Anyone take muscle relaxants?

[Jean in Newcastle]

What has your experience? Any horror stories? Any miracles? Anything in between? Does it help with pain? Did it help you sleep? Did it wear off by morning or were you out of commission for the next day? I know what the pharmacist and doctor and the literature says. I just want to hear from some patients who have taken it even though I know that YMMV.

[Truscifi]

I took cyclobenzaprine for a while due to some problems with my hips and back. It did help, but I had to cut down to half a pill at bedtime to be able to get up and going the next morning. I never had insomnia while I was taking it though. I kinda wish I still had some so I wouldn't be awake and posting on the forum at almost 2am. :glare:

[kiwik]

Only OTC stuff. It works for what I use it for but some people are affected by it more than others.

[DaffodilDreams]

I have taken prescription muscle relaxers a few times - not regularly. I feel soooooooooo good on them. In my experience, pain goes away - as long as the relaxer is in effect. I sleep really well, and all of my stress disappears when I take them. I'm grateful I don't have a chronic need for them, but I do like them a whole, whole lot! I'm always fine by morning. They work so well on me that I would not take them during the day unless I had someone else home to care for dd.

[Mergath]

I've taken prescription muscle relaxants a few times for my neck, which occasionally gets screwed up and hurts unbelievably bad. The muscle relaxants were the only thing that helped. Chiro did nothing. But within a couple days on the pills, my neck will be back to normal. They made me sleepy, but other than that I didn't have any side effects.

[JNW]

I don't know the name of the prescription but the one I took gave me very severe depression. I looked it up online and found that people had committed suicide while taking that particular muscle relaxant. I stopped taking it immediately.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I've been taking flexeril 10 mg as needed for many years. It works so much better than pain killers for my stupid neck issues.

I try to take it around 8pm so I can wake up at my usual early morning hour, it does give me a great nights sleep and I feel better in the morning.

It gives me dry mouth and sometimes a little bit of a flexeril hangover but it is my favorite drug ever as far as helping goes. Feel free to pm or FB me Jean.

[Lisa in SC]

I have flexeril that I take as needed. It makes me sleepy if I am forced to take it during the day, but not so much so that I'm unable to function. If possible, I try to take wait until bedtime to take it on the days I need it. I don't notice any effects the next morning, as long as I get a full night's rest.

[Paige]

I take flexeril occasionally when an old injury becomes inflamed. It does not make me that sleepy if I want to be awake but I definitely sleep better when I take it and it is harder to wake in the morning. I don't find it very effective on its own, however. I can take one of those pills every night for a week and still have pain, but when I combine it with a prescription anti-inflammatory (diclofenac) I wake up the next day with no pain. The combination makes me sleepier. I don't know why since the diclofenac is not supposed to cause drowsiness. Maybe I can sleep better because the pain relief is better?

 

ETA: I just looked it up and my flexeril is only 5mg. That may be why I don't get as sleepy as some people report. I think 10mg is probably the standard adult dose. My Dr told me I could take 2 if I wanted but I can't unless I want to sleep for about 12hrs!

[gingersmom]

I have tried dozens of muscle relaxants over the years.

 

If I take the full prescribed dose I need to go to sleep immediately and sleep for 24 hours. It takes a full 36 for the haze to begin to lift and a full 48 for me to feel back to normal.

 

Needless to say I take them very sparingly.

[Cera]

I took cyclobenzaprine for a while due to some problems with my hips and back. It did help, but I had to cut down to half a pill at bedtime to be able to get up and going the next morning. I never had insomnia while I was taking it though. I kinda wish I still had some so I wouldn't be awake and posting on the forum at almost 2am. :glare:

 

 

This was pretty much my experience. I took 10 mg for back pain (as needed, mainly at night) and it worked. The downside was that I fell asleep within half an hour of taking it and was completely unable to wake up for 12 hours. Waking up then was a struggle and I generally could only stay up for 2-3 hours before I had to nap. I was "off" for a solid 24 hours after each pill. I would never take it unless I had absolutely nothing to do the next day and a responsible adult to supervise me.

[shanvan]

I took cyclobenzaprine for a while due to some problems with my hips and back. It did help, but I had to cut down to half a pill at bedtime to be able to get up and going the next morning. I never had insomnia while I was taking it though. I kinda wish I still had some so I wouldn't be awake and posting on the forum at almost 2am. :glare:

 

I have these to use if I need them. When I have used them, I also cut in half. Still I feel pretty hazy the next day. I take something else now if I really need it b/c the cyclobenzaprine has the unfortunate side effect of completely drying out and aggravating my sinuses to the point that I feel miserable for a few days after I take even 1/2 the dose. They did help with pain.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Thank you so much. I did end up taking one last night. In my case, it totally relaxed my digestive system meaning that I had to run to the bathroom for about a half hour. Once that was all done, I did sleep well for the first time in weeks. I am still sore and tight this morning but perhaps a bit less than usual. We'll see. I had no problem waking up, which was my main worry.

[Carolyn in Ohio]

I used to take flexeril at night for what is currently diagnosed as fibromyalgia. It helped some, as in I noticed if I missed if for a couple nights in a row, and it helped my sleep a bit. I did not notice any bad side effects. My doc switched me to cymbalta about 2 months ago instead of a muscle relaxant, which is working far better than the flexeril ever did.

 

Carolyn

[Myeightkiddies]

Flexeril is what I have used. It may be due to my low thyroid but I can only take half of a pill. I tend to have a "hangover" the next day. Also, if I plan to take it, I won't eat anything for eight hours before bed. It causes me to have bad acid reflux. Typically it gets in my lungs and causes my asthma to flare the next day, which isn't worth it.

[Lady Florida.]

I cannot take flexeril as it knocks me out. It takes at least 24 hours for me to get over the tired feeling even after a long sleep. I've had to try a number of different muscle relaxers for my chronic back pain, and now I take generic Robaxin. It's the only one I can take in the daytime. For me, the point of any type of pain medication is to allow me to function while it relieves the pain. If I can't function as normal, I don't want it.

 

You might need to try different types until you find the one that's right for you.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Kathy - I'm taking Robaxin. I had specifically asked the Dr. for something that would allow me to function. Now that I've been up and around for a couple of hours I can say that it did help. I'm still in pain but I can move better.

[Lady Florida.]

There's a trade off I suppose. The ones that work the best also seem to cause extreme drowsiness. If you just need to be able to rest while you heal, those will do the trick. If you need to take something long term (IIRC, you do right?), you have to find one that will allow you to function.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't think it is a matter of "healing" as much as learning how to reset my muscles to a non-contracted state.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I have discovered something very interesting. Robaxin (the muscle relaxant I took) is related to guaiafenisen. I was taking high doses (1200 mg) of guaiafenisen for awhile and found it helpful. I think the Robaxin is a better form of it (the carbonate of guaiafenisen if that means anything to anyone).