9th February 2005
Hi,
Just a suggestion for your Mom. You had stated that she is usually in pain.
Technically- ALS is not a painful disease, however- something that I noticed in many of my patients in hospice that had ALS- were them describing their muscle spasms as pain. Before- I realized this, I would put them on pain medications but they had very little relief. I then started putting all of my patients with ALS on Baclofen (or something similiar) for muscle spasms. This did wonders for them and no further complaints of pain. Another thing to consider- if your Mom is not on any anti-anxiety medications- is that anxiety itself is very uncomfortable and even might be translated as pain- since the body can not relax. These are two items that you might want to discuss with your Moms physician.
Just a suggestion for your Mom. You had stated that she is usually in pain.
Technically- ALS is not a painful disease, however- something that I noticed in many of my patients in hospice that had ALS- were them describing their muscle spasms as pain. Before- I realized this, I would put them on pain medications but they had very little relief. I then started putting all of my patients with ALS on Baclofen (or something similiar) for muscle spasms. This did wonders for them and no further complaints of pain. Another thing to consider- if your Mom is not on any anti-anxiety medications- is that anxiety itself is very uncomfortable and even might be translated as pain- since the body can not relax. These are two items that you might want to discuss with your Moms physician.