[Arryn]

hi im looking for some information on ways on how to control or stop spasms? they only seem to happen when ryan gets into bed or its wheeling over a bumpy surface.

ive read through a few old posts and saw a drug called baclofen? does any1 use this and find it helpfull?

any info or advice would be much appreciated, startin to really get to him.

thanks
Arryn
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[cubanito_016]

Hi I use baclofen 20mg 3 times a day it keeps my spasam under control you should try it,it would help with the spasam.

[blckchns]

Hi,

I take backlofen, 90mg, 4 times a day. I still spasam pretty bad when I roll over bumpy surfaces or if I've been in the same position for any given length of time. Stretching whenever possible seems to help though.

[cubanito_016]

blckchns, on May 3 2009, 03:22 PM, said:

Hi,

I take backlofen, 90mg, 4 times a day. I still spasam pretty bad when I roll over bumpy surfaces or if I've been in the same position for any given length of time. Stretching whenever possible seems to help though.

wow 90mg 4 times a day thats alat

[allis53ca]

i use lyrica for mine

[Bevan-L]

i cant remember who but someone said that baclofen stuns nerve growth. is this even true? I dont take it, i used to take 5mg every early in hospital but i stopped it cos i never got spasms anyways.

[Liquid0Numbness]

My BF Wayne had to have a baclofen pump put in a year ago to control his spasms, which usually are caused by cold weather and rain which causes him pain.

[Arryn]

thankyou
xxxxxxxxx

[apollock2006]

i'm on baclofen 80mg a day and 2mg of tezanadine but it has a side-effect of lowering blood pressure. i like my spasms cuz they keep my muscles toned

[DaveP]

Arryn, on May 3 2009, 11:22 PM, said:

hi im looking for some information on ways on how to control or stop spasms? they only seem to happen when ryan gets into bed or its wheeling over a bumpy surface.

ive read through a few old posts and saw a drug called baclofen? does any1 use this and find it helpfull?

any info or advice would be much appreciated, startin to really get to him.

thanks
Arryn
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Spasms are not always a bad thing. I think some people are too quick to pop a few pills to stop them when they are often a sign that something is not right - tight shoes, sitting on a crease, ingrown toe-nail, sore back, bad sitting position, posture, piles, trapped wind, constipation, bladder, etc.

Not only that, but spasms are the only real exercise the muscles will get and if you want to avoid atrophy, then spasms is certainly the best way to achieve this. My legs are almost the same size as they were before my injury nearly 20 years ago.

Yeap, one leg or the other will sometimes tick or kick out in bed - sometimes both. I change position until I find one that works. A good stretch of the legs, pull the ankles up, pull toes up - stretch the parts that are spasming and it often does the trick.

Popping anti-spasm drugs doesn't only affect the legs that spasm - it affects all the muscles in the body. I think this is the very last option, not the first one. If you've had a good stretch and things are still not good, try taking a normal everyday painkiller to see if that helps. If it does, then that could mean you have something else that needs addressing thats causing the spasms.

[bantughost]

"I still spasam pretty bad when I roll over bumpy surfaces or if I've been in the same position for any given length of time. Stretching whenever possible seems to help though." - same here

DaveP, on May 6 2009, 09:54 AM, said:

Arryn, on May 3 2009, 11:22 PM, said:

hi im looking for some information on ways on how to control or stop spasms? they only seem to happen when ryan gets into bed or its wheeling over a bumpy surface.

ive read through a few old posts and saw a drug called baclofen? does any1 use this and find it helpfull?

any info or advice would be much appreciated, startin to really get to him.

thanks
Arryn
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Spasms are not always a bad thing. I think some people are too quick to pop a few pills to stop them when they are often a sign that something is not right - tight shoes, sitting on a crease, ingrown toe-nail, sore back, bad sitting position, posture, piles, trapped wind, constipation, bladder, etc.

Not only that, but spasms are the only real exercise the muscles will get and if you want to avoid atrophy, then spasms is certainly the best way to achieve this. My legs are almost the same size as they were before my injury nearly 20 years ago.

Yeap, one leg or the other will sometimes tick or kick out in bed - sometimes both. I change position until I find one that works. A good stretch of the legs, pull the ankles up, pull toes up - stretch the parts that are spasming and it often does the trick.

Popping anti-spasm drugs doesn't only affect the legs that spasm - it affects all the muscles in the body. I think this is the very last option, not the first one. If you've had a good stretch and things are still not good, try taking a normal everyday painkiller to see if that helps. If it does, then that could mean you have something else that needs addressing thats causing the spasms.

Sound advice That pretty much has most bases covered, I think. I “listen” to my spasms that way too.

I took diazepam for a while after my sci. When that didn’t work very well, I was then put on some other drug whose name I don’t remember now. After a couple of years my spasms had gotten so bad that I was forever falling out of my wheelchair. Of course falling is understatement. I would literally get thrown out of the chair onto the floor in an instant. In the end I took the surgical route out. That didn’t stop the spasms completely, but it made them significantly more manageable and safer for me. There have been less falling incidents and involuntary “wheelies” after the surgery; but surgery should be the last resort. Most surgical options involve cutting nerves and/or tendon transfer which can be irreversible as far as I know. Like many other things with sci, your solution to the spasms will be custom fit and you have to be your own advocates at the end of the day. Look into all the advice that the others have offered above and consult with your doctor(s), but don’t go looking to get rid of the spasms completely. Good luck.

regards.

[pikey]

I have started taking Ditropan 5mg twice a day as I found most of my spasms were caused by my bladder. Going over uneven ground transferring and laying down made my spasms worse.

A nurse at the SCI unit suggested I try Ditropan before taking any other spasm drugs as they relax the bladder not the whole body. All though they are a great help, I am left with a dry mouth but the benefits outweigh that.

Good luck in your search for spasm relief.

[Heather1984]

I have had alot of problems with my spasms. I was on just Baclofen I was taking 80mg a day. It didn't seem to help. My doctor added valium with the baclofen. It has helped the spasms, I still have spasms but they are getting better. The only problem was that it had me so relaxed that I started having problems with my bladder. It relaxed my bladder to where I would have accidents. I'm still working on gettin everything straight. I think it is worth going through all the trouble of adjusting my meds. It makes life so much easier not having to fight the spasms so much. I don't think I will ever get rid of them completely but at least I can deal with it now.

[Swordfish]

Hey guys,
this is an interesting topic.

For those people who have tried medication can you weigh in regarding the pros and cons? what kind of side effects? and is it true that it affects nerve growth? and if it does what is the consequence of that?

I've only ever tried one thing for my spasms; marijuana (I got a legal medicinal card) within 5 minutes my spasms are non existant. The problem with it, though, is that it only works if your high which makes it not too good for everyday use. I've been experimenting with very low doses and so far it's working even with a few puffs -- leaving me able to function.

anyway, I wouldn't mind an alternative for school and such -- let me know what you guys use.

http://www.drugs.com/baclofen.html

That link says: "baclofen can cause side effects that may impair your thinking or reactions."

has anyone experienced this? can I take baclofen and function at university?

[M@CHINE]

stretch his legs every morning and over time it gets better

[sweeper]

Hi Swordfish,
My son was on baclofen when he came out of rehab. His neurosurgeon recommended he get off if possible, saying that one wants to be able to know if you are getting anything back and how can you when you are anaesthetizing yourself. He weaned himself off and feels better without Baclofen, in fact he gets less spasms than when he was on it. He says that he gets different types of spasm and he no longer gets the type he had on Baclofen. Iv just asked him about side effects etc.... and to quote him " all it did was make my piss stink and empty my bank account" Obviously like everything with SCI things affect people differently.
V

[adam_downunder]

Swordfish, on May 12 2009, 02:47 PM, said:

That link says: "baclofen can cause side effects that may impair your thinking or reactions."

has anyone experienced this? can I take baclofen and function at university?

I use to take 100mg of baclofen daily combined with 100mg of dantrolene and around 20mg of valium. Now I have a baclofen pump and have been able to drop the oral meds. I have noticed a difference mentally. It's not a huge difference, but I feel sharper now that I receive baclofen intrathecally. When on all the oral meds I felt a bit 'cloudy' in the head. I think I would have been able to manage uni work, but it certainly would have taken a lot more effort than it would without the drugs or as I am now with the pump.

pikey, on May 7 2009, 01:16 AM, said:

I have started taking Ditropan 5mg twice a day as I found most of my spasms were caused by my bladder. Going over uneven ground transferring and laying down made my spasms worse.

A nurse at the SCI unit suggested I try Ditropan before taking any other spasm drugs as they relax the bladder not the whole body. All though they are a great help, I am left with a dry mouth but the benefits outweigh that.

Good luck in your search for spasm relief.

I also had to use ditropan and i couldn't deal with the dry mouth. My doctors then replaced that with a drug called detrusitol. I found it to be far more effective with controlling my bladder and no more dry mouth. After a few months on that I found that I didn't need either drug anymore.

Adam

[CrazyLucky]

Lyrica has worked very well for my spasms. There are risks of side effects, but I have only had minor swelling in my hands and feet. I'm fine with the trade off since it relieves the spasms.

[Jackiefff]

Arryn, on May 3 2009, 05:22 PM, said:

hi im looking for some information on ways on how to control or stop spasms? they only seem to happen when ryan gets into bed or its wheeling over a bumpy surface.

ive read through a few old posts and saw a drug called baclofen? does any1 use this and find it helpfull?

any info or advice would be much appreciated, startin to really get to him.

thanks
Arryn
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Im not on much baclofan, it does help but my doc wont increase it since they aren't causing me any pain. Stretching works best for me, if i stretch my legs and feet in bed which is where i usually do it, my spasums will go a little crazy after stretching but then my spasums are practically gone!

[Tetracyclone]

Hi all.

I'm deep into the search for answers to spasms and spasticity. Some people define spasticity as tightness in the muscles, not actual spasms. Some writers lump them all together. In rehab I was perscribed 25 mg of baclofen daily, plus 700 mg of gabapentin, which is supposed to target neuropathy but also aid somewhat with spasms. Right now I take 30 MG of Baclofen divided into 3 dosages, same for 600 mg. of gabapentin. None of my Doctors have shown interest in juggling doseages to test for effects, but they go along with whatever i want to try. My take is that they don't actually bother to read up much on these meds. In general MDs have expected little from me in the way of recovery, but OTs and some PTs have provided the juice and expectation I needed.

It took me a long time before I identified the difference in myself between tight muscles and spasms. To some degree they go together, but not entirely. Oh- I'm C-5, incomplete, with goofy use of my legs and weak but serviceable use of my hands. I'm typing with all ten fingers. I can use an exersize bike and climb stairs but my walking is marginal due to knee stress and an arm problem that keeps me off canes. Cubital tunnel syndrone, ta daa ! I look like a puppet when I walk with my walker. Its hilarious.

On the bike it became clear to me that more baclofen backed off the stiffness in my muscles with the effect of making my legs stronger. When the stiffness is minor the muscles do not fight themselves. When the stiffness is bad it is like walking through deep mud and I cannot do very much.. Since stiffness is very keyed to weather the baclofen and gabapentin are not a governing influence- just an influence. I am currently reducing the gabapentin to see what happens, and it is not fun. If one week is not enough to break through the withdrawl symptoms (which are more of the usual spasticity), I'm back up in dosage because this is not a good time to have reduced activity. Already there because of the arm problem.

I stumbled on some interesting research with mice that implied that allowing lots of spasming in the early recovery phase may cue new nerve receptors to be colonized by reflex activity, making them unavailable for voluntary movement. If I had read that a year ago I would NOT have tried to minimize medication.

In reference to people who get abdominal spasms- YEAH, lots of them. They started after I began to systematically exersize my abdominal muscles. never had them before that. If they are bad it is a nasty feeling, but generally my spasms are short. I moan and pant for a bit, then they are gone as soon as I move around some. As others have said, it can be difficult to tell why spasms are happening. After doing the exersizes for 6 weeks or so the spasms have backed off to being tolerable.

I'm so happy that I can get on the floor or on the bike to get some exersize. That always takes care of spasms EXCEPT in the ankles. The ankles do fatigue spasms, but everywhere else spasms abate.

Keep your thoughts coming. We are the ones who figure things out!

Pwuff

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Simon