? Post-polio? Mengioma? I think I need another opinion. I may call or email the tumor doc who ordered the brain MRI.

Too many mysteries.
Posted 3/11/2018 11:09 AM (GMT 0)
Are you on statins? They may cause cramps. By my cardio doc, I d/c it x 3 wks and my spasms are now 90 % gone.
Posted 3/14/2018 9:27 PM (GMT 0)
No statins since several years. I didn't tolerate them - muscle spasms, but nothing like the huge body spasms I am getting every few days now. I got my cholesterol under really great control by just not eating bread! Liver turns starch into cholesterol.

I got 3 second opinions about the hand problem, and I will go through with the carpal tunnel surgery. I have been told by all the docs to get it before it gets bad, or it won't work as well. I was scared after having trigger finger surgery, which takes a very long recovery and lots of therapy.

I got trigger point injections today from my pain doc. Shoulder, neck, scapula, back area. (Rx: try heat and ice for now) I need to see my spinal surgeon about looking into surgery on my cervical bone spurs and the joint that fused itself after he fused 3/4 when I broke my neck at C3. I definitely have myelopathy now - Dx by neurologist.

I'd still like to find a treatment for the bicep spasms.
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