Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group New user(: sore muscles in arm? Normal??

Hi and welcome.
Just wondering is your user name from your actual name? Just curious as my name is Patricia Anne or more common Trish Anne.

As for muscle pain yes I get this also. So very frustrating.

All the best
Trish

Thanks for the info Sue(: For some reason muscle relaxers don't do anything for me, except make me goofy. And I run a daycare, so I always want to be carefull on what I take. I get spasms in my back almost every morning. I feel so awefull when I get up!! But it eases away with movement. It seems like the arm is getting better today. Must of been the b-ball I played with my 7 year old last night!! lol
Take Care,
Trish

Yes it is! I get that question a lot. If anne is my middle name and such. But it's all one word just like it sounds Trish and then anne together. You wouldnt believe how many people slaughter it when they try to pronounce it!!LOL I normally just go by Trish to make it easy, but I love my name. And we had to name our daughter Jocelyn, and she has the same pronounciation problem with people(:

Trish

Hi Trish, welcome to kickas. As you have seen here it's a great place to be. We've had a lot of newbies in the last couple weeks and I hope you all can interact and discuss your new diagnosis. Many of your questions I'm sure the rest of them have right now too and I hope we can help. As James said earlier about the stretches, I posted them several years ago and Mig has helped me to keep those where everyone can get to them. Click on my profile and the exercise sheet will come up. Just click on them individually and they will download for you. Copy them and keep them for daily reference. And yes, these are stretches that we AS'ers should be doing everyday.
Cindy

Thanks Cindy for the welcome! I have downloaded the stretches. I dont see the rhumy until mid Aug. So just doin what I can do until then. At the moment I feel like i am falling apart, but hoping it will get better(:

Trish

hi trish. i just recently started getting sore muscles, and my dr. diagnosed me with fibromyalgia. it was in my arms, legs...seems like my whole body hurt. he just gave me klonopin, though, which is an anxiety med, to help me sleep. so i'm not sure how much good that is doing!
all the best to you. maybe this is just an extension of my AS.
?
it's so hard to tell, as every body is different...

the reason i like the zanaflex is that it only lasts in the blood stream for 6 hours and that's enough to get 5-6 hours of decent sleep most nights. if i fall asleep in the recliner for a few hours first, then take my meds (including zanaflex) then go to bed, i can get more than the 5-6 hours of sleep, and without my back killing me, so that's what i do most nights, often by accident, but it works.

also the zanaflex only makes me drowsy for about 1-2 hours (starting about an hour after i take the drug, when it hits my blood stream). so its great for falling asleep. and if i need it during the day, i can time it an hour before a break, then take a nap if i have an hour break. i used to take it right before my 50 minute class at 11 am, take a nap during "lunch", then eat something real quick and be ready for my research students at 1 pm. i would also do that 6 hours later around dinner time, then wake up and be able to work through the evening.

before the specialist introduced me to zanaflex, a GP gave me flexeril, for the next day or two i felt like zombie marshmallow man.....intolerable if one has to hold down a job.

but the zanaflex really helped. helped me sleep. helped my muscles stop their constant low-medium spasming. helped my tendonitis (ironically?) because my muscles were no longer "pulling" on my tendons? then my muscles stopped being so tight, no longer "protecting" the inflamed tendons? not sure if that reasoning is logical, but do know that both the muscles and tendons got better from the zanaflex alone.....not all better, but made me functional again.

when i have major muscle spasms, like from the SI joint, zanaflex does little to nothing for that, but i can't take more than the 2 mg at a time because even that lowers my BP and i'm afraid that more would lower it too much, though don't know that for sure. it is prescribed for people with MS muscle spasticity at 8 mg at a time. but the 2 mg helps me day to day. i take it every night. for the big muscle spasms i resort to ice which seems to work better than anything else for me. but that's mostly when they are so bad i'm stuck in bed.

Yeah Sue I have taken the flexeril also. I was actually running into walls I was so out of it. The only problem I have is that I do daycare and cannot nap,unfortunately. But I will write down the zanaflex to talk to my doc about it. My MD just prescribed me naproxen for now until I get into my rhumy. Havent taken it yet, but will try tonight. I have delt with my back for over a year now and hips for about 15 or more years. So I can deal with that, its the pain I am having in my hands that is really bothering me. I use my hands all day and they are really sore by the end of the day. And this just started not even a month ago. Kinda scary when I think I am only 35. I am thankfull I have a great hubby and wonderfull daughter to help me thru things(: She is only 7 and she is already understanding whats going on with mom. She brought me to tears last night when she said a prayer for me!! Such a sweet thing(:
Thanks for the info. We are going camping this weekend so wish me luck!!
Trish

99% of the time, i only take the zanaflex at bedtime, and that alone helps me so much. you might want to consider it. if you do, make sure you get regular liver function tests, as in rare cases it can affect the liver. i got tested at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months, then yearly after that. for 10 years my liver was fine.

as for the hands. in 1998, the two things that started around the same time were my upper back and my wrists. they were so bad, i was afraid i'd lose my job over them. and i did suffer with them for several years, then magically the spondy beast decided to move on and largely leave them alone.

i can even type now unlimited and don't even need a mouse as i can use my thumbs again.

but for those first years, first it was my left, then the right kicked in (not as bad) as i overused it to compensate for my left. my left needed PT and a cortisone injection, and that at least made me functional again.

the PT taught me to do contrast baths; they helped the very very most (1-2 minutes in ice cold water, 1-2 minutes in very hot water, back and forth for 15-20 minutes, several times a day, whenever you can). when they are less bad but still bothering me, washing dishes in hot water is helpful.

when my hands or wrists are bad:
•i limit my typing severely
•i use a mouse to save my thumbs
•i'll have the students staple their papers in the upper right hand corner to save my left dq tendons as the left is by far the worst
•i keep reading to only what i have to for my job, page turning is the worst on my dq tendons!
•hubby peels and chops the fruits and veggies

always:
•i use gel ink pens, no ball points for me (uniball seem the easiest on my hands)
•i use an ergonomically correct laptop keyboard (my macs are well designed for me)
•i limit scissor use
•hubby opens jars
•hubby opens hard to open packages

i have a paraffin wax bath and will use that when my hands are bad. its also big enough for my feet. its a nice luxury though hot water works as well, and contrast baths are better.

i'm pretty protective of my hands, always thinking of ways to minimize their overuse. i'm sure there are other things i've forgotten above.

and when i've tried wrist braces, always they've made the wrists so so much worse!

more lately, my fingers get "loose" sometimes, and it hurts when they "crack" when i go to use them. but that comes and goes.

"the spasming butt" Sue, I thought that this only me this is happening to. Talk about a pain in the A$$. I also have been having much pain in my right arm in the muscle. Really don't know why these spasms.

Hugs
Gerri and Makaylah