Hi everyone,
New here. I am seeking help for ideas of what to do about muscle spasms. I have them all over, and they are very painful. My muscles seize up completely, and also ache with muscle pain that worsens in the evening/night. I am wondering if anyone knows of natural remedies, or ways to help with this?
Thank you so much!
Lisa
Muscle spasms help
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lyndacarol
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Re: Muscle spasms help
Welcome to ThisIsMS, Lisa (Lisalisa).Lisalisa wrote:I am seeking help for ideas of what to do about muscle spasms. I have them all over, and they are very painful. My muscles seize up completely, and also ache with muscle pain that worsens in the evening/night. I am wondering if anyone knows of natural remedies, or ways to help with this?
My suggestion… Ask your doctor for a vitamin D blood test (the 25-hydroxy D test). Request your own copy of the test results – it is important to have the actual result numbers.
Every cell in your body has vitamin D receptors (VDRs), including the skeletal muscles. Pain is a common symptom of vitamin D deficiency. Over 1/2 of the world population is deficient in vitamin D; about 70% of the US population. (The California-based GrassrootsHealth is a good source of general information on vitamin D: http://www.GrassrootsHealth.net)
Magnesium deficiency can also affect the muscles. A magnesium test might be a good idea too. Magnesium and vitamin D (and calcium) work together.
Re: Muscle spasms help
I get muscle spasms mostly at night. They usually hit just as I'm about to fall asleep. If I have to pee it seems to trigger spasms, even if I don't have to go that bad. So if I get up and go to the bathroom it can quiet the spasms for a while.
Also there is an exercise I learned for sciatica pain that eliminated the pain for me. But it also helps to quiet the spasms ... for a while.
I do this while I'm lying flat on my back in bed. This video illustrates it:
https://youtu.be/8oPHrX_oALk?t=56 that exercise ends at 1:55. The rest is something else that I don't do. Anyway I do the left leg for 30 seconds then the right leg for 30 seconds and then repeat. And lastly I pull both knees up to my chest and hold them there with my arms for 30 seconds. That quiets the spasms for a while.
I also take two 10 mg tablets of Baclofen one hour before bedtime. That helps with the spasms at night but makes me groggy during the day. It's a trade off.
None of these things will eliminate the spasms but all of them help a little. Wish I had a magic cure but unfortunately I don't.
Also there is an exercise I learned for sciatica pain that eliminated the pain for me. But it also helps to quiet the spasms ... for a while.
I do this while I'm lying flat on my back in bed. This video illustrates it:
https://youtu.be/8oPHrX_oALk?t=56 that exercise ends at 1:55. The rest is something else that I don't do. Anyway I do the left leg for 30 seconds then the right leg for 30 seconds and then repeat. And lastly I pull both knees up to my chest and hold them there with my arms for 30 seconds. That quiets the spasms for a while.
I also take two 10 mg tablets of Baclofen one hour before bedtime. That helps with the spasms at night but makes me groggy during the day. It's a trade off.
None of these things will eliminate the spasms but all of them help a little. Wish I had a magic cure but unfortunately I don't.
Re: Muscle spasms help
Hi,
I take marijuana capsules and/or mj edibles and it gets rid of ALL pain. I was waking up from extremely painful spasms in my calves and toes, no longer....
Tif
I take marijuana capsules and/or mj edibles and it gets rid of ALL pain. I was waking up from extremely painful spasms in my calves and toes, no longer....
Tif
Re: Muscle spasms help
Hi,
Let's go back a step and look at why muscles tighten. Without all the paraphernalia about every nuance its basically sodium flows into your cell and when it reaches a sufficient level it triggers calcium to be released and that signals the muscles to bind to each other. So to control the spasm you have to either slow how fast the sodium flows into the cell or block the receptor that the calcium attaches to. The receptor is the ryanodine receptor. It has a high affinity for calcium.
If you take magnesium that preferentially binds to the receptor so calcium can't. A dose 3 times a day might help. After that you are looking a medications. Baclofen is a potassium channel blocker and it slows how fast potassium leaves the cell. Potassium and Sodium are always in balance with each other. As the sodium can't flow in till the potassium flows out you can control how fast the muscle tightens. It can, however, cause drowsiness. If you block the ryanodine receptor specifically you could use Dantrium. It can also cause drowsiness but is very effective. It will exaggerate the effects of alcohol.
I find 10mg of Baclofen (was 5mg for along time) and Dantrium 25mg 2x daily works very effectively. I control drowsiness by mega dosing with CoQ10 and aceytl-l-carnitine. There is no way I could take a bigger dose of Baclofen than the present level. I need to have a life as well.
The other thing about tight muscles is they shorten and sometimes they stay too short. The answer to that is Botox in the Hamstring and calf.
No matter how you approach it you need to stretch and strengthen the muscles. Take any medication and do nothing then you are wasting your time. You need to work the muscles. I find Pilates is best for that. You can start at a very basic level and work up over time.
Regards,
Let's go back a step and look at why muscles tighten. Without all the paraphernalia about every nuance its basically sodium flows into your cell and when it reaches a sufficient level it triggers calcium to be released and that signals the muscles to bind to each other. So to control the spasm you have to either slow how fast the sodium flows into the cell or block the receptor that the calcium attaches to. The receptor is the ryanodine receptor. It has a high affinity for calcium.
If you take magnesium that preferentially binds to the receptor so calcium can't. A dose 3 times a day might help. After that you are looking a medications. Baclofen is a potassium channel blocker and it slows how fast potassium leaves the cell. Potassium and Sodium are always in balance with each other. As the sodium can't flow in till the potassium flows out you can control how fast the muscle tightens. It can, however, cause drowsiness. If you block the ryanodine receptor specifically you could use Dantrium. It can also cause drowsiness but is very effective. It will exaggerate the effects of alcohol.
I find 10mg of Baclofen (was 5mg for along time) and Dantrium 25mg 2x daily works very effectively. I control drowsiness by mega dosing with CoQ10 and aceytl-l-carnitine. There is no way I could take a bigger dose of Baclofen than the present level. I need to have a life as well.
The other thing about tight muscles is they shorten and sometimes they stay too short. The answer to that is Botox in the Hamstring and calf.
No matter how you approach it you need to stretch and strengthen the muscles. Take any medication and do nothing then you are wasting your time. You need to work the muscles. I find Pilates is best for that. You can start at a very basic level and work up over time.
Regards,
-
lyndacarol
- Family Elder
- Posts: 3394
- Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2005 3:00 pm
- Contact:
Re: Muscle spasms help
You might find this 2-page thread, "Spasticity" (http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... 33-15.html) helpful.Lisalisa wrote:I am seeking help for ideas of what to do about muscle spasms. I have them all over, and they are very painful. My muscles seize up completely, and also ache with muscle pain that worsens in the evening/night. I am wondering if anyone knows of natural remedies, or ways to help with this?
Thank you so much!
Lisa
My contribution to the thread was added on July 25, 2014, "In view of recent questions about spasticity…"
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... ml#p227379
The link to Dr. Oz's video still works; the shortened URL for the U of Illinois paper does not. I seem to recall that Dr. Robert Motl has done updated research in this area (but I have not seen a link to it).