This is a digest of discussions from SCI-india discussion group on Spasms - how to keep them in control.
Date: Aug 08 and July 2009
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Im fighting daily with severe spasm's (seriously very severe). though i do regular amount of movements, they never come down.
they stay on my way while transfers & they wont even let me sit comfortably on wheel chair. im taking small amount of baclofen, but i dont want to increase the dosage.
guys, tell the ways to reduce and to control spasms.
tell me all the possible ways clearly to keep them in control...
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Have you tried to change the time that you take the baclofen so that it is at the highest rate of effect during the time you're transferring or on the chair? And perhaps adding a muscle relaxant along with the baclofen might help?
I wonder if eating and drinking certain things, or avoiding certain things might also help. For instance caffeine in coffee or tea might make the spasms worse, and alchohol might also make them worse - that is a guess, because those things are stimulants. But Peppermint or camomile tea (herbal) might have a soothing effect. Also, certain spices might be more beneficial or less beneficial.
Become a scientist, and make a daily log of what you eat and drink, and what effect things have on your spasms. But only change one thing at a time, so that you can isolate the effect of changes in medication or changes in food and liquid intake. One way to do this is to be on a very bland diet for a few days, to get everything that could cause problems out of your system, see if the spasms decrease at all, and if they do, gradually add things one at a time to discover what you can and cannot tolerate. This requires a lot of discipline!
Also, think about if the weather makes any difference in your spasms - extreme hot, cold or humidity or dryness, air conditioning or fans.
Also, when transfererring and sitting in the chair be sure to have shoes or sandals on your feet. Otherwise the stimulus of things to the bottom of your feet can increase the spasms, because it works like tickling the bottom of your feet!
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Apart from standing on oframe for atleast half hour or so, u do active workout like pushups, abs, n sitting on ur knees or rolling on each side this would help u, excercise with gym ball this would help u, i do this to stay away from baclofen, i have been prescribed 6 a day but i take only one at night. this will help try it,
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I find applying a lot of move ointment twice a day helps me a lot.Otherwise, go to your spine surgeon and ask him if you can take capsule spasmoproxivan, it reduces the spasms.
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I am Taking Baclofen 20mg in the morning and 20mg in the night. Even if I miss one day Spasm will throw me out of wheel chair.
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I used it when spasm become uncontrolable. But it was for very short period 10 - 20 days.
What I was meaning is BOTAX.
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