Are these Spasms?

Hi Guys,
I hope everybody had a lovely Christmas and that the New Year brings all things nice.

I did the usual thing and ate way too much pre Christmas and I have been exercising a lot to get the excess weight off but seem to be encountering some problems.

I am having my spasms again in my bladder and urinary tract, very painful, so just upped my dose of Vesicare but I also am having spasms? or cramp like contractions in my butt and in my thighs.  Both these seem to be worse when I am trying to walk I seem to get them, is this just because I am doing all this walking to lose weight and tone up or would this be spasms that are associated with neurological problems?  They are quick almost contraction like pain and seem to happen when I am walking etc. It's been hot here lately and I have felt very fatigued, almost overwhelmingly tired, like i am chronically anemic or something (but I'm not), I have been having nanna naps in the afternoon which is not like me.

I am still undecided if the spasms in my urinary tract are neurological or not, nobody seems to give me a conclusive answer but I know that the bladder wall having the spasms must be whats causing the blood in my urine because when the spasms went away so did that problem and now it's back but I have also just gone off my gabapentin..hmm not that I think that would make any difference to this.

I have had pins and needles most days in my feet and legs (up to about my knees) but I put this down to maybe a migraine aura... who knows..

Thanks for any advice.. Udkas.

[jensequitur]

I've always thought that involuntary contractions of muscle groups were spasms.  Spasticity is unusual tightness or soreness in a muscle.  So it sounds like you're having spasms in those muscles... possibly caused by a lesion in the spine.

[Udkas]

Hi Jen,
thanks for the reply, I am very stiff too, I always suffer from stiffness, so I have to keep myself moving all the time, I swim every day as I am lucky enough to have my own pool, i walk my dog twice a day and I try to keep active, so my body should be used to this routine but the cramp like contractions are painful but don't feel like cramp which you sometimes get when you lay in bed and go to move this is more like a contraction, very quick but painful, I hope I am describing this right and I feel them in my butt, my front of my thigh and of cause I have had bladder ones too.

My neuro does think that I have a lesion in my spinal cord, so i take it that it's usually caused more by spinal cord lesions...?  My symptoms have been a bit on going lately again but it's hot and I am tired.

THanks Jen,
Udkas.

[Karen99]

Hi and Happy New Year to you too.  Sorry to hear you are having these new spasms.  

Why did you go off your gabapentin?  Perhaps you should consider going back on it to see if it makes a difference.  I know that you can't stand to take unnecessary pills, but perhaps it is necessary to keep your symptoms under control.  You are quite the perplexing case, so be careful about stopping any medications.  Sometimes it's best to leave well enough alone.  :-)

Keep active, but you might take it down a few notches and see what happens.  Are you walking in the heat?  Maybe swim and walk a little slower?  

[Guitar_grrrl]

Happy New Year!

Sorry you're having these spasms (and really sounds like it IS spams).  I can totally relate!  I've been taking Baclofen for the last 3 months, and it really helps mine.  I, too, can't stand taking more and more meds, but perhaps Baclofen or Gabapentin can help.

Cheers,
Guitar_grrrl

[Udkas]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

Karen and Guitar Girl:
I know I shouldn't stop my medicine my husband reckons that is why I am having so much trouble and I know that my case manager at the MS Society growled at me last time for going off the meds on my own accord but my neuro knows I have done this and I think he just leaves it to me to self regulate.  Gabapentin wouldn't make any difference to spasms tho?  Well I wouldn't think so but it is prob why I am getting more pins and needles now.  I do hate taking so many pills.

I think my exercise plan might be too much, maybe I am over doing it.  I was on baclofen years ago for spasms from my old neuro when I had the first attack that put me in hospital (what they now think was TM)  it took me a long time to get over it and I had the most painful spasms and Baclofen was very helpful I was on I think 3 tabs a day with no side affects.  I don't feel I need it at the moment but I don't understand why I am getting spasms again after all these years of not having them, I thought perhaps it's not neurological and maybe I have over exercised my muscles, the spasms in my butt are more in the back of my leg near my but (bit of both).

I will cut my exercise back a bit as I have been going over the top lately with my exercise routine.  My bladder spasms are the ones that are painful but I have a choice of having 5 or 10mg Vesicare but he gave me the 10mg so I had been cutting the tablet in half as it makes my mouth so dry but I have gone back now to full strength and if this continues I am going to try the Botox as I am desperate.

Sorry Guitar Girl that your having such a hard time with spasms, they are not pleasant if this is what I am having.  Can I ask you where your lesions are located, do you have any in your spinal cord?

Cheers, thanks again,
UDkas.  (I think also I am trying to work out what is wrong with me)

[jensequitur]

Gabapentin is for neuropathic pain, so it shouldn't be causing the spasms.  And yes, it would be why you're getting more pins and needles.

Quite possibly your exercise plan is causing the problem, but I wouldn't necessarily cut back on it - talk to your doc about Baclofen again.

[Karen99]

I googled gabapentin.  Read below and see what you think.  There is a saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Interestingly, gabapentin is sometimes prescribed off-label for migraines.  If what you are feeling is a quick, sometimes shooting pain, that is often neuropathic pain, such can be caused by an injury to the spinal cord i.e. Transverse Myelitis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabapentin

[Udkas]

Hi thanks again for the info,
I have upped the Vesicare and today I have no bladder spasms (but sometimes that's the nature of the complaint), so it's a bit early yet to assume that is working.

I am not going back on the Gabapentin yet as I can tolerate the pins and needles at the moment and I don't think the Gabapentin has any real use in treating spasms. I do think what I was getting was spasms and maybe I was just over doing the exercise a bit, I have gone a bit easier the last two days and I am feeling better.  I do get the bolts of neuropathic pain that you describe Karen and the Gabapentin does help with that and I think the Gabapentin helps with my migraines as well, last time I went back on it and it stopped my constant eye twitching.  

I think my TM is stable at the moment, when I had an attack last year it lasted for ages and was constant with weakness etc., these symptoms are more fleeting, but I am still a bit confused about my bladder stuff if it is urethral syndrome, something to do with menopause or neurological....hmmmm,  Thanks for the wiki site, I had a look, and it did confirm my belief about Gaba helping my migraines.

Toodles,
Udkas.