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Just wondering what spasticity feels like for different people. Thanks.

silverwings, I remember one of your past post and am figuring you are still having this issue. I have replied before about what my spasticity feels like, but was wondering if you have tried any of the things discussed before like checking your magnesium or zinc levels.

you could probably lump in pretty much anything weird that's muscular. tension, cramps, twitches, and so on.

revisiting the supplement regimen could be of use here..

http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... ml#p211278

sw are you still on 2400 IU vit d3 and 290 mg of magnesium daily? if so, what form of magnesium do you use? do you take the mag and d3 together, or separately? important nuances

This post is only to see what others experience with this, noting to do with diagnosing or treating my problems. Though thank you for your info.


So, if anyone would be kind enough to share their experience with this it'd be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

there are lots of people here other than me who've had spasticity issues, i imagine they'll chime in

1) When I wake in the morning, the first move, even slight, that I make in bed causes much of my body to tense up strongly; taking a nap causes this also but to a lesser extent. Actually, not moving much for many minutes or longer brings it on too. I skipped the topical Mg treatments for a month and this has become worse - such that now even bending my fingers causes the rest of the body to spasm (only when I wake in the morning though). This tensing in the morning gradually goes away for the most part by doing additional movements. If I keep still, the spasms are waiting to happen with next movement I make. After I have (slowly and carefully) sat up in bed, the reactivity of the muscles has dropped drastically.

2) During the day, spacticity feels like tight muscles that need to be stretched. However, if I stretch them, they tend to fight back and tense. This hyper-reactivity causes interesting things like bouncing leg movements from the calf muscle repeatedly contracting while sitting in a chair, foot on the floor. Kind of like the thing when people have a baby sitting on their knee and give the baby a ride by bouncing the baby up and down by repeatedly contracting and relaxing their calf muscle. Once I drop my heel from the raised position, it will start to bounce up and down on its own; I don't know if it would work with a baby on it though.

3) I usually get a tensing and shaking of my body when I am yawning.

4) When I stand up after sitting for many minutes or more, my body tenses up, especially the lower body; this lasts about 5-10 seconds.


The hyperactivity of the muscles does a number on walking ability and balance.
Muscles have what is known as a "stretch reflex". This is to keep a body part from moving if the body doesn't want it to move, to hold it in place. But a hyper-reactive stretch reflex causes the body part/muscle to push back to such an extent that it doesn't just hold in place, but moves in the opposite direction as the force pushing against it.

And as a requisite side note: Most all of the above problems have repeatedly improved, more or less, with topical Magnesium treatments.
Also, a doctor once told me that people with MS are magnesium wasters. He said he did not know if the magnesium wasting was a cause of MS or a symptom.

This hyper-reactivity causes interesting things like bouncing leg movements from the calf muscle repeatedly contracting while sitting in a chair, foot on the floor. Kind of like the thing when people have a baby sitting on their knee and give the baby a ride by bouncing the baby up and down by repeatedly contracting and relaxing their calf muscle. Once I drop my heel from the raised position, it will start to bounce up and down on its own; I don't know if it would work with a baby on it though.

sounds like clonus, thx. yes no maybe so? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonus#Clo ... Spasticity

Mine is a tightness in my legs. I am starting to walk like a wooden puppet. I do stretch - it helps sometimes and other times, it doesn't.

It's resisting the magnesium so far but still working on co-factors with JL's dietary advice, which is a godsend.

Thanks also to THX for some helpful tips.

I don't know if it is clonus.
The doctor was surprised one time when I didn't have any clonus; I asked her if the clonus could have gone away because the Mg treatments. She looked like she was really thinking and said she didn't know.

It seems to me that the clonus kind of response could be due to low magnesium - with muscles hyper-reactive, a quick tensing of one would cause the opposing muscle to also over-react and contract, and that would cause the first muscle to over-react and contract more than it should. And back and forth. This could all be started by the initial movement from the doctor that is intended to start the clonus which would then result in an over reaction of the hyper-reactive muscle, thus starting the process.

yours is definitely a tough nut to crack jaded wish testing was more accessible there! remind me if it's joints or definitely muscular though??

personally, my early signs of any spasticity have typically been a mild feeling of tension in the forearms. mostly when lazy with the regimen. clears up quick with better attention to dietary greens and nuts etc as well as a good dose of mag glycinate

I know this is not the answer you want JL but sometimes it's both, sometimes the joints.

Because it varies, I thought it was definitely spasticity....but am secretly (well publicly now!) hoping it's something that is easier to remedy.

Is there no test to check the cause???

i don't know re tests :S and, i am definitely fine hearing that the stiffness is in both muscles and joints. details are important! muscle stiffness would be spasticity, while joint stiffness would be more likely something inflammatory, i should think.

I have to admit I am not necessarily sure I know what you are describing Jaded, but I am thinking of a possibility of your joint tightness, or is it stiffness, being a feeling in the joint(s) caused by muscle(s) pulling the joints in such a way that they feel stiff or tight
Does a good comprehensive stretching session (one that you know stretches the muscle involving the joint) relieve the joint issue for a while
If so, it would seem to me to be a muscle issue.

Well I just spent fifteen minutes stretching my quads and hamstrings. Yes it feels a lot better - not sure how long it will last. One leg has freed up totally. The other (my stronger leg) is still tight in the knee. When I'm stretching my quads on that side I can feel it pulling something in the knee.

I know I will sit here for a while (post-dinner tv time) and it will probably tighten again.