painful facial muscles

[AKmom]

In the past, before I started taking baclofen, I use to get under the tongue spasms every so often. I would also get them so bad, that they would occasionally go down the front of my neck too. Like I said, the baclofen seems to have kept these spasms away. However, for several weeks now, I have been having pretty significant pain on my right cheek muscle of my face. My jaw is feeling tight and I have to be sure that I do not bite down hard on my teeth. I do not believe it is tmj since the problem is not the joint of my jaw, rather it is spasticity of the muscles of the fac

e. The baclofen does not seem to work for this. I massage the muscle by sticking my thumb (after washing) into my mouth, then massage with my index finger on the outer cheek. This is very painful, bit its the only way to work out the knot that seems to reappear several times a day.

Chewing has become not only painful, but I get tired of chewing, like I am really fatigued. I cannot chew meat well at all. This symptom has me annoyed as well as somewhat concerned. The positive is that I am eating less because of fatigue. I stretch out my jaw and the pain is like a sprained muscle. So very stiff and painful. Outside of meds (baclofen and pain meds) and the massages, does anyone have suggestions on how to relieve this pain?

Any pls'ers out there that have something similar?

 

[04grace2]

Hi,
I have been diagnosed with pls for 2 years now. Actually I had the same symptoms with my facial muscles early on. The baclofen has helped, but I still struggle with it. I, too, get very fatigued when chewing sometimes. I have found that if I am singing at church, the muscles in my face and neck begin to stiffen and often spasm. Once my neck muscles begin to spasm, it becomes very painful. I want to sing and praise God as long as I can, though! It seems to be only on the left side. I also have a clicking in my ear at times (the baclofen has helped this too). I understand it is caused by spasms somewhere in my mouth. My tongue is affected also, but it is such a strange feeling. It is hard to explain. I hope that you will find some relief soon.

 

[olly]

Hi joyce.
All you said is what i have had to deal with past 5+yrs......i have detailed this in posts over the years.
2yrs ago things were so bad i just wanted to sleep and not wake up...thats when jaw spasms caused tooth damage.
I get tmj pain and facial pain 24/7 but tmj is ok so they said its referred pain from jaw.
They said only thing they can do is try botox if /when it gets severe again...but botox can cause its own problems.
I still eat through the pain and fatigue cause i love my food(only when bad i have to have liquids or soft foods) but there will be a time in the future i know i will need a peg.
Baclofen does not help that much on its own,i was doped up on co-codamol/codine for about 3months last time it was bad.
Other than baclofen plus strong pain relief i was told to try hot/cold compress.
I would rather be crippled with spasms from neck down than suffer bulbar spasticity....suck does not begin to cover it.

 

[AKmom]

Thank you Grace and Caroline for answering. I was suspecting that this was pls as it only is the muscle involved, but it is so annoying! I just hope things work itself out a bit as I like my food too Caroline!