Muscle spasm

Muscle spasms or cramp, also known as involuntary hypertonicity, are unintentional and painful muscle contractions. The pain from spasms is very sharp and intense, for example waking someone suddenly in the night, and the muscle may sometimes look hard under the skin. Spasms can make it impossible to use the muscle temporarily.

Symptom recognition
Muscle spasms are not considered a diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS, but have been found to occur in people with ME/CFS.

Muscle spasm is a potential symptom of Long COVID in the World Health Organization's definition.

Possible causes
Muscle spasms can occur as a result of many different illnesses including: Spasms can also be caused by
 * ME/CFS and other neurological illnesses
 * Gulf War Illness
 * Diabetes, thyroid or liver conditions
 * injury
 * dehydration
 * prolonged exercise, especially in hot weather
 * low levels of potassium, magnesium or calcium, which can result from using diuretics
 * pregnancy
 * nerve compression, particularly in the spine.

Treatments
Drugs that treat spams are known as muscle relaxants or antispasmodics.

The Canadian Consensus Criteria suggests treating muscle spasms in ME/CFS with: The International Consensus Criteria primer for clinicians suggests using magnesium sulphate.
 * Heat, both general and local heat
 * Baclofen (used off-label)

Muscle spasms can also be treated with skeletal and muscle relaxants such as carisoprodol, metaxalone, methocarbamol, tizanidine, orphenadrine and cyclobenzapine.

Alternative drugs for muscle spasms include diazepam (Valium), and medical marijuana (cannabis), although this has less scientific evidence.

Learn more

 * Muscle spasm - drugs.com
 * Muscle cramp - drugs.com