I have no experience of taking Baclofen, but I will be interested to hear of others experiences.
I also have severe muscle spasms in my legs and feet, but also around my chest and back which cause my back to arch up.

Where is your nerve damage and muscle spasms?

I used it for years and it worked very well for my issues of the neck. The I started having lumbar issues and it seemed like the drug just stopped working. I am now on znaflex which works great for me!
Susan

Another one to try and with which I've had great success for my muscle spasms, knots etc is a magnesium supplement. Magnesium deficiency is thought to apply to 70-80% of the population, and one of the many symptoms of this vital mineral is muscle problems.
Lots of info on the net.
Doctors generally are not up to speed on minerals and dietary concerns in general, but chemists, physios and such all know about the benefits of magnesium.

Been known for a long time. Because it is freely and cheaply (relatively) available there is no incentive for costly trials, so while they may say there is no proof that it works, there really is, it's just not from pharma trials.

I agree that magnesium works great for SOME spasticity. If you are having the charlie horse cramps or something like that, magnesium may help. But many people are prescribed baclofen for spasticity that is actually more like stiffening of everything. Like when I first move, my fingers are stiffened, legs stiffen, etc. Or the fingers curl inward and get stuck, or the fingers or toes spread apart. Or when standing up, everything feels like it tightens up and can't be moved for a couple of seconds. Those types of spasming cannot be helped with magnesium, at least that is my experience and what my doctor tells me.

I took baclofen for a while, and got some results from it. My doctor suggested that I change to see if I could get better results from skelaxin, so I am trying that right now. I'm not sure which one works better, but I know without it, the spasming is too painful all over. I also do take a magnesium supplement in the hopes that it will help with the leg charlie horses. Oh those are painful!

Sometimes we take several different things at once, as we are so desperate for something to give relief, so we may not know just what does and doesn't work.
Also, some things take months to have an effect, so it's not easy to do trials of them by going on and off them to see what happens.
There are so many other variables in our lives as well.

Personally, I have no doubt about the effectiveness of magnesium in my situation, and as you say it may or may not help.
As it is an essential mineral though, there would be other health benefits not immediately apparent.
I'm pleased to see that the magnesium message is getting around. Wish I'd heard of it a long time ago-I might still have been able to work.

Flexirel, Rhobaxin, Zanaflex, Soma and now Baclofen.

Overall, for me, Zanaflex was the most effective. However, too many times it would zombie me out in ozone levels, so I stopped using it.

Soma was effective, but there was not much room for dosage changes and after a while, it wasnt as effective.

I've been on Baclofen now for almost 18 months. I started with 5mg daily. Now I have 10mg tabs that I break in half and can use up to 4 a day (PRN) It never TOTALLY relaxes me, but it does take away the Spasms. The good part is that I am always totally alert while using this, which wasnt the case with some of the others.

i would be willing to try the Baclofen- pretty much anything at this point

I just switched off of Zanaflex which has been working great for my spasms (by far the best) but it is not compatable with Topomax and I felt it was very important to start back on the Topomax due to the chronic headaches and the nerve pain that has returned full force on my arms & hands....

I asked my pain doctor to put me back on Flexerile. What a huge mistake. My appt was on the 7th. I picked up my new meds on the 9th. I have been in terrible pain. I finally called yesterday in tears and left a message. By the time the nurse called me back it was after 4pm and the doctor was gone for the day.

I was taking 4mg of Zanaflex 3 times a day. Sometimes I would break them in half and take a half dose in the am and early afternoon if I had a lot to do so I wouldn't feel so foggy. My dr didn't care how I took it as long as I didn't take more than 12 mg a day.

Prior to the Zanaflex I had Robaxin which worked better than the Fkexerile apparently. I had taken the Flerile for 3 years and then stopped for the last year and a half. Skelaxin did nothing for me in the past. It is strange how different meds work on different people

JULIE

I have tried flexeril (gave me heart palpitations), soma (works ok) and baclophen. For me, the bachlophen gave me difficulty breathing......I tried it several times with the same experience.

I have tried flexeril (gave me heart palpitations), soma (works ok) and baclophen. For me, the bachlophen gave me difficulty breathing......I tried it several times with the same experience.

Hi guys. Just today I talked to my PM doctor regarding my Baclofen. Having severe spasms for years I have taken 40mg a day 10 mg in tha morning and afternoon and 20mg at note. For the past year my spasms have gotten worse and not much help from the Baclofen. today he told me we are going to try Valium as Valium is the best medication for spasms. I guess only time will tell, but I did not get much relief from Baclofen! Good luck sweetie!