Questions posted in the
Neurology and Neurosurgery Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
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Subject: Insomnia and Intense muscle spasms Hi, I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia in addition to degenerative disc disease. I have had excruciating pain in my low back for 4 years now. I never had neck or upper back problems until about a year ago, my neck and upper back muscles started to spasm. My doctor thinks it is because the muscles are splinting in my low back due to the spinal instability, and eventually it spread upward to my upper back and neck. I never had fybromyalgia before the back problem either. I have been on oxycontin and soma for the muscle pain. The soma I have been having little effect from lately. I have increased my dose but it seems to not help. Also, I have recently had an impossible time sleeping. I cant get to sleep, and if by chance I do, I cant stay there. Some of this is due to muscle pain, but mostly I just cant seem to get to sleep no matter how tired I am. Thus, my muscle pain is even worse since I dont get any sleep to let the muscles relax. I wanted to ask about 2 things: 1, I have heard that soma\ comes in a form that also adds codiene and aspirin. Might this form be more effective for me, and would it be something I could take considering I also take oxycontin. 2, I need to know what kind of sleeping medication works well. I have tried the low dose antidepressants such as trazadone (made my stomach jerk) and doxepin ( got up to 150 mg and still no help). I think I need something that will relax me. ( I sometimes get anxiety attacks at night too when I can't sleep.) Is restoril a good one? I read that it has no rebound effect when you stop taking it but that it doesnt make falling asleep any easier. Is xanax or ambien or dalmane any better? I have never needed sleep aids before so I don't know what works best. I do feel like I may need something relatively strong, as I am on such high doses of narcotics and have been on soma a while and my tolerance to everything has gone\ up considerably. For instance, 25 mg of demerol used to knock me out, now I can get a 150mg shot and not even feel sleepy or out of it. If you could give me any suggestions I would appreciate it, then I can discuss them with my doctor, I just wanted to go in with a little knowledge first. Thank you so much for your time and assistance. Maggie | |
