Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

I tried the muscle relaxant Baclofen/Lioresal last night and it helped me sleep very well. I learned about it on Dr Buchfuhrer's website as an option for treating PLMD/PLMs. But this morning I noticed cramping that started in the bottoms of my feet and then slowly moved up my legs. It's now at my hips but as I'm writing this they are moving into my arms. The cramps are tolerable but slightly uncomfortable. They stay for a bit and then stop and repeat. They remind me of the charley horses I got in my calves during childhood but only the part where the cramping starts up and these current day ones don't progress into full blown charley horse cramping.

So I'm wondering if anyone has any feedback about this so I can understand if this is a side effect of the Baclofen, or something else. I'm wondering if my muscles are normally very tight and the Baclofen is wearing off and my muscles are tightening up? I normally have a lot of muscle soreness and tenderness in general.

I have no idea if it is the movement, not enough water, the medication, some combination thereof...etc. But, my ligaments and muscles are SO tight ALL the time that I actually have to use a foam roller or other similar tool every morning along with stretching.

My sister has similar issues.

I also have extremely tight muscles, and have often wondered whether this is a side effect of them getting very little rest during sleep. I can feel my RLS symptoms originating in particularly tight areas. I tried Baclofen to see if relaxing my muscles would help in reducing my RLS symptoms. It didn't.

I didn't have any of the side effects that you seem to be experiencing, Yawny. It made me sleepy for the first week or so, but then that side effect disappeared. It made my joints feel loose, but not relaxed. I also noticed it relaxed muscles that I didn't particularly want relaxed (giving me terrible gas and a weird feeling in my chest). I stopped taking it because it wasn't useful for my condition.

If you have new symptoms after starting a new drug, chances are pretty good they're related. Your doctor might know.

Ann, I'm going to look into a foam roller. My muscles are usually so tender but maybe this is what I need. My husband treated himself to a massage chair from Costco recently and thinks it's the cat's pajamas. Every time I use it it hurts. But I've had some nights of better sleep afterward so maybe that's a good sign. My eccentric neurologist does a fibromyalgia-like exam to determine if I'm getting enough sleep. He says I could easily be diagnosed with fibromyalgia from all the tender spots I have. And he also can determine if I'm low in seratonin or dopamine. Probably sounds wacky but he's very well respected in the community. My husband once asked him why we've never seen anybody else in the conventional medical world doing what he does and his response was that it's hard to teach, especially to non-believers. I want to recommend him to others but he's retiring soon.

pamhb, thanks for the feedback on Baclofen! It helps to hear from others who've tried something. I also tried another muscle relaxant, Tizanadine but didn't notice any effect from it. The cramping after the first night of Baclofen seems to have subsided. I'm going to stick with it for a bit to see what happens. Unfortunately, I broke my rule of adding only one thing at a time to my regimen so not sure now what is causing what!

More on muscle relaxants:

I also tried using cyclobenzaprine, which had far fewer side effects for me, but was ultimately ineffective. You'll want to keep in mind that muscle relaxants are a neurological drug, so you might experience withdrawal symptoms if you stay on them for too long and then try and come off.

I moved some posts from this Topic to a new Topic in the Physical Treatments Forum viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10011&p=91310#p91310 to help members find the discussion more easily. Any posts that mentioned both massage rollers and muscle relaxants have stayed here. Those that discuss only the physical tools have been moved to the new place.

pamhb wrote:I also have extremely tight muscles, and have often wondered whether this is a side effect of them getting very little rest during sleep.

Same issue. And I'm convinced this is the case. I have vague chonic musculoskeletal pain. All bit goes away when sleep meds are working.

Yawny, I'm glad the baclofen is helping!

leggo_my_legs wrote:

pamhb wrote:I also have extremely tight muscles, and have often wondered whether this is a side effect of them getting very little rest during sleep.

Same issue. And I'm convinced this is the case. I have vague chonic musculoskeletal pain. All bit goes away when sleep meds are working.

Yawny, I'm glad the baclofen is helping!

I have definitely correlated the myofascial trigger points to sleep. But not the tendon issues and generally tight muscles...at least I do not think....it has been so long, I really have no idea anymore. It could all be sleep...