4 replies to this topic

[McRobb]

Hi, Everyone - just wondered how much spascitity you put up with before you up your medicine? I have been having night spasms that literally jump my legs and trunk off the bed and wake me up out of a sound sleep. In fact, they are often enough that I have trouble getting a good night's sleep sometimes- well, many times.

My baclofen amount is quite small - 5 ml twice a day and lately I have added another 5 at bedtime but does not seem to have helped much. According to other posts, some paras take a lot more than that!

I do take a Detrol tablet at bedtime for bladder spasms and that seemed to let me sleep better when I first started taking them but now they don't seem to help too much - and I still have bladder spasms in the middle of the night as well!

Pretty sure that no other things are causing the bladder spasms - I know the list pretty well.

Is the aim of the baclofan to keep from having any spasms at all or just tame them down somewhat? I don't have too many spasms during the day when I am up in my chair - just once in a while so how come they seem to come at night so badly?

Would appreciate any feedback that people can give me. Thanks for the help.

[Jimbolgs]

Mine were much worse when lay down - pre-pump.

[sfultong]

I have rather mild spasms, but they may be increasing in intensity. I've heard that they tend to do that in the recovery time after the injury.

What I find very interesting about my spasms is that I have some added motor neuron ability before/during/after the spasm. So for me they seem a positive thing, since they give me a sense that I may be strengthening some nerve connections, and possibly gaining functionality.

Also, I have heard (and notice in myself) that when legs are stretched out straight they seem to have more spasticity, so if you are lying in bed with legs straight, that could "encourage" them to be more spastic.

You may try stretching (or having someone stretch you) before bed... I've heard that helps. My legs seem to spasm a bit after stretching, so maybe stretching gets them out of your system.

[KimAndSophie]

I use to have spasms so bad I would nearly come right out of my chair. At night they were so bad I would literally kick Julian out of bed sometimes! Since I got my new wheelchair I have next to no spasms during the day, and I seem to have less during the night. It's amazing how a wheelchair that actually fits can change things! If you are not sitting in the right position during the day I would consider trying to set your wheelchair up a bit differently. Also, try having a nice warm bath or shower before bed and do some stretching. I also noticed that after I go swimming or use the whirlpool my muscles seem to relax and lesson the spasms.

[John Anderson]

I think it actually depends on who you are. If you're like me, a hard ass that refuse to take the least amount of drugs possible, then you would probably hold it out like I do. Right now I'm getting pretty bad spascitity too, often waking me up or I just couldn't fall asleep at all! If your Baclofen is small and you feel like you can use more of it, I would go and talk to your doctor and ask him/her about adding more. Now as for as Detrol goes, I take that too so far it's been working great for me so again, probably talk to your doctor about something else, it might work better for you.