The word you are looking for is myoclonus, and yes Oxycodone / Morphine / Hydromorphone / Probably all of them ... can all cause it. They can mask it a bit with benzos, but you might want to try a different opioid and see if you still get the side effect. Different opioids have different active and (believed to be) inactive metabolites. I believe fentanyl is the least likely of them to cause this problem as it has very few metabolites your body has to deal with. M3G (in morphine) is one of the most notorious for causing that side effect. You might also want to get some blood work done, complete liver & kidney function test. Mg, Na, Glucose levels should be checked as low levels can cause this problem too.
Myoclonus can also start on its own, and a whole variety of drugs can cause it as a side effect.
Thank you so much for the replies and information, yet Im still uncertain---So is this something that I should be worried about?? I have been on the Oxycodone for quite awhile now (at least 6 months) so its not the getting used to it going on, Im sure. I am just wondering if this will go away on its own or is this not normal to be happening after being on the drug for so long now? I wouldnt want to continue using something that could eventually lead to something like my heart start to spasm, if thats possible??
You said I should have my blood checked, which makes me sorta worried about it, but I did have it checked just about 3 months ago and it was all good, and I was getting a bit of the abdomen spasm at that time too...altho it has increased in intensity as well as in different places as well since then. The spasms are mainly in my abdomen area, but also travel around sometimes into my arms, legs, and eyes, etc.....so should I be concerned?
I did actually mention this to my doctor last time I was in, and she didnt seem to really make anything of it and didnt even mention that there were such possible side effects....sometimes my Dr.'s Office is more in a hurry than they are anything else :rolleyes: Im just hoping its only an "annoying" side effect, as opposed to a serious one? What do you think? I wouldnt want to continue using something that could eventually lead to something like my heart start to spasm, if thats possible?? Thanks again for your help!!!
Thanks to your info, I have done a bit of reading up on Myoclonus and have found it very informative---thank you so much Phos & Shoreline!! The wording I have found on the topic still leaves me wondering tho, if it is serious enough a problem for me to consider changing meds again? I dont really want to do that tho, b/c after several different meds I find the Oxycodone is the best so far in managing my pain---and until now---had the least side effects.
The articles often refer to Myoclonus as a "twitching of the skeletal muscle" and list Opiod Therapy as one of the possible causes, yet my experience with it so far seems to feel more like its "organs" in my abdomen...in addition to the spasms I feel in my eyes, arms, legs, etc. I suppose what I read thru so far doesnt say whether or not its a side effect that can be serious, or if its just more of a "pesky" side effect....? Like I said in my last post, what concerns me is that if it can cause spasms in general, I worry that it might cause something like the Heart to spasm or something.
Do you guys think that its something that requires changing meds because it can get worse or become life-threatening? Or do you think its something that can be ignored if its tolerable, with no serious complications likely to come from spasms/myoclonus? Im surprised that more people havent reported this problem, unless maybe its not very common. For me, it was a very strange sensation to have several parts of my body having spasms at the same time; Its not so much that they are painful or anything, just that it made me start to wonder why it was happening and if it was a bad sign. I can learn to ignore it since its not even close to being as bad as the pain I have.....I would just like to know if its anything more than "just another side effect?" :confused:
Thanks again SO much for the help----the people on this board are Amazing, and the replies & information are always appreciated! :)
I was wondering, if anyone had ever heard of Oxycodone causing things like the muscle spasms that we sometimes have in our legs, abdomen, etc? For the last few months, I have been having spasms in SO many different areas of my body, its starting to really concern me. Seems as if its moving around my body--from the legs to the arms, eye spasms, hands, the feet and toes, and all the while, it has been spasming in my abdomen on the left and right sides, near the kidney areas.
I have had almost every other medication of mine changed recently except for my daily 81mg Aspirin, and 45mg Oxycodone, so it has me wondering if they might be related to the spasms? I ran across some info saying that Oxycodone can cause a spasm in the areas related to urination, and in another area may cause spasms with an organ I wasnt familiar with, but that is all I could find.
So Im still left wondering what could be causing these spasms to be travelling around my body....anyone have any ideas or experience this? Thank You!
Hi Phlox,
My eyes shot open when I was reading your post that Oxycodone can cause spasm in the areas related to urination. I just started taking Oxycontin two days ago. Unfortunately, I had a very embarassing thing happen on the second night. I woke up and had urinated within the first two hours of going to sleep. I was absolutely amazed and scared. I am taking 2 40 mg every two hours.
I looked through the internet and so far could find very little relating to this problem. Last night I was fine so I am hoping it was a one time deal. I am not having any other spasming throughout my body. I was wondering if anyone would have more information on this or could know where I could find this info.
Im not sure hangin, the spasms I get are mainly in the abdomen area, and sometimes in the arms, legs, and eyes. And I also get the "bloated" type feeling sometimes, as if I am not able to process the water I drink or something, its strange---maybe "pressure" in the abdomen and legs/ankles would be a better way to describe it. Im not sure if thats from the way that Oxycodone can restrict blood-flow to the kidneys, or if its just from a water-retention side effect? Both??
For either symptom, Im just wondering if theyre actually serious or not? I'd like to make sure before talking to my Doctor again, if either the bloating/pressure, or the spasms are anything I should worry about, or if theyre just an annoying side effect of Oxycodone?
Thank you Marcia, I will have to ask for the Magnesium level to be checked, altho lately Im starting to feel that my doctor acts like Im being a pain....theyre always SO packed to the hilt with people in there and in such a hurry, that sometimes they act as if youre being a pain just by asking questions. I would really like to change my doctor and have been thinking about it lately, but thats a whole 'nother pain in the butt---I was getting tired of having to go over all of my history with them (a long, complex one with several operations) and having to catch them up to date (its one of those large HMO setups where they have like 12 different doctors in there), so it was nice to finally have the major doctors in there familiar with me enough on a personal basis. I dont know, its such a pain to deal with them, but I will def. be asking them to check my magnesium & potassium levels the next time---even if they give me an attitude about it---so thank you for letting me know about that! :)
As far as my Liver, I was at one point on 3 different meds that had Acetaminophen/Tylenol/Apap in them, and I didnt realize at that time how that could have an effect on the Liver. Whats worse, is that my doctors didnt ever mention it either :rolleyes: I started to get strange symptoms like the "bloated" feeling (which is another reason why I wonder about having that feeling again, altho my last test showed normal so it may be the water retention now?). And I started having pretty bad episodes of Anxiety, that was well beyond anything I had experienced before.
Ironically enough, it was after reading thru some of the posts in here (and I think maybe even some posts/replies from you! :) ) that I started to guess what was happening. When I went into the docs office, it was ME that told them about the Liver/Tylenol connection, and it was ME that had to request a Liver panel blood test. Sure enough, all of my Liver Enzymes were high, well beyond normal. Also after an Ultrasound, it showed I had an Eciphrigol (sp?) Liver (fatty liver) and was taken off of most of the Apap in my meds.
As of my last blood test (about 3 months ago), all of my enzymes were normal and everything else they checked was normal, but the second Ultrasound still showed a fatty liver. So that was another reason I was changed over to the no Tylenol Oxycodone even though the Hydrocodone was giving me better relief for my pain. We tried some compounding pharmacies for the low Tylenol versions of Hydro, but my Insurance was being a serious PAIN and I was having trouble even getting scripts filled, so thats kind of where I am now, using the Oxycodone for pain, only using Tylenol in the Sinus tabs I use, and wondering what some of these symptoms are.
Im kind of hoping that Phos is right, and that its not much to worry about and a normal side-effect that I dont really have to worry about, but thanks to you Marcia I will def. be having my doctor check my Magnesium and Potassium levels, and have my Liver Panel done again to make sure thats pumping as well, lol! Thanks so much for the info about your sons experiences, its more help and comfort than you may realize, and information that I will be bringing up to my doctor---whether theyre in a hurry or not!! :cool:
OH, BTW! Do you think that taking daily vitamins would help? Last week I started taking a multi-vitamin after reading one of your posts and eating TOTAL Raisin Bran b/c it has so much in it, so Im hoping that will help. When you say Mag 400mg OX, is that just a supplement, or something else? The multi-vitamin Im taking now has only 75mg of Magnesium and 49mg of Potassium, so Im not sure thats quite enough. Thanks so much!!
