Treatment plan
Only recently diagnosed (7 months ago) & I’d like opinions on my medication please. My MS nurse prescribed 10mg of Baclofen,one to be taken each night along with 30mg of Duloxetine,one at night for a week building up to two twice a day. I stopped both after a week as was experiencing such a muggy head,really felt like a permanent hangover. Coincidence maybe but they also set off a bad flare up,walking extremely difficult & bad leg spasms especially at night. I informed my nurse who has now put me on 5mg of Vesicare,one a day for three days then increasing to two a day. The others prescribed are 150mg of Pregabalin,one to be taken twice a day for a week increasing to two capsules twice a day. Only took one( of an evening) & the worst side effect yet. As before I experienced the same” hangover “ feeling,I couldn’t drive & no way was I taking a second one. I haven’t contacted my MS nurse yet( she may think I’m giving in too easily)..... is it right I’ll just have to put up with this side effect? Reading thePregablin leaflet,the doses start as low as 25mg,have I been put on a too high dose do you think or will they never suit me? Any other tablets/medication recommendations would be appreciated,I realise everyone is so different & it can be hit and miss for a while but I don’t want these side effects to cause another flare up(that lasted two and a half weeks) and really got me down. Thanks for reading all this, Carol
Regarding baclofen, I was given this to combat my very strong spacicity that I was getting at the time. On the first day (5mg, three times a day) I felt pretty sick and very tired after taking it, but after a few days of this I stopped experiencing the bad side effects and it started to help me. My dose increased to 10mg three times a day and then 15mg. When it got to 15mg three times a day I started noticing bad side effects again (overly relaxed muscles, to the point of them being floppy and two occasions of auditory hallucinations like a woman's voice whispering in my ear, very creepy). I took my dose down to just when I needed it and mainly at night, 5mg or 10mg at most, and I've taken it for so long now that this small amount doesn't effect me really, only issue is it didn't react well with alcohol, you get SUPER drunk SUPER quickly. I've actually just decided to stop taking it for a bit as my spacicity has got way better 😀 Afraid I can't comment on the other drugs you've been given. Hope you're doing ok though 😊
OK @carolo , Baclofen is a muscle relaxant, used to treat spasticity. You have to get the dose right as too high and it can over-relax the muscles causing weakness. Duloxetine is used to try and address neuropathic pain, e.g. burning, pins/needles, etc.. Vesicare is used to help control your bladder. Pregabalin is also used to address Neuropathic pain. Generally, any medication may cause some problems, whilst doing good. Side-effects are common, but should be short-lived. Sometimes, we have to endure a couple of weeks of feeling "foggy" to start getting the benefits. Getting the right dosage for you is also important as we're all different. My dosage of Pregabalin is 300mg, twice a day!