Muscle Relaxers Prescribed for Arthritis: Uses and Risks

It also is habit-forming and is often abused in combination with narcotics, alcohol, or other drugs. On rare occasions, the drug can trigger seizures and cause breathing troubles. Use of diazepam is also known to increase the incidences of self-harm and suicide. Despite the developments, the terminology “centrally acting” remains in use.

• Muscle relaxers are sometimes prescribed to people with osteoarthritis (“wear-and-tear” arthritis) as well as those with lower back pain, neck pain, and other musculoskeletal pain.
• If the patient is seeking long-term treatment, together with physical therapy and rest, Robaxin is preferred.
• Despite their name, muscle relaxants do not work on the muscles, but rather on the brain.
• Before taking methocarbamol, tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are allergic to it; or if you have any other allergies.
• Muscle relaxants are some of the most commonly prescribed medications to treat back pain and other strains or sprains.
• Other commonly prescribed anti-spasmodic agents include cyclobenzaprine and carisoprodol.

Seek immediate medical attention if you experience these adverse effects. While methocarbamol is used to treat muscle pain, it is important to consider the various negative side effects it can have. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, reach out to a doctor or other healthcare professional to help guide and support you through the treatment process. If you’re taking a prescription muscle relaxer, you shouldn’t consume alcohol. Alcohol and muscle relaxers are both depressants, which means they slow down your central nervous system.

Common Muscle Relaxers

Drug monographs report neurologic adverse effects as more common, including sedation, followed by dizziness and headache. Other reported neurologic adverse effects include confusion, amnesia, falls, syncope, and diplopia. The drug comparisons information provided does not cover every potential use, warning, drug interaction, side effect, or adverse or allergic reaction. RxList.com assumes no responsibility for any healthcare administered to a person based on the information found on this site. It’s important to thoroughly inform your doctor about all of your medical conditions because muscle relaxants might not be suitable for certain diseases and conditions.

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This action helps relieve muscle spasms and tension that contribute to musculoskeletal pain. For patients who are wondering, which is better between Methocarbamol vs Cyclobenzaprine, there is no proof yet that any particular muscle relaxant is much more effective than the other. Rather, there are few preferences due to a patient’s other health conditions. Eventually, this medication will benefit them more since it causes somnolence compared to Robaxin.

No one should assume the information provided on Addiction Resource as authoritative and should always defer to the advice and care provided by a medical doctor. However, one drug might be more effective for you than another. Robaxin(methocarbamol) is a muscle relaxant used to treat muscle spasms and pain. If pain persists despite the appropriate use of muscle relaxants, speak with your healthcare provider. Other treatments may be available, like nerve blocks or radiofrequency ablation, that may not only be safer over the long term but provide more effective, sustained relief.

Senior citizens already suffer from decreased fitness levels and reduced motor skills on a daily basis. With muscle relaxer side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness, and confusion, the chances of older patients getting into an accident increase dramatically. Next, come the anti-steroidal non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen and naproxen sodium.

RX Drugs & Medications

Hence, the term “centrally acting,” even if the definition is no longer completely accurate. This article introduces you to an alternative means of managing pain. Specifically, it introduces interventional pain management therapies.

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Drug comparisons between cyclobenzaprine and methocarbamol in terms of side effects do not reveal many differences. Both medications can cause adverse effects such as dizziness, drowsiness, headache, nausea, and fatigue. Cyclobenzaprine tends to cause more drowsiness than methocarbamol. ingredients in flexeril Also, cyclobenzaprine can cause dry mouth because it has anticholinergic effects. The other dosage form of this medicine is an injection solution into a muscle or into a vein. Robaxin needs to be taken three to four times a day to provide relief from muscle pain and muscle spasms.

Most muscle relaxers work not by stopping what causes the pain, but by controlling the inhibition and excitation levels of motor neurons in the affected muscles. Muscle relaxers work by mimicking the action of naturally-occurring substances in the body, though exactly how they do so remains a challenge for researchers. Moving forward, this article will focus on the first group, spasmolytics. Also known as centrally acting muscle relaxants, they work on the central nervous system (CNS) when reducing the transmission of pain signals.

It is for this reason that these drugs are generally not prescribed for longer than four weeks when used for acute musculoskeletal pain. As a general rule, muscle relaxers are used for the short-term treatment of musculoskeletal pain. They can be used “on demand” when acute pain strikes but are generally not the drugs of choice for chronic musculoskeletal pain. While they all have similar mechanisms of action (in that they directly act on the central nervous system), they have different chemical structures and indications for use.