Meds for constant muscle spasm

**dalhousie** · 03-30-2011, 02:39 PM

I had ADR in 2009 & have now got deconditioned from overdoing things. I have ongoing muscle spasms in my back & had facet joint injections in February but it only helped me for 2 weeks & I can't get active for the spasm situation. I'm trying to educate myself about muscle relaxants. In an emergency I take low dose Valium but don't like taking it too often due to addiction & sleep disturbance etc. Do your back muscles get used to them & stop behaving normally as they should? I heard they inhibit your production of endorphins that are your body's natural pain killers.

A lot of spine patients seem to take them but are there downsides to taking them. Flexeril, Baclofen seem to be common ones people take. On Matt's (Bigdogchief)thread about muscle relaxers Justin mentioned Skelaxin. Are those ones addictive. I don't need them to help me sleep - I take Amitriptyline for that.

Can anyone help me please?

Skelaxin

**Katie** · 04-01-2011, 12:16 AM

Ruth, I don't have the spasms to your extent in the back, but my legs, arms and feet would twist and cramp terribly. I discovered through a friend that Magnesium helps a great deal. I haven't had any cramps since I started taking it. It is Di-Magnesium Malate, and it seems to work on me much better than the Mg Citrate usually found in the common supplements at the drug store, often combined with Calcium.

Sometimes I use a topical oil, Magnesium Chloride that I rub on the muscles that act up. You can find it on line or at a health food store.

Hope this helps. There's nothing like a limb/muscle that decides to contort at 3 am

**bigdogchief76** · 04-01-2011, 02:12 AM

Hi Ruth -

I haven't found Flexeril to be addicting at all.

Have you tried Robaxin? I found it worked pretty good for about a month.

I have found taking a really hot shower followed by ice packs (immediately after the shower), seems to help a great deal.

MB

**dalhousie** · 04-02-2011, 12:19 PM

Hi Matt & Katie,

I contacted my specialist & he recommended I try Robaxin for a month after which time I'm scheduled to see him when we might talk about doing facet nerve ablation. Trouble is he has now gone on holiday & the duty doctor who is the junior one in my practice who I've hardly ever seen wouldn't prescribe it without something more official other than me saying I'd spoken to the specialist. I'm going to ring the surgery & see if I can see one of the other doctors who knows me better & get some sensible thinking going on. It's not like I'm drug user asking for hard line drugs & at the moment I'm taking Valium which my practice prescribed me a while ago which is very addictive. I hope common sense prevails next week.

I tried using Magnesium Oil a while ago but the chalky residue irritated my skin. I might give it another go & maybe not apply so much. This week I've been using some chinese herbal patches but due to my sensitive skin they've ripped some of my skin off

. I might give the magnesium supplement a try as well. I do have a calcium/magnesium/boron supplement but that is citrate so I'll see if I can get hold of the di magnesium malate.

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.

**Cindylou** · 04-05-2011, 09:20 AM

Ruth, I would think even a phone conversation with your specialist should have a written record of it somewhere, you know? Here in the states, even if it is just a phone conversation with my pain management doctor on the weekend or some other such off hours, he makes a record of it in my chart. I do hope you get this sorted out soon. Take care, CL

**dalhousie** · 04-06-2011, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by Cindylou

Ruth, I would think even a phone conversation with your specialist should have a written record of it somewhere, you know? Here in the states, even if it is just a phone conversation with my pain management doctor on the weekend or some other such off hours, he makes a record of it in my chart. I do hope you get this sorted out soon. Take care, CL

It's a bit of a haze now but I think he 'phoned me on his mobile after he'd left the hospital to start his 4 week holiday. The hospital did say if the worst came to the worst one of his spinal colleagues might back me up on it & get it sorted.

On Monday I 'phoned the triage nurse who deals with the urgent calls. She is usually pretty sensible & she said it would be no problem although it's not a drug they were familiar with. She made me an appointment to see the same Dr who on the Friday told me (via the receptionist) he couldn't prescribe it

. I got the Robaxin but after a day on it I woke up with abdominal pain, nausea & diarrhoea. I think the NSAID's I took a while back have sensitised my gut & it will take a long break from drugs with GI effects to become less sensitive. Before the Robaxin my back had become like an ironing board on both sides - very rigid - & the Robaxin I managed to take, relaxed that which was a relief. I went back to see another doctor & she has changed my pain relief from Co-codamol to Co-Proxamol which contains Dextropropoxyphene which has muscle relaxing properties. She did offer to give me the muscle relaxant - Baclofen but that also has the risk of GI side effects & right now I couldn't face another day of abdo pain, nausea & diarrhoea.

I'm having a better day today so whether that's purely due to the Co-Proxamol I don't know. You may have different names for some of these drugs in the US.

Hope you're having a low pain day.

Ruth x