Baclofen?

[Mustang Sal]

Hey everyone! Just thought i'd check in on you all as I haven't been around much recently. Unfortunately the pain i've been living with for the past two years landed me in hospital for 10 days so they could get it under better control and also give me the nerve root injection i'd been waiting ages for. This injection only worked for the radicular (leg) pain, and even that has now returned :( I am now living on morphine along with a heap of other meds (including gabapentin and nortriptyline for neuropathic pain). Because I was on complete bed rest for about 4 days, my already weak legs decided they didn't really want me to walk after that, so i'm now using a wheelchair and having physio to help them get strong enough for me to walk with sticks agin. I don't really know the state of my spinal cord, apart from that it's tethered by the bony spur which grew back after I had it removed when I was 3 years old, but my surgeon has said that he would now consider fusing what's left of my lumar spine and would also decompress the L4/5 nerve root which is causing me problems. My last surgery (12 years ago) was performed by him and a neurosurgeon, and it was a pretty complex operation which cured my pain at the time (they removed a hemivertebra that was compressing my spinal cord). I came out of that with the function in my right leg drastically reduced, but it cured the pain. I am seeing my surgeon again at the end of January to discuss this further, but i'm hoping that he will get the ns on board with this as well, because I need to discuss the option of having the re-grown spur removed again as well as the decompression/fusion. Basically, there's a lot we need to talk about! I am scared that any more surgeries might affect function below my waist, but at the same time I cannot live on Morphine for the rest of my life, so something needs to be done.

Anyway, I just wanted to ask if any of you take Baclofen for muscle spasms/spasticity? My surgeon took me off Diazepam and started me on Baclofen for the muscle problems in my right leg. I've had these problems for many years, but reently they've become a lot more troublesome (which also makes me think that it's tethered cord related). Well, Baclofen has been really successful! I don't get half as many spasms as I used to (I would describe my leg as sort of 'pulsing' away all the time, and every 30 seconds or so would start jerking and stiffening). The trouble i'm having now though is the side effects :( It's working a treat on the nerve damaged leg, but it's also weaking all my other muscles too, and giving me things like hand tremors, twitching and weakness in my arms. This pretty much sucks! I don't want to stop taking it because of how good it is, but I hate what it's doing to the rest of me! I wonder if there's any way it can be injected into the trouble area rather than have it work systemically around my body? Anyone know anything about this?

Sorry for running on, just thought i'd get you all up to speed (well from what I remember anyway! I've probabl missed loads out!)

Hope you're all having a lovely Christmas :)

[Nettie]

Sally, that is awful! I'm so sorry you've been in hospital, and that you're struggling with so much pain and problems. I really hope that everybody can get on board and that whatever you and they decide to do then, will work really well. You do not deserve to live like this.

I have no knowledge of the meds you're talking about. But I wonder...will botox injections help you for the leg?

[LisaJoy]

Sally, I'm so sorry you've been having so much trouble. I can't help you with the Baclofen. Hope the surgery works out -- at this point, it sounds like losing some function but gaining pain relief might be a good trade-off.

[misty]

I used to work in a hospital where a lot of our patients were spastic for various reasons. Baclofen was pretty popular there. Is it possible that you're on too high a dose? I'd ask your doctor if you could lower the dose some to see if you can get the same effects on your legs without having the total body weakness. (I"m not a medical professional of any sort, so this may not be possible at all, but you could always ask!)

[sean]

Bugger!, thinking of you, wishing you relief/peace.

I've not heard of Baclofen either, and I'm thinking Diazepam is an antidepressant... I don't know. Is it?
Also a nerve root injection? Was that ?quartizone?
My mother was given quartizone injections for ?rhumatoid arthritis. Over a few years, she had her quota, a human can only take so much. She had to be in blind agony to get it.

The side effects your having do not sound good, tremors and weakness.
As Misty suggests, sounds like too much......Hellloo! Feeling...away with the fairies, morph'd out, at least.
There are important decisions to be made (me too this year,puke!)
I'm thinking,if at all possible, get the morphine, and what ever else you can, out of your system.
Easy to say, but you need to be clear and sober, making these decisions. As opposed to drug #*&@%+ and desperate.

He moans,,,these are the times when a significant other would be pricless.

Yeh, Botox, would it be any good for you? Botox is a possible temporary...who knows, fix, available to me. Seems to be least thing I can try, in/out one day....then maybe 2 or 3 times a year.......I don't know...go surgeries, try this..........!
Also cornered....I must decide...soon....my kidneys need me.

Hope you can get things sorted....?one thing at a time.