Suxamethonium Chloride and Muscle Pains

Muscle Pains Following the Use of Suxamethonium in Caesarean Section

“…Patients were questioned by one of the authors on the fourth postoperative day, as previous investigators (Burtles and Tunstall, 1961) have reported the onset of typical muscle pains as long as 4 days after the administration of suxamethonium. If the patient volunteered that she had suffered from muscle pains on being asked a non-specific question such as "How have you been since the operation?…”

“…1954). Following complaints from some patients Churchill-Davidson (1954) and others (Foster, undergoing the operation of Caesarean section it 1960; Burtles and Tunstall, 1961) have adminiswas decided to investigate the frequency with tered a small dose of a non-depolarizing relaxant which these pains occurred and to decide if the to some patients prior to the injection of suxafrequency and severity were enough to warrant methonium in an attempt to reduce the incidence the avoidance of suxamethonium in this operation, of muscle pains.…”

Suxamethonium‐induced muscle pains are not related to cholinesterase activity

“…Suxamethonium is commonly used to facilitate intubation to protect the airway during the extraction of wisdom teeth. This group of patients tends to be young, fit, healthy and ambulates early and is thus likely to have a high incidence of postsuxamethonium myalgia [3,4]. Indeed, 72% of our group of mostly young women experienced postoperative inuscle pain.…”

“…Muscle pain attributed to suxamethonium is described as pain and stiffness similar to that following unaccustomed exercise [5]; characteristically, it develops on the first and second postoperative day [4,14] persisted for 2 to 3 days but occasionally as long as 6 days [15]. The incidence has been reported as both greater and less on day 1 compared with day 3 [16,17].…”

The Incidence and Severity of Muscle Pains After Suxamethonium When Preceded by Gallamine

“…Churchill-Davidson (1954) first reported the modifying effects of the administration of non-depolarizing relaxants before suxamethonium, using comparatively large doses (gallamine 40 mg or tubocurarine 5 mg). Morris and Dunn (1957), Lamoreaux and Urbach (I960), Foster (I960), Burtles and Tunstall (1961) and White (1962) have all reported the results of series in which this principle has been investigated. White (1962) demonstrated the effectiveness of a small (5 mg) dose of gallamine when an interval of 2 minutes was allowed to elapse between the gallamine and suxamethonium injections; with this measure the incidence of muscle pains in patients undergoing bronchoscopy was reduced from 50 per cent to 28 per cent, with a corresponding reduction in the severity of the pains.…”