Muscle tightness in the morning.

[monkeybus]

I have quite tight muscles in my arms/hands. I stretch throughout the day (whenever I remember to). So far, so normal.

But lately, when I wake up in the morning, my hands are almost like fists. Fingers curled round like claws.

And I cannot straighten them. I have to manually free my fingers with opposite hands.

And when the fingers straighten, they pop, like they are moving on ratchets. Not a smmoth movement at all. Click, click click.

And, when I stand up and stagger out of bed, my left Achilles tendon is really tight. Painful as well.

Woe is me. Soon passes though. Not worried, just another symptom to deal with.

Is this just me?

[julie_]

I have similar tightness but different: Pain wakes me from sleep - not that I have restful sleep. I believe this is the same tightness as in my waking hours: I stand too long, I get tight; I sit too long, I get tight. Therefore, if I lie down too long, tight. In sleep, I toss and turn rather actively. I have to straighten myself up slowly when I step out of bed onto the floor. Then I take a slow step or two to get circulation going. As I walk slowly to the bathroom or the kitchen to make coffee, the tightness and pain ebb away. This is not to say I can walk. That's a different matter.

I have to say I was prescribed 2mg Tizanidine for bedtime - a muscle relaxant like baclofen, but with pain relieving properties, and it has helped me to sleep and wake peacefully most days. Baclofen makes me sleep but does not help me the morning after.

I know you already take a lot of medication. I wanted to chime in to say you are not alone.

[monkeybus in reply to julie_]

I've always tosses and turned, since I was a kid. Probably related to AMN.

Then again, I link everything to this disease.

[Leonie in reply to julie_]

You have described me and my pain Julie ☺

[julie_ in reply to Leonie]

It's terrible because I am otherwise mobile. Mobility disappears after I am idle too long.

Leonie, you are on the FB pages, right?

[mariagno]

I have only recently been experiencing hand issues. I did not think that I would experience this because I had always been told that below the waist was the major impact.

I have experienced loss of sensation and have stiffness in the morning. I had a nerve conductivity test done and they found some peripheral neuropathy.

I am up to 15 mg of baclofen 3x daily but still have morning stiffness.

I have found using thin gloves at night helps keep my hands warm and reduces the stiffness.

[monkeybus in reply to mariagno]

Yes, it's a hard-knock life, and no mistake.

Just completed a three hour car drive (as a passenger). Had my feet up the entire time but at the end my Achilles tendon was killing me.

I've had intermittent numbness/pain in my fingertips for years now. So much so, smartphone typing can be nigh on impossible

If I'm not concentrating, I often drop things (like my phone just now). Even something simple like drinking, I think way in advance before attempting to pick up a glass/and always reposition the glass wee inside the table.

And, as I never tire of pointing out, I've got it a lot easier than many on this board. Maybe though we all have it good/bad depending on whatever.