This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Hi,
My husband has rather bad spastisty in the legs and probably bladder...has issues there anyhow. He does not want to take the Baclofen, because he can't afford to be any weaker or more tired at work...plus he just doesn't like the idea of taking separate pills for everything and having to worry about what's a symptom, what's a side-effect, and what he needs to avoid when taking them...
He is also not interested in MJ...really doesn't go with his job! And other reasons....
So, I'm looking for new ideas...he takes a magnesium supplement and he can't really get his hands on any LDN where we are....
Thanks in advance for any replies

My husband quit the baclofen (in a daze most of the day) and the other muscle relaxers that his neurologist had given him. He now takes 6 to 8 MSM in the evening. He didn't start the MSM for spasticity, but for back pain. Didn't help the back pain, but within days he noticed that it helped the spasticity more than the muscle releaxers. Threw the muscle relaxers out. He still gets muscle spasms, but not to the degree he did before he started MSM. We buy the MSM at Sam's Club. I think they are 1000mg tablets.

What is MSM please?

--Frank

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Treatment: CCSVI both IJV ballooned 09/2010, No DMDs, Tysabri on hold after 24 Infusions, after LDN, ABX Wheldon Regime for 1 year.

I think she means magnesium.

Oxybutynin (5mg daily) works very well for my spastic bladder. I have taken it for many years and the only side affect I have is that it dries me out.

I would rather be dried out though than put up with a spastic bladder.

gwa

Maybe he could look into getting a Baclofen pump. The pump works by shooting a dose of Baclofen directly into the spine. It uses a much smaller dose of Baclofen so the side effects are less.
Terry

Smoke a joint

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Had ms for over 19 years now.

Methyl-Sulfonyl-Methane (MSM) is organic sulfur - bioavailable sulfur, a major antioxidant mineral found in the structural molecules of the body.

I was told that sulfur is as important to the body as water.

I'll look into that MSM stuff....but the joint isn't possible

I take one Baclofen at bedtime and it does not affect me the next day, and it helps me sleep. I think it is also helping me with pain.

Hi Why-

My husband has the same issues. We've found the best formula to be one baclofen tablet and a magnesium supplement an hour before bedtime. We use "Natural Calm" because it is absorbed by the body very quickly. He sleeps thru most of the spasms.

Daytime is tougher, because he hates the drowsy feeling baclofen causes. My husband's recently started on Provigil for fatigue, feels much more energetic, and he believes it's also helped with the severity of his spasms.

Also, regular stretching and as much exercise as your hubby can handle are also beneficial. Best to you both as you start the new year. Hope these ideas help.

AC

hiya WRWH, i was going to ask what all the hubby takes through the day in the way of meds and supps and the dosages and timing?

Well, thanks for the other suggestions.
Jimmylegs, I am not sure of timings, but right now, due to having what we have and being in a place that iherb doesn't post to, he is taking:
in evening all of these:
Calcium 500mg
Magnesium 200mg
Selenium
100 mg
Vit D 1000
Vit C powder, so 1/8 tsp
Vit E 400 IU
Acetyl L-Carnetine 500mg
DMAE powder...don't know if he's taking this
ALA 150mg

Fluoxetine (prozac) 20 in evening
Doxycycline 2 x 100mg in morning around 5:45am

He has never had an outright attack/relapse ....just a slow getting worse really. We decided to try antibiotics about 2 years ago, when we were going through a very very stressful time...well he didn't get worse through that, but we couldn't keep it up, with moving so much. Now he's started that again, but we are at a bit of a standstill, as we had a GP in the UK for the treatment, but here it will be more difficult...am going to try the GP here, if the neuro fails to agree. We need the next step in the regime.
You can't buy any supplements here, so I have to wait for a visitor to bring me some.
You can get all the other conventional drugs here, but every time you read the side effects, you feel like "the devil you know".....
He could give up the prozac, but he likes it....for one thing, it seems to have put weight on him, which he needed. And he does feel fairly stable right now.
Okay, sorry, but I promised my daughter she could press some emoticons.....

WRWH

My husband was on about 11 pills a day (total) of baclofen, zanaflex, and quinine - three different muscle relaxers. Started with one perscription and the neurologist kept adding because nothing helped until he started the MSM (Methyl-Sulfonyl-Methane). Can't say enough good things about it.

okay good to know. if this is not already the case, try adding a separate 200mg magnesium in the morning, away from vitamin D. (keep the cal mag and d together in the evening still) i would say try that for a day or two, and see what happens.

there will be one good thing if it works, ie the tension will back off some, and there will be one warning sign of too much magnesium, namely watery BMs. if you don't see either thing after a couple of days, try adding another 200mg at lunchtime, for 600mg total per day.

if it's going to help him, you should notice some benefit inside a week. if it does help, and he'd rather have the extra magnesium at bedtime, would it be possible to move the current bedtime D, calcium and magnesium pills to another time of day? or does he have to take too many other things?