Now taking
Baclofen 10mg 5-7 tabs a day
Levetiracetam ER 500mg tabs 4 a day
Primidone 50mgs tab 6 a day
Trazodone 50mg tabs 1-2 at night to help sleep
Some days nothing other days 2-3 hours, few days out of the month most of the day.
Still when I lay down to sleep the abdominal myoclonus starts in. Falling asleep at 2AM - 4AM
Going on 2 years now. Some meds have helped but not cured
Had C5 removed because of two bone spears in April. The Abdominal Myoclonus went away for three weeks and came back. Movement Disorder Dr has been trying all kinds of meds and now running out of options.
Came down with abdominal myoclonus January 2014 also, not as bad as yours sounds, but up till 2AM
Only Rx I'm on now is for Blood Pressure (Lotensin) and Nexium for gastric reflux, which I have been taking for 10+ years. I'm off of everything else, except vitamins.
Tardive dyskinesia can be masked by the same medications that cause it. It will appear to get worse as the medication is withdrawn. If you have this diagnosis make sure not to take any other medications than cause tardive dyskinesia or worsen it. Speak to your doctor about that and for more information in the meantime google "Patient Education Tardive Dyskinesia". Its good that you are still enjoying life and excercising. Tardive dyskinesia is not reversible but is treatable. Klonopin is helpful on tardive dyskinesia. I take it as well. But some of the other treatments are more effective on myoclonic spasms and might have less side effects. I would definitely suggest seeing a neurologist who is a trained movement disorders specialist so they could see what exactly happenned and what could help you most.
Yes - As soon as I read that about Cymbalta and I stopped using it (2 weeks ago), but the symptoms still are getting worse. I would assume that they would reduce in severity once off of the pill and it was out of my system.
I'm taking the Klonopin / clonazepam for the spasms now, I just hate the drowsy feeling I have. Early on I tried taking the Skelaxen, but I didn't notice a difference.
On the positive side, I guess I can say that I do 1,000 stomach crunches a day! How many people can claim to that :-)
I will cut and paste from the Cymbalta website:
"Nervous System Disorders — Frequent: dysgeusia, lethargy, and parasthesia/hypoesthesia;
Infrequent: disturbance in attention, dyskinesia, myoclonus, and poor quality sleep; Rare: dysarthria."
See a movement disorders specialist and if tardive dyskinesia (tardive myoclonus as I have is a rare variant) is found Mirapex, Bachlophen, Requip, Aricept and botox shots for focal dystonia are often used. Tetrabenzene has started to be in use and Zofran is used experimentally as well. Clonidine is useful on all forms of spasms. The natural remedy rhodiola is helpful (from clinical studies) but must be administered by a neurologist. I take Klonopin and Skelaxin (as well as Methocarb and Flexaril) and they are helpful but the other treatments target the direct area of the brain and are of much more use. Speak to whoever is treating you for a referral.