MS Muscle Spacticity and a Soft Mattress

Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of many symptoms and no two people are the same. However many of us who suffer from this horrible condition experience muscle spacticity where are muscles tighten up from lack of use.

In my case I mostly feel these effects first thing in the morning as I’m waking up and getting out of bed. Fortunately I have found a few things that seem to help with this condition. The first one my doctor prescribed and that’s cyclobenzaprine 5 mg as needed. It works pretty well and also has the extra benefit of helping me sleep. The drawback is that it helps me sleep to well sometimes making it hard to wake up when I want or have too. And I don’t like taking a lot of pills either.

The second thing I’ve found that helps is a very soft mattress. I have about six inches of egg crate foam mattresses on top of my regular mattress. This seems to work pretty well for me as I can mostly sleep through the night without getting up to stretch. I was also told that I could try a memory foam mattress that would achieve the same purpose. The draw back with memory foam is that it reflects heat back into your body even more so than egg crates. And we all know that heat is an enemy of multiple sclerosis.

And if you also occasionally get charlie horses where your muscles tighten up into what feels like a very painful ball I suggest drinking a cup of tonic water everyday. This little piece of advice came from an old golfer I met a few years ago. And it also might help with spacticity as the quinine helps to loosen up overexerted muscles. He told me that lots of athletes drink tonic water just for that reason. And if you decide to add a shot of vodka or gin and a lime to it, that might help your muscles relax as well? In moderation of course and only when you don’t have to drive anywhere.

Peace to all of my ms and beyond readers!

Bill Walker