Advice on muscle spasms

[SusanBr]

On gabapentin to help with night muscle spasms. Having had trouble with right hip and knee since December, fell and broke my hip 1 Aug so recovering at mo. However the right knee has been very bad with muscle spasms, causing the knee to go very tight and freeze in a raised position, and had to increase the Gabapentin to try and ease, taking it 3 times a day. On waking as I sleep on front, the right leg raises involuntarily up bending at the knee and I have to change positions to relieve.Have been to pte physio and she thinks it is the Sartorius muscle on inside of knee being inflamed causing the gluteus muscle on inside of leg to be very tight and is treating this for me. Seen the NHS physio after 7 weeks and she will not look at as may be a neuro problem. Gets very political who will deal with what, neuro physio only gives sheet of exercises and musculoskeletal physio will not deal with, hence I am paying for help.

Has anyone else had problems with really tight muscle spasms which do not pass easily? Do not want to keep increasing the gabapentin all the time? Is this to do with AMN or something else?

[lightnin77]

I take Baclofen 30mg three times a day for leg spasms, it is a god send I do take gabapentin for the neuropathy but the Baclofen is far more helpful when dealing with the leg spasms. See what they say about that. Hope it helps

[SusanBr in reply to lightnin77]

Many thanks for that, must say I thought the gabapentin was for spasms but see it is for neuropathic pain. Tried Baclofen last year and did not get on with it but see Tizanidine is same. Am going to look to get my medication right and hope this helps. Many thanks again. Sue

[Hillary]

Hi Susan, I take Tizanidine for my muscle spasm but also have regular massage. My daughter is a Holistic Therapist and she mixes a special blend to use on me. I also have a total knee replacement and am having similar issues with my knee. I have been for x rays on my knee and am awaiting results. I am interested in what you say about the sartorius muscle and gluteus being involved as Laura has to work a lot on my gluteus and my knee is locking, it's supposed to be the only good bit in the body, lol

[SusanBr]

Hi Hillary, can see from above I do not appear to have the right medication and am going to get this sorted as may help with the spasms which are very painful.

When I was taken to hospital I told anyone who would listen that it was my right knee and hip but they only dealt with the hip. My husband even asked for my knee to be x-rayed at same time but they only did hip which was broken and had complete hip replacement. A bigger ball and socket put in as I swing my right hip round to take a step, my walking gait being all wrong!! My doctor organized a knee x-ray which came back clear but seeing Orthopaedic consultant in December and will push for MRI scan on knee.

The musculosketal physio NHS wont look at knee as may be neuro!!!

Very frustrated with NHS as no-one looks at whole package only parts which is why I am paying for physio by lady who left the NHS because of the way they run their operations. She is a godsend and has helped my recovery better that the NHS who would not look at me for 7 weeks after surgery so I was left to own devises not knowing what I should be doing!!!

Hope your knee improves, many thanks Sue

[COwithAMN Administrator AMN EASIER Volunteer]

Hi Susan

Thank you for getting in touch. You've had some good suggestions from others so far which I am sure will be useful. The only thing I wanted to add is about whether you have found any benefit from doing some stretching routines?

The thing is, that the spasticity we all suffer from - to various degrees - is caused because the muscles are constantly being stimulated by electrical signals going astray. So they get artificially tensed - the clinicians call it excess tone.

This makes the muscles contract and that is where the spasms and pain come from. So what works for me is regular stretching. Every leg muscle must be stretched or elongated as much as you can bear, a little at a time. I find that if I do this routine every morning once I am up, it makes a difference for the day ahead. It seems to work best in the morning, probably because the stimulation has been firing all night long. So first thing in the morning those muscles are even more shortened.

One muscle group that gets very shortened are the adductor muscles - those big muscles down the inside of the thigh. They can get so stiff you find your feet bumping in to each other when you walk - not nice. It's hard to stretch these but there are ways.

Anyway, this helps for me though it's not a total solution. Hope some of it might be useful.

Best wishes

Chris

[SusanBr in reply to COwithAMN]

Thanks Chris

Yes I find the stretching exercises very good, have to do some in bed before I can get up!

Also do them in the morning but if I find myself standing in kitchen will also do some more. Something I was told was to try distracting the brain when in a spasm so move legs back and forward bending at the knee and this is sufficient to relieve the spasm, and I find this works as well.

Many thanks Sue