Nightly Foot Spasms

[Bob3975]

It's been 10 years since my c-6 incomplete injury. When in bed and to prevent foot drop I sleep with pillows propped between my feet and the back of a chair, thus giving them support.

While I can't remember exactly when, sometime in the last year my right heel has felt extremely sore when sitting in my chair. We'd look at my heel and it was fine, no red marks. As soon as pressure is taken off the heel it feels fine and there is no discomfort while in bed.

A few months passed with the same pain and a new symptom appeared. Up to this point there was no pain with my feet against the pillow at night. Now the foot with the heel pain was experiencing discomfort against the pillow, kind of like a burning or just irritation on the bottom of the foot where it touches the pillow. This leads to foot and leg spasms. I try turning on my side but wherever my foot touches the bed or anything else, the irritation continues as do the spasms. The irritation continues well into the night and usually subsides around 2-4 a.m. By morning the foot is okay until I get in the chair and the cycle begins anew.

In the last week we started wrapping the foot and heel with an Ace bandage because I thought it might all be due to swelling. Sometimes it helps with the heel pain and a few nights the irritation on the bottom of the foot was better. Other times the irritation has actually been much worse.

Has anyone else experienced this and been able to get this cured? I'm dreading the thought of the next 20 years not being able to get to sleep until the spasms and irritation dwindle 6 hours after getting into bed.

[firesmurf]

hi bob,and welcome.i suffer from some of what you are experiencing too only not in the same exact way.i think we all 'kind of' know what you are talking about tho.neuro pain can just create its own little hellish nightmares for us depending on whats been damaged and the resulting "syndromes" i now have way too many flippin syndromes to even count.

are you currently taking any meds at all?have you tried any of the many antisiezure meds out there?these tend to work the best for the type of crap you are experiencing.also,valium seems to also help with my spasms.

from you explanation of the pillow and chair thing I wasn'r quite able to understand the actual configuration of this in my head,could you explain a bit further?do you use the chair so your feet are actually able to kind of use it as a 'backstop' type of thing?i am just wondering about that as i have to do this with my feet sometimes,like have them resting up aginst something at the top of the pillows(i have to elevate both legs from the bottom of the butt on down) where my legs lay??usually a blaket kind of rolled up,just so there is some bit of 'backpressure" against them?is this kind of what you are talking about?

for some reason narcotics seem to actually settle down some of the spasms that also have a restless leg type of component but only in my knee.

it would help alot if you could mention just what types of meds you are currently on and what has been tried and failed in the past.

I hope you can find something that helps this stuff.i know just how disruptive it can get when this just wont let you sleep.good luck,Marcia

[Bob3975]

Thanks for the reply Marcia. On a daily basis I'm taking 600mg of gabapentin 3x and 900mg at noon, 20mg of baclofen 4x, 150mg of Zoloft and 1 gram of hiprex. I went down on baclofen from 30mg to 20mg about 5 years ago, any further and spasms begin.

Your vision of the pillow and chair configuration as a backstop for my feet is correct. After many hours the discomfort where my feet touch the pillows goes away as do the spasms. We'd use a high footboard instead of a chair except it would make getting me dressed problematic for my wife.

I've been experimenting with various physical remedies for the past year. Things like different pillows, changing how "tight" my feet rest against the pillows, elevation of the legs, changing how my feet are wrapped with the Ace bandage, etc. I'm considering tet hose but I hate putting another chore on my wife when dressing me.

Each day I try to get in my standing frame for an hour. Of course that sends the blood into my feet and legs. Anatomically however it is good for both bowel and bladder so I'm not sure it's something I should stop.

[firesmurf]

yea I would definitely keep on with the standing thing,you are on the right track with doing that,you need to get that blood flowing all thruout your body.this also helps to avoid any possible blood clots from forming too.

just what is hiprex,i have never heard of that med before?do you feel that the neurontin is actually helping you at all?could you possibly raise that dose?i was actually at 3600 mgs of neurontin and never really felt that it actually helped me at all.there is also a huge list of other anti siezure meds that you could try too if the neurontin isn't doing the job.just a thought.

would it be possible at all to actually place any real weight on your legs without sending any pain you may have there over the top?the reason I am asking is that when I used to just have restless leg syndrome problems wayy before my spinal cord was injured,I would use really heavy pillows over the tops of my legs to try and keep them weighted down?these particular pillows were extremely heavy feather pillows that my MIL brought over from poland when she came here.they wieghed a ton actually,i think polish duck feathers must be heavier than american duck feathers or something,lol.i don't know why,but for some reason,just having actual weight on top of my legs made them less likely to actually start jumping around with that horrid crawley nervey crap that triggers the sudden jerks in RLS.do you know what I mean?just a thought,it really did help alot and was about the only thing i actually tried that really did anything for that RLS nastiness.just a suggestion.

it sounds like you are being pretty creative here and thats a good thing,that is one thing we all have to be living with all this crap.finding new and improved ways of just dealing with all of the crap that comes along for the ride once your spinal cord has been injured.

I hope you can try the weighted pillow thing or even some sort of lighter sandbags that wouldn't compromise your circulation would be a possible option as well.this really DID help me alot.

Good luck Bob,hope something works for you,marcia

[Bob3975]

The Neurontin helps a lot. Before I was nearly in tears and now it's tolerable. Sometimes it's nearly gone. What's this about valium I've been reading on this board? Does it help and what are the side effects, meaning does it cloud the mind? The pillows or weight is worth a try.

[Tarkus]

The Neurontin helps a lot. Before I was nearly in tears and now it's tolerable. Sometimes it's nearly gone. What's this about valium I've been reading on this board? Does it help and what are the side effects, meaning does it cloud the mind? The pillows or weight is worth a try.

That would depend on the dose and who's taking it. For me it works for spasams due to a neugenic bowel.

Side effects, most the same as any other drug, On the highly addictive list in the doctors mind.

But I read the same warnings on other drugs, re: opiates, that get prescribed often.

It's really a matter of finding a doctor willing to work at a pain management plan. It's not easy getting a MD that wants to put in that kind of time, I was lucky to find one that I work with almost daily trying to find a balance.

And we have.

So the answer to the Valium question is it varies from person to person.

Regards,
Alan

[firesmurf]

I too take valium.i take two of the five mg ones and cut them in half and will usually take them thru out the day.depending on just how things are feeling at night before I am going to bed,i will also sometimes just take a whole one.this really appears to keep the crap to a minimum.it may be worth a try for you too Bob.I am really interested in hearing the results if you should decide to try the weight thing.honestly it really DID help alot for me.I cannot do it now tho as my knee and lower leg would rebel extremely loudly.too much hypersensitivity going on now.Marcia