Muscle Spasm?

[jamilea]

Allow me explain my experiences and then I'll ask the question.

These have been going on for quite some time now but I've never been able to sit there for over 5 minutes with my hand cupped on it to feel. Just now, my elbow muscles started freaking out. It was like a little guy in there that went knock, knock, knock, KICK so on and so forth.

Or bloop bloop bloop BLOOOP! It's the best way I can describe my muscle freaking out. I was actually able to hold my hand over the elbow muscle, more the muscle between my forearm bones leading up to the elbow.

It was the weirdest one I've ever experienced, kind of fascinating actually.

The other ones I get are small but seriously painful bloop bloop bloop, bloop bloop bloop, bloop bloop bloop and then usually those are gone in under a minute and it starts somewhere else in my body. Those ones if you apply pressure it stops the throbbing and makes the pain more bearable.

Are these 2 different types of muscle spasms I experience?

[jamilea]

I just took a shower and I notice that it is actually still doing the bloop bloops.

I hope I don't sound like a complete freak.

[Chelenae]

I can't give you any expert advice, but I can sympathize.

Sometimes my left elbow spasms so bad that I think it just has to dislocate. And like you, I can see the muscle just below it twitching like crazy.

My PCP has me take Flexeril to relax my muscles and Xanax in case the pain stresses me out too much.

I sure hope you get some relief.

Hugs and Prayers,
Chele

[jamilea]

Thanks. It's actually not really that debilitating for me. Only the ones that are painful are.

I just started back on Flexeril a couple of days ago. I wasn't able to fill the script for awhile because of getting laid of work.

Flexeril seems to be a type of med that has to build up in the system for it to work. It pretty much works the same as Valerian root in my opinion and I can get that OTC. Flexeril has such big success rates though. It really does help me and helps me sleep better.

[jamilea]

So, were those definitely muscle spasms?

[Shashi]

Those sound more like fasciculations. (I can't believe I spelled that correctly on the first try!) They're more like muscle tics, such as you might sometimes get in an eyelid. (I once had an eyelid tic that went on for weeks!)

I do get fasciculations frequently and have for years. They feel like someone is thumping me in various places. The baclofen I take does nothing to stop or control them. They don't really bother me much anymore. For the most part, I just ignore them now.

[jamilea]

I looked that up. I don't see the spasms happening, I can only feel them with my hands or just feel them happening in general.

The other ones that are painful, are those a muscle spasm?

[Shashi]

Actually, the painful ones sound more like nerve pain. Is it a sharp pain, like you're being stabbed by a needle? Muscle spasms normally are a larger area, like when you have a Charlie horse.

[jamilea]

Yes, fleeting like being stabbed with a needle

They are less when I take Flexeril

[jamilea]

The left side of my face is tingling today and I hate it!!

[Shashi]

Jamilea, for the stabbing nerve pains and the tingling, you need gabapentin (Neurontin) or Lyrica.

[Jensequitur]

Hey, muscle spasms, fasciculations, and spasticity are three different things.

Twitches (small muscles) or fasciculations (large muscles) are caused by nerve damage. The reason why is complicated, but it helps to know that a muscle's default is to contract. The nerve connection tells it to relax. When a nerve has a poor connection to the muscle, it jumps. This can be aggravating, especially if it's in the face.

Spasms and spasticity are two conditions caused by essentially the same problem - bad connection to the spine. When there's a muscle spasm, the muscle is contracting without the command from the brain to relax. Spasticity is a milder form of this, but essentially the same.

At least this is how I understand it. So what you're experiencing are twitches or fasciculations. The stabbing pain is paresthesia.

Flexaril helps my muscle spasms, but for real relief, I use baclofen - it's helped, especially with the MS hug. As Shashi says, neurontin will help with the paresthesia. I don't know what helps with fasciculations.

[truckin]

I get the kind of fasciculations in my shoulders, upper arms, spinal muscles, and outer thigh muscles that prevent me from supporting other muscles--like the shoulder fasciculations prevent me from reaching up, and the spinal muscle ones prevent me from sitting or standing still--I have to squirm or get a back buddy (knobber) to massage the area.

It's more of a cascading popping weakness feeling, but there's no way I know of yet that will strengthen them.
I am on a prednisone taper with skelaxin to see what happens. My neuro says there's a nerve interaction between this and spasticity, and fatigued muscles need to be looked at.

[Blueeyedgrl]

The left side of my face is tingling today and I hate it!!

Mine is doing that today..But on my right