Muscle relaxants

For everything and anything else not covered in the other RLS sections.
Forum rules
Post Reply
Aiken
Posts: 880
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:53 am

Post by Aiken »

snowbound--

Yup, same muscle. Sounds like you've got the long-term slow spasm. Mine's the other kind, producing occasional very severe spasms that last 5-15 minutes, usually in the middle of the night (gee, thanks, just what I need). Kind of feels like someone's stabbing me with a long icepick, from just below the belt in the front, all the way towards my tailbone in the back. Hurts like hell, but I it's probably better than having dull pain 24/7. Though it sounds like recently yours is a bit of both. Sorry you're having to deal with that. :(

There's not much that helps mine. It seems to happen less often as long as I'm very gentle with both usage and hygiene in my nether regions, and also if I don't let any gas build up in my large intestine, which seems to irritate it.

For what it's worth, when I double-checked just now to make sure I was thinking of the right muscle, I saw that the description of levator ani syndrome matches yours pretty much word for word.
Disclaimer: I often talk about what I do and what works for me, but these are specific to me and you should always consult a healthcare professional before trying these things yourself, lest you endanger your health or life.
Top
snowbound
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:48 am
Location: Big Smoke
Contact:
Contact snowbound

Post by snowbound »

Yeah, levator ani syndrome pretty much nails my symptoms. At least i thought so until yesterday when i passed what looked like blood clots in a bowel movement. I called my specialist and the nurse said if that happens again go straight away to the hospital.

I guess u Aiken, have the other type, Proctalgia fugax?

I have had episodes of that in my younger days. Not pleasant at all...

All i know is i have to get passed this. It's so bad at the moment, going to work is becoming very difficult. It's causing me a lot of distress. One good thing, the RLS seems to have spared me in the last week. I guess it decided to take mercy on me for a while.
A man generally has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one. ~ J. Pierpoint Morgan
Top
Aiken
Posts: 880
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:53 am

Post by Aiken »

oops double post. :)
Last edited by Aiken on Sat Sep 27, 2008 12:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
Disclaimer: I often talk about what I do and what works for me, but these are specific to me and you should always consult a healthcare professional before trying these things yourself, lest you endanger your health or life.
Top
Aiken
Posts: 880
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:53 am

Post by Aiken »

Yeah, proctalgia fugax. And here I thought "restless legs" was a stupid name. :)

I agree with the nurse. If you're passing blood, that's a sign and a half that you may have something on top of your muscle spasm. Have you had a colonoscopy? Aside from the obvious nasty stuff they can find, there are also simple things like internal hemorrhoids and fissures that are basically just structural issues, but which can often explain levator ani spasms, and which can in some cases cause bleeding inside. Could be you burst/tore-off a polyp, too. (A friend just had that happen, and ended up in the hospital because the resulting diarrhea dehydrated him to the point of delirium.)

I don't remember how old you are, but if you're 40+ and you haven't had one, you might just want to schedule a routine colonoscopy. I think 40 (maybe 50?) is when they start doing routine ones, anyway, so you'd kill two birds with one stone.
Disclaimer: I often talk about what I do and what works for me, but these are specific to me and you should always consult a healthcare professional before trying these things yourself, lest you endanger your health or life.
Top
snowbound
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:48 am
Location: Big Smoke
Contact:
Contact snowbound

Post by snowbound »

double post.
Last edited by snowbound on Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
A man generally has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one. ~ J. Pierpoint Morgan
Top
snowbound
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:48 am
Location: Big Smoke
Contact:
Contact snowbound

Post by snowbound »

and again. :lol:
Last edited by snowbound on Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:10 am, edited 2 times in total.
A man generally has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one. ~ J. Pierpoint Morgan
Top
snowbound
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:48 am
Location: Big Smoke
Contact:
Contact snowbound

Post by snowbound »

Aiken wrote:
Yeah, proctalgia fugax. And here I thought "restless legs" was a stupid name.

Lol, i agree.

Have you had a colonoscopy?

Yes, last wednesday, one polyp in rectum removed. I'm 51 years old. He said no hemorrhoids or fissures were present. I have had 2 hemorrhoid related surgeries in the past though. Actually it was a partial colonoscopy as the sedation wasn't heavy enough to finish as my colon has a lot of tight curves and i couldn't handle the torture of it after only getting so far. Usually for these exams iam put out for that very reason. This clinic failed to tell me until i was on the table that they don't have the resources for heavy sedation like most hospitals have...

I didn't notice any blood this morning so i will be keeping a close eye on it for sure. I go see the specialist next wednesday. I'm more than willing to go for more tests but he must give me something to relieve some of the sensation in the meantime so i don't feel like i'm in a torture chamber most of my waking hours...

U mentioned earlier that u were, or are taking muscle relaxers?

If so, did this alleviate your spasms in that time?

Oh, he gave me a prescription last week for Dicetel which i will start tommorrow. He said it should help. I hope so but when i researched it, it seems to be an IBS med, which i'm almost positve i don't have but i'll give it a try. I don't think this drug is available in the USA so u might not recognize the name.
A man generally has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one. ~ J. Pierpoint Morgan
Top
Aiken
Posts: 880
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:53 am

Post by Aiken »

Well, here I go again with my stupid questions. :)

If you had the colonoscopy on Wednesday, and you said that you had blood in your stool Thursday, couldn't that just have been bleeding from where they took off the polyp?

Edit: Forgot to answer your question: No, I don't take relaxants for my spasm. It happens too suddenly and randomly to predict (once every few days, to every few weeks, to every few months, can never tell), and doesn't last as long as it takes for a pill to start working.
Disclaimer: I often talk about what I do and what works for me, but these are specific to me and you should always consult a healthcare professional before trying these things yourself, lest you endanger your health or life.
Top
snowbound
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:48 am
Location: Big Smoke
Contact:
Contact snowbound

Post by snowbound »

Sorry i wasn't clear. I had the colonoscopy the wednesday before and the bleeding came a week later on the following thursday. 8 days after.

I have another question. I operate heavy machinery for a living. Would taking muscle relaxants impair me at all in doing my job? I know there are different types. Do some have less side effects then others?

Why i ask is the pressure sensation is at it's worst at work so i would need something to get me through the day. Also, are they addictive with long term use?
A man generally has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one. ~ J. Pierpoint Morgan
Top
Aiken
Posts: 880
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:53 am

Post by Aiken »

Ah, I don't have the information you need there. Relaxers always dull me a bit, but there may be some that don't.

If you think about it, though, the whole point of a muscle relaxer is to keep your muscles from reacting as strongly to signals as they usually do. I'm not sure it'd be possible to take one and not have your reaction time dulled.

If you can't get it resolved any other way, there's the botox route to consider. I had the anterior scalenes in my neck injected with botox when they were doing the same kind of full-time low-grade spasm. It does work, and I saw it mentioned somewhere as a treatment for levator ani syndrome. It usually lasts 2-3 months and, in my case, it gave the muscles a chance to return to their natural programming before they woke up.

I wonder if your blood clot was maybe the one that formed from the polyp removal and took a week to come loose. Scabs usually take about a week to peel off, in my experience. Not sure what it's like internally. Did it look fresh?
Disclaimer: I often talk about what I do and what works for me, but these are specific to me and you should always consult a healthcare professional before trying these things yourself, lest you endanger your health or life.
Top
snowbound
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:48 am
Location: Big Smoke
Contact:
Contact snowbound

Post by snowbound »

First off, thanks Aiken for your time on this. It's very much appreciated. :)

Aiken wrote:If you can't get it resolved any other way, there's the botox route to consider. I had the anterior scalenes in my neck injected with botox when they were doing the same kind of full-time low-grade spasm. It does work, and I saw it mentioned somewhere as a treatment for levator ani syndrome. It usually lasts 2-3 months and, in my case, it gave the muscles a chance to return to their natural programming before they woke up.

Thanks again, good info to have. Does Botox paralyse the muscle or something like that? I'm arming myself with everything i can find before i see the specialist in a few days.

Did it look fresh?


Not really. It looked very dark and clotty... Haven't noticed any blood since.
A man generally has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one. ~ J. Pierpoint Morgan
Top
Aiken
Posts: 880
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:53 am

Post by Aiken »

I'm not as well-educated on neurochemistry as I'd like to be, but the doctor who injected me gave me a quick crash course because I was curious. The quick, and probably not quite complete, explanation was that the botox kills the emitter sites at the end of the motor nerve where it terminates in the muscle. Since they can't signal the muscle, the muscle doesn't contract. It takes 2-3 months for them to heal, so it's not permanent, but it's a nice reprieve even when it's not a cure.

Of course, there are cautions... some people react poorly to the toxin being in their body, but I don't think it's generally dangerous because it's so localized and in such small quantities. You can get a flu-like syndrome for a day or two. There's also the issue that some of the toxin may leak back out of the injection site and taint a nearby muscle, but that is apparently rare when done by a well-trained doctor, and was really more of an issue for me with the neck injection being near the esophageal muscles.

You definitely want someone who's trained to do it, especially one who uses EMG-guided injections, where the needle doubles as an electrode, allowing them to pinpoint the nerve. That's the case for scalenes, anyway.

Good luck.
Disclaimer: I often talk about what I do and what works for me, but these are specific to me and you should always consult a healthcare professional before trying these things yourself, lest you endanger your health or life.
Top
Post Reply

Return to “General Topics: RLS”