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Severe muscle spasms 3 days post acdf surgery

Posted , 5 users are following.

rebeccab82
rebeccab82

I underwent c6/7 decompression and fusion surgery 3 days ago. I was sent home with morphine and codine which was helping a little. Now I have severe muscle spasms in my shoulder and arm. Is there anything I can take which might help? I'm struggling to move at all

0 likes, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • michael54457
    michael54457 rebeccab82

    Posted

    Hi Rebecca,

    Three days and they sent you home ?  Wow, that seems a bit hasty.

    I had spinal fusion op in March 2015, T2 - T7,  and soon after the morphine was taken away I started getting bad muscle spasms in my back and legs/feet.

    The Doctor put me on Baclofen which made a huge difference, 3 times a day, 1 X 10mg tablet

    Sometimes I still get cramps but I rarely increase the dosage unless it is really bad, which is happening less often these days, in fact I am slowly cutting back now, second tablet I take around 2pm is only a half tablet, 5mg.

    I tried Magnesium tablets, high strength, but they made no difference to me.

    Try a few different options until you find one that works for you, but I know Baclofen works for me.

    Good luck !

     

  • Hawk15
    Hawk15 rebeccab82

    Posted

    Get on Flexeril it is a muscle relaxant that I have used for years with grea t success after 5 surgeries the last 2 spinal fusions good luck.
  • Hawk15
    Hawk15 rebeccab82

    Posted

    Cyclobenzaprine / Flexeril is the best! This is a muscle relaxant that works on the central nervous system and I have used it for years and is my go to for muscle spasms/trigger points. I have had 5 surgeries on my back 2 were spinal fusions. Good luck please try this!
  • allaroundanne
    allaroundanne rebeccab82

    Posted

    Someone forgot your muscle cramp prescription, you need to call your doctor as the other replies said.  In the meantime there is a supplement called Natural Calm that had an easily digestible form of Magnesium that gets right into those cramped muscles. You can get it at any health food stores and now a lot of regular pharmacies carry it too.
    • michael54457
      michael54457 allaroundanne

      Posted

      Hi Anne,

      A friend of mine bought me a bottle of Magnesium tablets in Australia, apparently high strength, made no difference to my cramps.

      Maybe I am too far gone for them to work for me.  Although I did find a hot foot bath in Epsom Salts an hour or so before bedtime made sleeping a lot easier.

      I am in Thailand at the moment, will see if they sell Natural Calm or similar here.  Thanks

  • rebeccab82
    rebeccab82

    Posted

    Thank you to everyone who replied . I got an emergency doctors appointment and he prescribed diazepam but it doesn't seem to be working well. The pain is mostly in my arm and is much worse than before surgery. I cannot walk without severe pain and cannot sleep more than 3-4 hrs at a time. I'm giving it till Thursday which will be a week then I'll ring the hospital/ physio department as I can't do the basic exercises they told me I must do due to the pain being so severe.

  • allaroundanne
    allaroundanne rebeccab82

    Posted

    OK I am a doctor and I am a little worried that all this pain is indicating you are having either bleeding or swelling or both that is pressing on the nerve that goes to the area that is cramping. This is your body's way of telling you something is wrong and perhaps we don't want to shut it off.  I think you need to call the surgeon and let him or her know.  This is your neck, you have very little margin for error here-- if you swell too much then the spinal cord gets compressed and then you start to have problems with function.  If this were my neck and Valium didn't work, I'd be calling the surgeon.  Valium should have knocked you out if this was a mere muscle spasm.

    Lynn

    • rebeccab82
      rebeccab82 allaroundanne

      Posted

      Thank you for your advice. I'm ringing the hospital this morning. Morphine, diazapam nor codine is having any effect at all infact the pain is more severe in my arm. I'm unable to look down at all without horrendous pain and my arm is absolute agony no matter what position I put it in. I started being sick yesterday from the pain which obviously wasn't great as it pulled my stitches in my throat. It's been a week today since surgery and it's getting worse and worse sad

  • allaroundanne
    allaroundanne rebeccab82

    Posted

    I am quite worried over you, please let us know how you are?
    • rebeccab82
      rebeccab82 allaroundanne

      Posted

      I saw my surgeon Thursday Evening. He said it's very early days and advised that there is the possibility of the operation not curing my original problems. I was already aware it might not work but either way my surgeon said the op needed doing as there was nerve compression, a bone spur and very worn disc. If in 4 wks I'm still in so much pain he will investigate even further. I do have inflammation and wear to my shoulder on the same side that's extremely painful right now, so he said that could be irritating nerves too. Just a waiting game now. I start physio next week which I'm dreading but hoping might help. I've also been started on lyrica medication to block the nerve pain so hoping to see a improvement in next few days. Thank you for your concern. Becky X

  • michael54457
    michael54457 rebeccab82

    Posted

    Hi Becky,

    As well as taking Baclofen for the muscle spasms and cramps I also have been taking Lyrica Pregabalin for nerve pain.  The operation I had disrupted lots of nerves and the healing process was quite painful.

    Not so bad these days though. The seven months I was in hospital they had me on 450 mg of Pregabalin a day, and as soon as I was released I cut that back to 225 mg a day with no noticeable change in the nerve pain level.

    Almost three years since I was released and I still take it but some days I will only use 75 or 150 mg.

    It does work well, I can vouch for that.

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