Spasticity is my most debilitating symptom. My legs are stiff and heavy and my gait looks like Frankenstein piked forward at the waist. I do a leg weight routine 3-4 times a week to keep my muscles strong and filled out but the spasticity acts like a ball and chain on each leg.
I take 40 mg of baclofen 3x a day plus .5 clonazapan at night. I have attempted to add Zanaflex in the past but it wipes me out (as I recall it makes my legs extremely weak). Can anyone with major spasticity recommend a drug combo that has worked for them? I am open to trying Zanaflex again but I need suggestions about titration, etc. Of course I will talk to my Dr before making any changes.
Exercises, alternative therapies??
Thanks!
BTW, weed (sativa & indica) makes it worse.
Spasticity...Suggestions for tweaking drug regimen?
you might be interested in investigating your magnesium status. ms patients tend to have lower magnesium levels with links to spasticity, fatigue, and about 300 other things going on in your body!
normal range is 0.70-1.10 mmol/L. levels should actually be at least 0.90 mmol/L.
you can boost dietary magnesium, and take an absorbable supplementary form such as magnesium glycinate.
magnesium oxide has the highest percentage of elemental magnesium, but it's not very soluble so it just goes right through you. beware!
magnesium citrate is one step better than magnesium oxide. it's a good one for taking at bedtime. 'natural calm' makes a nice product, just powder you mix into hot water, available in a wide variety of flavours.
i don't recommend magnesium glycinate for bedtime. i take that form before a large meal instead. yes it's the most effective, but if i let it linger in my stomach, it relaxes my LES, and i end up with acid reflux and a related nasty cough.
if you high-dose vitamin d3, you need to be careful with magnesium. take some of your daily magnesium with the d3, but ensure you take in some magnesium separate from d3.
magnesium has a lot of things to do in the body, but when taken with d3 it tends to only do its d3-related jobs and skips the rest.
HTH!
normal range is 0.70-1.10 mmol/L. levels should actually be at least 0.90 mmol/L.
you can boost dietary magnesium, and take an absorbable supplementary form such as magnesium glycinate.
magnesium oxide has the highest percentage of elemental magnesium, but it's not very soluble so it just goes right through you. beware!
magnesium citrate is one step better than magnesium oxide. it's a good one for taking at bedtime. 'natural calm' makes a nice product, just powder you mix into hot water, available in a wide variety of flavours.
i don't recommend magnesium glycinate for bedtime. i take that form before a large meal instead. yes it's the most effective, but if i let it linger in my stomach, it relaxes my LES, and i end up with acid reflux and a related nasty cough.
if you high-dose vitamin d3, you need to be careful with magnesium. take some of your daily magnesium with the d3, but ensure you take in some magnesium separate from d3.
magnesium has a lot of things to do in the body, but when taken with d3 it tends to only do its d3-related jobs and skips the rest.
HTH!
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Magnesium Blood Test
Thanks for the info. What type of blood panel should I request?
no probs, it's just serum magnesium. the units (from my lab at least) are mmol/L. if you get the test they'll tell you you're fine all the way down to as low as 0.70, but you actually do want at least 0.90 mmol/L.
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