Female Amn

[spalding]

Does anyone suffer with cramps in whole of legs especially at night keeping me awake

[monkeybus]

Used to be, I'd wake up in the middle of the night with excruciating leg cramps. Pain like I could never describe.

I would eventually go back to sleep, forgetting all about it until the next night. And on it went. Looking back, these weren't cramps but spasms that didn't subside.

That was before I discovered Gabapentin. Certainly relaxes your muscles.

[Quiller in reply to monkeybus]

I suffered for years. I finally admitted I couldn't take it any longer and was prescribed Baclofen and Clonozepam My legs were so tight and the charlie horses at night were worse. I should have agreed to medicine years before I did. I am writing to let people know it is ok to take medicines to help Don't try to be tough. I wish I had I would have suffered so much less for so many years

[spalding in reply to monkeybus]

Thanks for that I take gabapentin on 1500 per day but nighttime legs cramping and feet burning driving me crazy

[easygoin1]

Hello Spalding,

It sounds like you are on a fairly low dose of Gabapentin, I take 1200mg morning and evening and don't have the "cold wind" feeling on my calves and feet at night anymore and am able to sleep. I also don't have the spasms that I used to have. I don't like having to take it but it is better than the alternative. The max dose is 3600mg per day according to the manufacturers label.

All the best,

Jeff

[monkeybus in reply to easygoin1]

Agreed, just take more Gabapentin.

I only have enough for one more night, then I have to suffer the weekend without it.

I'll make do with Valium and Baclofen, but it ain't the same (doesn't work).

[Aaron98 in reply to monkeybus]

Gabapentin didn't stop my spasms at all, nor did it help with neuropathic pain, and I was up to 2700 mg at one point. I am sincerely glad that it works for others, but it is useless for me. I'm thinking about trying Lyrica, and my neurologist has even offered Tramadol. I'm also currently testing a cream called Penetrex that is supposed to be useful for neuropathy. It's got a 100% money-back guarantee, so what do I have to lose?

[monkeybus in reply to Aaron98]

Just goes to show the variability of this poxy little disease.

I'll give Lyrica the thumbs up, but Tramadol? My mother takes that, barely works, makes her tired, addictive. Nah, not for me. Trying to get my Mum off it, easier said than done.

Ran out of Gabapentin last night, the old stomach spasms were firing up. Awful. Took 40mg Baclofen before bed, but the leg spasms, bad. Took a tranquiliser in the end. Always have plenty of Valium on hand.

That Penetrex has to be worth a look. Get some and test it out for us all. I've often thought of trying some creams. Deep-heat, steroidal, Gabapentin, Baclofen, etc. Even essential oils.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/187...

Cream seems such a simple idea. Deliver the drug/whatever directly to the leg muscles.

[countofstgermain]

On a family trip to Vegas, I left the weed at home. Those 3 nights were torture. I always thought restless leg syndrome was a joke, until I kicked when ever I was on the actual edge of sleep.

Weed saves me.

The kicking tells me my legs wires aren't truly broken though, so that is kinda encouraging.

[julie_]

I'm definitely going to have to get in on gabapentin. Until now, before bedtime, I was taking baclofen or, more recently, tizanidine. Tizanidine worked for a while but now it's hit or miss. I only take 2mg and I don't want to increase it. Like baclofen, it makes me sleepy - and now it doesn't work very well.

I now have sciatica that pains me in the day and it's now an additional pain that wakes me at night. I hope gabapentin works for me.

[SDAffirm]

A year ago I suffered from horrible calf pain. Then, I began taking 1200mg of Alpha-Lipoic Acid a day, I significantly reduced the amount of sugar and carbs I eat and have gone to physical therapy to get my hips opened up. The pain has gone from a 8-9 on a simple pain scale to now a 2-3 on most days.

[julie_]

Well, I tried the gabapentin and I didn't like it.

The side effects outweighed the little benefit it yielded: While my sciatica pain did get "muffled", I lost what balance I had, I got tired and I had brain fog. I'm happy I made it home from work. No more gabapentin for me.

[Hillary in reply to julie_]

Hi Julie, you sound as if your very like me. Tried the Baclofen, Tizanadine route but now on Pregablin. It's working for me at the moment, I'm taking 100mg at night. I also have sciatica during the day and am taking 300/500 Co-codamol, two tablet four times a day and it's helping lots. Hope you can work something out that works without too many side effects.

Best wishes

Hillary

[julie_ in reply to Hillary]

Thanks, Hillary. The sciatica seems to have eased up. Isn't it supposed to come and go? As far as I've read, it should subside within 2 weeks. For me, it has been about that and the shooting pain has diminished quite a bit. I think my troubles have to do with my workouts, which I'm not happy about but I will ease up and see what happens.

Do you have side effects with the medications you're taking? I will definitely keep them in mind for the future.

[Hillary in reply to julie_]

Hi Julie, I think it depends on what is causing the sciatica, mine is a problem with the disk between T9 and T10, it's protruding, slipped disks can cause sciatica. I've had it for six months and it's not going anywhere, hence the co codamol tablets. I don't have side effects as such, just tiredness, but then you could say that's more likely just the whole AMN thing.

[kneeny]

I have had night leg cramps and spasms for 10+ years. My neurologist put me on Pramipexole and Zanaflex my leg spasms are gone, but I still get leg cramps and pain. I highly recommend Pramipexole for night leg spasms. It worked wonders for me.