Hello,
I used to have a lot of muscle constrictions and I don’t any longer and I thought I would share what I have changed.
I take a 250 mg magnesium tablet daily and I believe that helps. In addition:
When on the couch watching TV, keep your legs and body straight. Don’t use your legs to scratch each other. Make sure your drink is on the same side as your hand that grabs it. Try not to move much when you sneeze.
When in bed, use the same idea. When on your back, have your legs and arms straight out along your body. No leg should scratch the other leg. When on your sides, make sure your legs are straight and on top of each other.
This may sound silly but it was not hard to get used to and made a big difference. Hope it helps you.
Update (1/22/21): also be very careful stretching in bed. It can cause issues. For me the issue is a muscle spasm in one or both legs. I have to jump out of bed fast and bear down on my feet to get out of the pain and spasm.
Pain
I did not have pain in the beginning with ALS but pain started quick and it was constriction pain. It was easy to deal with - stretch the hand or if it was in my stomach lean back as much as I could. But by keeping legs straight when sleeping or watching TV helped and so did 250 mg of Magnesium. But then another pain started. I call it point pain as it happened in a specific point. It only lasted until I straightened out my leg or arm. So that is very good to know.
Once I had point pain that straightening my leg did help. It was the most pain I had felt in a long time. I straightened my leg but it took maybe 3 minutes to go away.
Another time I had back pain. I could not deal with it and it meant I had walk or sit very carefully. I tried taking Tylenol Extra Strength but it did not help. I was worried about how was I going to sleep. I added three glasses of red wine and between it nd the Tylenol no more pain.
Sometimes when you have a bad pain, it is a sore area after the pain goes. A hot shower helps with that.
Michael
Hello Michael,
Great advice. I found I have the same issue related to a lack of Manganese, Magnesium, and/or Potassium. Those are great thoughts as well and they do work! We use the Trace Minerals/Trace Minerals Testing Kit (https://www.pureandbalanced.com/bodybio-e-lyte-mtk-plus-liquid-minerals-test-kit-8-2-oz.html) which helps us to find which minerals we are missing. That is a big help and removes cramps/constrictions you describe as well.
Best of health,
Edward
Hi Ed,
I hope you are well and thanks for the comments, good info.
Michael