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

Holly, I'll copy and paste my response into the other forum...

I too am on Soma. Been on every muscle relaxer out there and the Soma is the only one that works for me. Looks like I'm not the only one.
Cindy

Cindy glad to hear someone else is on soma too. And that it works for you.

I twitch off an on with shoulder muscles, forearms and left calf. I have another appointment with neuro next week, after having an EMG and issues with twitching. Who knows what's next. My doc asked me if I wanted Soma (but I was unsure), it works for you, any side effects you can report? No issues with thread theft, I love as much information as possible, and I twitch so that works out.

Soma made me a little sleepy at first but nothing too bad. I've heard other people get pretty whacky on it so you might want to start with half first and go from there. It is really intended for short term use but whaddyagunnado?

I hope it helps you. You twitch in the calves too? Is it rhythmic like mine or like an eye twitch where the muscle just spazzes out randomly? The calf twitch is insane. I've got to find that video...

If you try the soma let us know how it goes.

I tried Robaxin and then Flexeril. They would help for awhile and then gave me restless leg syndrome and then all over restless body syndrome. I had to stop taking them all together.

I've been taking zanaflex for about 5 years, started at 2mg, now I take 4mg every evening. About 20 minutes after taking it I start to slur my words, get a dry mouth then fall fast asleep. They have never made me tired the next day.

I know what you mean about slurring your words on zanaflex. That happened to me too. Plus my hubby said my eyes rolled up in my head a few times. Was not comfy with feeling so spaced out and didn't want my kids to see me like that. But I was taking it during the day. Sounds like it works well for those of you who take it at night.

me three on the slurred words on zanaflex; hubby just tells me i shouldn't talk

i normally only take it at night and yes its great then.

the other day i took it in the middle of the day. was sitting on a bench, looking up, watching and listening to the birds. next thing i knew, i woke up disoriented and the person sitting next to me told me i was out for about 5-10 minutes, but then i felt totally refreshed (it was at the end of the hour of drowsiness).

so here's the thing for me. excellent at bedtime, making me fall asleep is a nice side effect of the drug at that time. and since it only lasts in the blood stream for 6 hours, never any effects in the morning.

and if i need to take it during the day, its effects are very predictable. it will make me drowsy about an hour after taking it for only about an hour, so i just time it so i can pass out for that hour if i need to.

like when i first started taking it, i needed it every 6 hours. i'd take it right before i taught my class, take a nap on my office floor right after which was my "lunch hour", get up, eat lunch, and then work with my research students in the lab. repeat a similar procedure 6 hours later.

if i need it because i'm really bad at home in bed or the recliner, then it doesn't matter if i need a nap for an hour, actually a good thing.

or if i fall asleep in the MRI machine, or feel drowsy in the dentist chair, etc, doesn't matter. by the time the procedure is over, the blood pressure is coming back and the drowsiness is wearing off.

compared to flexeril that made me drowsy for hours, days on end, an hour of drowsiness doesn't seem like too big of a problem.

would another muscle relaxant work just as well without drowsiness, i don't know. i was just so thrilled with the good results of the drug that i didn't feel the need to look any further.

I have been taking Zanaflex now for a little while. I find that if I take it too many days in a row I have a horrendous headache for at least 24hrs. It's hard though because it does help me sleep and it makes it so my body isn't so stiff at night but I'm not sure the headache is worth it. Especially if I have to go to work in the next few days.
Does this happen to anyone else?
Thanks,
Jill