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Muscle Twitching and Spasms in Legs and Feet

Can lumbar spine problems (or spine problems in general) cause chronic twiching and/or spasming of muscles in the calves and feet?

My background: Posterior interbody lumbar fusion (L4-S1) 7 months ago, anterior cervical fusion (C5-C7) about 4 years ago, and undifferentiated spondylitis. Leg muscles twitch constantly, regardless of activities, worsen when I first lie down, but then settle down to mild twitching all night long after being in bed awhile. If I do any physical activities (walking on treadmill, stretching, eliptical machine, etc.) the twitching goes into severe spasms in my calves and sometimes in my feet during the night. Sometimes the calves will spasm when I climb stairs during the day, but I immediately walk out the spasm. On bad nights, however, I have to get up every 10 minutes all night long to walk out the spasms. If I don't exercise, the spasms are infrequent, but the twitching is constant. With exercise, the spasms are chronic on a nightly basis. At night my lower back frequently tightens or spasms, and in my sleep I'll arch my back and tightly lock my legs in a stretch to counter the lower back spasm, and it will wake up in the process; this may, at times, contribute to the leg spasms, but it doesn't happen everytime. I'm still having moderate groin and hip pain since the lumber surgery, but benefits have far outweigh the discomfort, and the pain is slowly but surely diminishing. The twitching and spasms preceded the lumbar surgeries and have not abated since the surgeries.

I don't have MS and don't seem to fit the pattern for RLS. I've taken RLS meds, potassium, magnesium, quinine, heomeopatic remedies, etc. but nothing help. Flexeril 3x daily will help when spasms get bad, but the side effects are pretty intense, so I stopped exercising for the sake of trying to sleep at night.

I would appreciate any insight you may be able to provide regarding back problems and leg and foot muscle issues. Thank you.



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Avatar universal
My fiance was in a car accident back in march...if it wasnt for a light post he probably longer would not be alive..lucky he had minor bruses abd a couple scrapes on him..but after awhile his legs started twitching..to the point where it looked as if he was just shaking his leg himself..and at first thats what I thought he was doing until I felt it myself..could he have some nerve damange and not know it?
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Avatar universal
Here's my story I am 46yrs old female,I had a baby 4yrs ago at 42yrs old. I had a scheduled c-section. The anesthesiologist gave me the epidural-everything went fine,they take baby roll me to recovery and then it happens.I am numb from the waist down,couldn't feel any legs or feet. Then all of a sudden my right foot started going side to side it totally freak me out cause I wasn't doing it. It even startled the nurse she said she never saw that happen before(comforting hu?) my husband was trying to calm me down so they paged the anesthesilogist-here comes someone else cause mine was busy at the moment and this jerk was so uncaring and said: "oh,it's doing that cause you're thinking about it"....HELL NO, I was not thinking about this damn foot or leg. He was really making my nerves worst,at this point - my legs are covered w/the blanket cause it was making me crazy and you can see the sheet going back and forth... Well, thank godness the orginal anethesilogist came in and put the other guy out....then my left foot started the same motion- they end up giving me a muscle relaxant and it help stop going side to side- until it wore off and in the middle of the night started up again.  I had NO feeling in either leg for over  24hrs after I had the baby. Eventually, I got feeling(slowly) But I noticed after that week -I started and still have tingling in my arm at night...I haven't been to a doctor I just live with the pain and shake it off but I KNOW it wasn't til I had that epidural this all began. This week the tingling in my arms in aggrevating which is why I started looking up this topic. What kind of doctor do I go to for this problem?
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1 Comments
Hello hurtin123.  
Sounds like when they did the Epidural, they hit your spinal cord. I had one done and it went down my leg too, but didn't get the numbness.
Now, I had a nerve block and they hit my spine. It is called a "wet tap" and to this day, my hands and feet are numb. :/
It never has gone completely away, but nerves do grow back ...at 1mm a year. It will take a while, but believe eventually you will get the feeling back. :)
Prayers for you... ^_^
Avatar universal
Hi, I was just reading your posts, especially the original one. I had guillain barre syndrome about six years ago, and my legs started twitching about 2 years later. I did some extensive research about this- mainly to make sure it wasn't something else really serious. I stumbled upon something called Benign Fasciculation Syndrome- which is what sounds like most of you have- it is related to nerve damage. There is also a variant of it that causes chronic cramping. So they treat it with blood pressure medication, and they aren't sure why it works, but it does for me. I usually have to be careful with it because I can easily end up with too low blood pressure, so I only take it when the twitching gets bad. I thought I'd put it out there for you all.
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Avatar universal
*UPDATE*

I will be having a Decompression Lumbar Laminectomy on the 25th.  I am scared, but this is my only hope at having some relief.  I will let y'all know how it goes.  I am scared.
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1 Comments
Hello! I've read and took screenshots of all of your posts for my mom, she has nearly identical symptoms. She is getting spinal shots and is on neurotin as well. Did you find relief? I see it's been years but had to reach out to ask. For you and for my mom! Thanks so much.
T
Avatar universal
I am sorry/glad to see others have the same problem with feet twitching/cramping at night.  It keeps me up for hours (like to night).  Pain meds help, muscle relaxers sometimes but not always help.  Clonazepam aka Klonopin oral disintigrating tabs work the best.  With 10 minutes they stop.
I broke my neck, C6specifically , and had to have c4 to c5 to c6 fusion with discetomy between c4/c5 and c5/c6 replaced with donar bone since mine was pretty much gone.  C6 was nice enough to have pinched/poked my spinal cord enough to cause these foot twitching and cramps, plus tingling in my fingers and toes for, from what doctors gather the rest of my life.

I would love to find a home remedy to stop this.  

Bananas before bedtime do help, but to many backup the plumbing.

Cheating and a shot of vodka helps, or make me just not care about them, but when they start I am willing to try anything to make it stop.  I can't sleep once it starts.
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Avatar universal
*UPDATE*

The Amitryptaline stopped working in the Spring and it made me gain a ton of weight.  My doctor switched me to 60 mg of Neurontin, which controls the localized lower back pain, but does not really help with the sciatica.  I had my second round of bilateral epidurals 2 weeks ago.  I have yet to see improvement.  The first round lasted for 2 months.  That was it.  I am beyond frustrated.  I am ready to tell my orthopedic spine specialist that I am going to a neurosurgeon.  I want to fix the problem, and not mask it with drugs and epidurals.  The procedure in which you get an epidural was extremely painful and very very uncomfortable.  I love how people on other sites make it out to not be a big deal.  I cannot stand the thought of going through this procedure every few months for the rest of my life.  I feel like I was robbed of my 20s (I'm 26).  I will be damned if I am robbed of my 30s too.  Do y'all recommend going to a neurosurgeon?  I have tried everything.  I did the whole "conservative treatment" for a while now.  I cannot stand this pain.  Most of my life is spent lying in bed because it hurts to stand/sit/walk.  It still hurts lying down, but the pain is lessened when I do lie down.  My next dr. appt. is in December.  I will keep y'all updated.
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