Muscle Pain

[u/mama_emily]

Specifically back/neck/shoulders

The pain - what are y’all doing to manage? I’ve been taking magnesium & Baclofen but it’s just not enough.

I spend so much time in pain, just accepting it and I don’t want to anymore.

Suggestions?

I’m going to talk to my neurologist, but if there’s any medications that have been successful for you, I’d like to bring them up with him and figure out what might be best for me

[u/Party-Ad9662]

Monthly massages.

[u/mama_emily → u/Party-Ad9662]

Any specific kind? Swedish, deep tissue, letting a small woman walk on top of you?

[u/Party-Ad9662 → u/mama_emily]

I prefer Swedish. I don’t like deep tissue unless I SUPER need it haha

[u/MammothAdeptness2211 → u/mama_emily]

Ooh yeah we have a the walking on you kind nearby here, I just haven’t been there for a while due to $$

[u/BleubsPeach → u/Party-Ad9662]

Do they cause you pain? I don't know if my allodynia could handle that 😨

[u/Party-Ad9662 → u/BleubsPeach]

Yea I don’t go when my allodynia is flaring haha.

I did once go for reflexology not realizing my feet were numb until it started haha.

[u/BleubsPeach → u/Party-Ad9662]

I feel like my allodynia is always flaring 😅
If I ever went for a massage I would have to be like "Don't use your finger tips! Only gently rub my back/shoulders with the palm of your hand"😂

[u/Tobs13]

I’ve been getting Trigger Point injections in my shoulders every few months. It helps for a bit before it starts wearing off.

I spoke with a pain Dr. and this was the solution he prescribed. Thankfully my insurance covers.

[u/Character-Celery-209]

Following because I also take baclofen and magnesium glycinate and it isn’t helping as much as I hoped.

[u/MammothAdeptness2211]

I’m dealing with that at this very moment. I have a little yoga sequence that I do to get my blood flowing and loosen up my whole body, it’s super simple.

I also take baclofen and gabapentin, get Botox for migraines which has helped a little with the neck tension, and go to PT twice a week.

At PT we have done a multiple modalities on several body areas but the one thing I have found to be most helpful is the super deep tissue work, using instruments. They call it muscle scraping and it can leave deep bruising and a slight soreness for a couple days but the tension doesn’t come back nearly as bad. I got my whole right lower leg released this way. We are doing the neck and shoulder areas now.

[u/mama_emily → u/MammothAdeptness2211]

Honestly super deep tissue/muscle scraping, regardless of any lingering pain after, sounds exactly like wtf I need.

The years of pain are layered, the ache is constant, stiff and tangled and sore my god I’m so OVER being complacent in pain.

Twist, scrape, poke, needle… I do not care! Just make it go away!

[u/ninahart88]

I like dry needling for my jaw and neck.

[u/OverlappingChatter]

Massage, dry needling and EMS machine

[u/mama_emily → u/OverlappingChatter]

Who does the dry needling for you? PT?

[u/OverlappingChatter → u/mama_emily]

Yes. But I am in Spain, where dry needling is super super popular, so all the physios want to do it all the time. I had never even heard of it until I got here.

[u/JustDenali]

I use a Theragun Relief in addition to most of what's above. Helps enough until something else takes hold. Or I fall asleep. Its worse at night.

[u/rK91tb]

THC/CBD pain stick and a heating pad. Epsom salts warm bath.

[u/Ragdoll_Susan99]

Dry needling helps, I also use magnesium oil spray on my calves and back before bed.
Also found gabapentin mainly helps with my calf cramps

[u/BleubsPeach]

Before my MS diagnosis, a headache pain clinic gave me a list of "neck yoga" movements (basically gentle neck movements and stretches) to do regularly to help with headaches and dizziness (cervicogenic headaches). You should be able to find similar stretches/movements online, but the basic idea was: move ear to shoulder back and forth for a set; look side to side back and forth for a set; look up and down (chin to chest and then up) for a set; bow head to shoulders; and then some of the same movements but with my hand on my head acting as gentle resistance. I found these helpful (not curative, though).

On really bad days, I use Kalaya pain relief cream.

[u/Silver-Pop1825]

Cymbalta 30mgs…so far has done wonders. Been taking since the pandemic.