Spasms!!

I also have substantial muscle spasms daily, though am on only 60 mg of baclofen total daily(20 mg 3x day), will have to go up in meds shortly I believe. for me, cold air or any room temps 75° F or below increase my muscle spasms. also hot food I touch will cause hand to spasm. my PT said that consumption of caffeine like coffee tends to increase muscle spasms. haven't found a way currently to ease them except quick relaxation with deep breathing, which isn't possible at times depending on circumstances.

welcome payton

I have Primary Progressive MS, lost the use of my legs and in a powerchair 24/7. Spasm is a part of life now. My legs are very sensitive to touchdown or movement, they stick out straight and very hard to bend.  PT seems to worsen them due to my sensitivity, but I need the movement. Stopped taking bacofen, didn't like.

I take 10,000 units of vitamin D3, magnesium, and multiple-vitamins, and Advil. A small amount of chocolate helps as well. Fried foods, Chinese food, soy sauce and salt worsen my spasms. Eating salads, fruit, fish and vegetable diet helps. Cold and hot weather effect my spasms. But nighttime lessens my spasms. Seasonal change my legs swell where I need to use a lymphedema compression machine.

Hi. My husband has an incomplete SCI C4-C7. The spasticity and hypertonia (tight muscles) is one of his most difficult challenges. I can tell you his experiences in case it would be some help for you?
4 years ago Peter was taking 80mg of baclofen daily and getting very frequent spasticity especially when trying to lay down at night, during the night, after he had been still for a while, when he was fatigued or if he was hot/cold/coming down with a bug etc etc.
For him stretching and strengthening his muscles has been really helpful. Initially the physios stretched him with stretching therapy sessions and although he still gets an occasional full body stretch from them, we have a daily exercise routine at home to keep the muscles in good stretched out shape. The other thing that I think has helped is that he has cut down on the baclofen from 80mg daily to 40 mg daily. You may be aware that one of the side effects of baclofen is that it also makes the muscles weaker. We were told by a rehab doc that sometimes the medication for spasticity can add to the problem instead of alleviating it. By cutting baclofen down very slowly (5 mg every few months) and at the same time doing more stretching and strengthening exercises he feels he has more control over his muscles. He also does 40 mins every day on his static motor assisted bike (alternating passive and active cycling). It's a delicate balance getting medication right but a good physio will advise you.
He does also take lyrica for nerve pain (spasticity also triggers his nerve pain and vice versa), diazepam and amitryptilin at bedtime as they also help with spasticity.
We also found that moving his legs slowly especially at night when  he is tired has been helpful.
Today he gets spasms occasionally but nothing like he did though he still has very stiff muscles down his left side. It seemed to start getting better around the 2 year mark for Peter but I know this isn't true for everyone.
I think for Peter the main spasticity trigger is if his muscles get stiff because of lack of activity and also pain or if he fatigues his muscles by doing too much activity. His muscles need to e treated with great respect or they bite back! Once he worked that out he managed it a lot better.

Good luck with finding something that helps - spasticity is a real killer. The doc told us that it can come and go for no reason that anyone could pinpoint - not what we wanted to hear! Apologies for the long post and hope it gives you some ideas.

PS - is that 40mg baclofen x 4 daily or 10mg baclofen x 4 daily. If it's the former then that's a LOT! and had you thought about a pump? I saw lots of good stuff about the baclofen pumps on the Apparelyzed website.  

These spasms may also occur due to bad posture or sleeping position. You may try sleeping in fetal position and perform regular stretching exercises.