flexeril doesnt make me tired

Zanaflex and Flexeril both knock me the heck out but Skelaxin does not. Valium and Xanax are not muscle relaxers, they are benzodiazapine anti-anxiety medications but do have a relaxing effect but are more prone to cause drowsiness.

Unfortunately, it's a trial and error but I'd ask your doctor to try a different muscle relaxer and see what one works with the least amount of drowsiness. The benzos will almost definitely cause drowsiness by design so pretty much any benzo anti-anxiety med will have that effect. But, with benzos, the effects become less severe the longer you take them, however, there's potential for dependance and addiction. Withdrawal can also be dangerous with benzos.

Good luck and I hope you find a muscle relaxer that works but doesn't cause severe drowsiness.

Hi LisaLoo,
Sadly each person reacts to meds differently. Flexeril is a good muscle relaxant and so is Soma but is that what you need to help the pain?

If it is nerve pain, have they tried you on any of those meds? My husband is on Gabapentin for nerve pain. He has DDD of lower back, with bulging and herniated disc and the pain shoots down his legs to feet.

I am really sorry you are in pain and the muscle relaxants are knocking you out. Maybe hot soaks?

Also, if you are having to lay down, curled up in pain, that will add to the muscle spasms. Try to get up at least once an hour, walk around, maybe stretch a little. Relaxation tapes with guided breathing may help. I got an app for my phone, "Relax and Rest" it has 5 min, 7 min, and 20 min sessions. Each hour the doctor told me to do at least 5 min each hour.

I wish you well. Praying the doctor finds the right combination for you.

Hugs-RJ

Robaxin (Methocarbamol)

Baclofen doesn't make me too tired Lisa, but it really depends on your bodies make up and the other meds you are taking. Good luck in finding an answer.
Hugggss Jasmine

While everybody is different, I've found that Skelaxin and Robaxin are two great muscle relaxers that have very little, if any, sedative effects on me. Particularly with Skelaxin, I usually take that for work because I don't worry about drowsiness.

I've also tried Baclofen, which is a pretty potent anti-spasmodic. That knocked me on my butt more than opioids. I wouldn't be able to recommend that if your concern is drowsiness.

Since all muscle relaxers have the potential to make you drowsy, you might have to do some trial and error before. Good Luck!

Wow Kidrobot. That's amazing. That is why everyone is so different. I take it twice a day and still have insomnia. I also have trouble napping after I take it. Oh well. Like I said different strokes for different folks.

Sounds like Skelaxin and Robaxin will be the next two I try.

RJ, actually, one of my doctors has finally talked me
into trying the gabapentin. I said no for so long just because from all I read online about different people's experiences, it sounded to me like lots of side effects for very little reward. I'm on methadone and that has been very helpful and I cant imagine something like gabapentin being as helpful, BUT...my doctor really thinks I should at least try it, so I will try it for a month or so and see what happens.

Thanks so much for everyone's responses. This group also helped me find out about methadone, which has literally saved my life.

So I brought up the Skelaxin and Robaxin ideas to my doctor - he doesn't have too much experience with them because he's not a pain management doctor (but he is the only doctor that seems to care about making me better). From doing a bit of reading, he thought Robaxin would be worth a try.

Anyone who was on this for chronic pain/muscle pain remember how many pills they took per day? I read online on a few sites to take 12 pills per day, but that sounds like an awful lot; I can't imagine that is for chronic pain, maybe acute muscle spasm.