Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives AS Pharmacy Muscle relaxers, what does everyone think?

My doctor gave me a new muscle relaxer, because flexoral was no good, any ideas on what seems to work the best or what is the most effective ,uscle relaxer.

Peace

GP tried me on flexeril: zombie marshmallow man for at least a day or two on one pill.

Physiatrist tried me on zanaflex back in 2001. been on it ever since. love it.

drops my bp pretty low, so i can only take a small amount at a time, 2 mg.

but that does the trick to maintain me between flares.

the lower bp is only for about an hour or two and puts me to sleep so great for bedtime, helps me fall asleep very nicely. and if i need it during the day, usually not, i just time it for when i don't need to be driving or something where i need to be really alert.

and it only lasts in the blood stream for 6 hours so one can time it for when one needs it. very convenient.

also causes dry mouth but just for that hour or so, a big cup of water solves the problem.

has potential to damage liver, but i just get a liver panel blood test done every few months. zero problems over the last 10 years of taking it daily. at first i had the liver enzymes checked 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, and 12 months out. now i get it done 1-2x a year.

great for medical procedures, the dentist, flying. anytime i have to be still in one position for a long time.

i've heard others liking skelaxin as well.

hope whatever you take that it helps you as well as zanaflex helped me.

oddly it has helped my tendonitises as well. soon as i went on it, the tendonitises that i'd had for years prior finally started to improve. maybe the muscles aren't pulling at the tendons so strongly?

Cody and i both have zilch results with Flexeril, it may as well be a placebo for us. I'm on 500-1000mg of Methocarbomal (Robaxim) TID, love it. It WORKS!! Cody got a script for Soma a while back, and it worked well on his messed-up back. He doesn't like the methocarbomal though, he says it stones him out even if he only takes a tiny bit.
What'd the doc put you on?

I've tried muscle relaxers, early in my disease process, but had nothing from them except extreme sleepiness. I guess I'm dealing with inflamed joints, not inflamed muscles so they weren't effective for me.

Flexeril barely helped my back and made my muscle twitching worse. Zanaflex made me stoned ( I can't stand feeling like that ) and only helped some of the muscle spasms. Skelaxin made me twitch more and locked my calf up for hours at a time. Soma is the only one that works for me. I don't feel stoned and I dont twitch as much. I went off them a couple months ago and in 1 week tore a muscle that was too tight. I felt it rip and went to the doc - sure enough it was torn. Owie.

So for me, soma is the best.

Holly - you twitch too? How/where/why?

My legs. Big twitches too. My knee cap move once. It's like you can see a guitar string being strummed in my legs. I have a video somewhere that I'll post if I can find it. It is freaky.

Don't know why I twitch. Neuro said benign twitch syndrom but now with all of the other symptoms I'm havin I have to go see him again.

You twitch too??? I sing Twitchy Woman all the time (to the eagles witchy woman). Tell me about your twitches!! I'm not the only one?!?

Excuse typos. Iphone hates me.

I wonder how many of us twitch.... Maybe one day I'll set up a symptom poll. I have a program that makes it easy.

Any others reading this thread twitch? Big twitches. Not like little eye twitches.

Just curious.

I'm a twitcher big time! It has gotten to the point of being very annoying. Right now my left shoulder has been twitching for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes it is the abdominal muscles, they twitch like you are being kicked when pregnant. Most bizarre feeling I must say. If my hands stay in the same position for too long, like when I am using the mouse on the computer my pointer finger will twitch and push the mouse button.
I'm going to have to keep following this thread now because I am curious.

Jill

Jill - thanks for replying. Not glad you twitch, but glad I'm not alone.

I feel bad that I've hijacked Cleaveland's thread, so I'm going to post about it on the main forum. I'm really curious to know how many of us twitch, and if any of us have doc input on why (I do, but he was such an @ss I don't trust anything he said -- this is the guy who told me AS was "uncomfortable" and that if the steroid shots weren't helping, then I clearly needed to see a psychologist.

Cleaveland -- sorry for taking over your thread.