I’ve been mostly absent from the forum for a week after I had a bad fall (not sure there’s a good kind). It was operated on last Monday and metal rods were inserted and fixed with screws and bolts (a kind of Meccano). During the last couple of days I’ve been having awful spasms.
These spasms are possibly the worst pain I’ve ever experienced (I’ve never given birth!). It’s a twisting kind of spasm each time and the pain lasts quite a while - I can’t even guess at how long, it seems like 5 minutes but is probably one or less.
I’ve been taking baclofen but it doesn’t seem to help. Oxycodone is helping with the pain, but it’s not good at helping with the spasms.
Any experience of broken bones, metal rods, or post operative spasms would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Sue, sorry to hear about your fall! I’m an orthopaedic nurse and this is quite common! It’s a careful balancing act to get your pain and spasms under control enough to allow you to mobilise but without making you too sleepy! You may need to ask for a referral to the acute pain specialist team - we have a specialist nurse who gives advice about pain management when our usual first line drugs aren’t helping! You may benefit from something like diazepam or maybe even something like gabapentin if you aren’t already on it but I would definitely request to speak with a specialist as it is probably complicated by MS (what isn’t…). In any case, I hope you find a solution and you have a speedy recovery!! All the best, Robyn
omg sue, i did wonder where you were, but i know we all need a break sometimes and i didnt mean to make a pun.
Oh dear not enough water in the whiskey then lol. Jeez it must have been a pretty horrendous fall to warrant hard wear to fix it. I hope you recover as fast as MS will let you.
I think Robyn has answered your request.
My daughter had a bad break in her ankle without MS and experienced very similar post operative pain which was relieved with some heavy duty pain meds and sedatives to help her sleep i am not sure they were spasms but they sure as hell hurt her.
take care and rest and i hope you have a speedy recovery. xxxx
Sue sorry to hear about your fall. I have just read about Sativex being approved on the NHS and wondered if that would help. Not sure if the spasms you feel are the same as MS spasms that I have heard others go through.
Hello Thank you for your well wishes. The break was a very surprisingly nasty one. I fell at 11.30pm, off my wheelchair onto the hard bathroom floor (reaching out just a bit too far in a sleepy state). The break was initially thought to be my hip, but turned out to be the femur - a bit smashed up - and in the process of mending with bolts and screws. The drug cocktail is helping with the pain, but I keep waking up with agonising spasms down my right leg. I’ve had spasms for years, treated with Baclofen, but it’s not really doing the job with these spasms. Your information is much appreciated Robyn. I’ll be talking to the doctors today about the spasms as well as other drug treatments (3 times now I’ve woken up in the middle of the night utterly confused - could be a drug thing, or just a strange situational thing). The latest cannabis news is certainly good news Hope, I’m not sure it would be effective for these pains, or easily come by, it takes time for drugs to actually arrive in the hands or bodies of users. I’ve had my brains a bit scrambled as well as my leg bone - that’s why I’ve been missing CC. Brain cells missing as well as my virtual presence here! I will try to keep up - but until I get home from hospital it’s difficult - mobile phones are no substitute for my beloved iPad. Sue x
Oh Sue, you poor darling. I read of your fall on the Brain Fog thread. Scary to read how much damage was done by a relatively low fall. From seated I mean. I’m forever over reaching. Best stop! Virtually visiting you bearing gifts now. Let’s see, I have fresh fruit (just a foil for the cheese and wine) Crackers, fig rolls (Hopefully ok with your stoma, if not, I’ll eat them. They’re my favourite ) Chocolate. More chocolate. Oh, and some more! A selection of Audio books and some whale music CDs. Is there anything else you’d like?
I’d forgotten about fig rolls. Mr Sssue is bringing some in for me tonight.
Cheese, wine & crackers. Um, making me hungry now.
I am fairly well supplied with chocolate - I have dark chocolate Bountys, Quality Street, some odd new Cadbury’s Milk Dark (surprisingly nice even though it’s Cadbury’s), plus a big bag of liquorice.
Sounds perfect.
Sue
I’m new to this. I have just had a stem cell transplant in June and back surgery 2 weeks ago. My leg spasms are awful. Baclofen leaves me weak.so like you would like something for the spasms. I’m on oxycodone too. Best wishes.
hope things are continuing to improve. re cramps and spasms - I wonder if having m.s. causes post-operative m.s. type problems - our message transmitting nerves are damaged with the m.s. so I wonder if an operation affects those nerves differently in pwms. (I have no medical background at all so am not explaining this very well! - The question I’d ask the surgeon is - is what your experiencing ‘normal’ because if something else is going on a neuro’s advice should be sought.)
Thanks for this. Yes, I believe this is probably quite typical. In fact my neuro rehab doctor talked to the doctor here yesterday and they tried to switch my Oxycodone to Pregabalin. A bit of a failure there - possibly because of the reclassification of Pregabalin. I have done the same calculation in my brain about slicing through muscle and bone causing a knock on effect on the nerves. Sue
I have just posted a new post and then read yours. So sorry to hear of your troubles. I am hoping you feel better soon. I posted inner thigh muscle spasms. I have also found out I have protruding discs in my spine-neck,middle and lower back and have been prescribed Pregabalin 75mg by my neorologist I took 2 tablets and wow my life flashed before me, so I went to see my GP and they lowered the dose to 25mg but I am scared to take it now.
I get confused with SPASMS. really what are they? I read so many different explanations. I get really bad stiff leg more in my left kind of like from the knee down and its really hard to walk and i practicably drag it about like a dead branch.
sometimes my thighs feel like they are being gripped and it feels painful and makes me ouchie. my toe spasms and arches upwards and the pain is horrible. at night i cant bear clothes on my legs so i have a blanket cage and it keeps the weight off otherwise my legs want to move and aer painful.
I get bladder spams a lot.
a tightness in my back like spasms which kind of is painful and to relieve it i use a heat pad.
I dont know i find walking hard work when my legs are stiff.
No way can i wear tight leggings etc, the pain is horrific.
so not sure if i get spasms as i am not sure really what they are. some say its clonus, i get jumpy muscles. but i wouldnt say my legs dance about.
anyway sue, i hope you continue improve, you must have had such a rotten luck fall. xxxx
What you experience with bladder spasms is a little bit different to the spasms some of us have in our limbs. I’ve thought for a long time and that bladder spasms ought to be called something else. They might come from a similar cause, and do the same action, and are equally vile to live with, but they do different things and can be utterly confusing.
For me right now (at this dam minute), my right leg (the one with the broken bone!) is having a completely involuntary jerk. It goes from my foot - which ordinarily cannot dorsiflex, ie lift in order to walk - and travels up my shin, past my knee (that’s not involved) up my thigh and eventually comes to a crescendo at the top of my leg. Meanwhile that foot is stuck up clearly doing what it ‘can’t. These spasms are a good bit worse than my normal (relatively gentle in comparison) spasms.
I
i’ve finally been prescribed with some Pregabalin. Not that it’s helping right now. I’m just waiting for the drugs to kick in and stop hurting so damn much. Maybe then it’ll stop.
Ugh sue, you poor thing its sounds like your leg is my toe. so yours is a bit like a muscle constriction that makes your foot jerk upwards. muscle tightening? Is this also down to lack of mobility, sorry to ask trying to get my head around it all.
I looked at the link and yes I think i have a mixture of spasticity and spasms. I find the muscle tightening in the back of my leg really hard to walk I can only explain it like walking through concrete lol.
yes as to bladder spasms not sure about them at all its a weird feeling internally.
It does sound like yours has been triggered by your operation perhaps. I really hope you get some relief soon hun. I cant imagine you falling off your wheelchair like that and breaking a bone so badly of all the luck. jeez.
I am starting to use my electric wheelchair more to move around outside my flat in the corridors as they are quite long, and at the moment i wont go out without someone with me. I never realised just how dangerous this accommodation is. the OT came the other day and he concurred, said the sheltered accommodation is not suitable for anyone with a disability lol, so its lucky they are changing it to independent next year. the drop down curbs well you take your life in your own hands negotiating them and i nearly did a royal tip over the other day if Helen my care worker hadnt been with me i might have been joining you in a&e. no ramps to get into doors the list was endless.
we just dont realise how easy it is to suddenly end up in a bad place even when using the safe aids. I did one day several years ago end up on my back looking up at the sky and my care worker was holding my arm and i had my walking stick but concentrating on looking forward i did not look down to see a pot hole which was in the grass we were walking on lucky for me.