Question about MUSCLE RELAXERS

[diamond]

So many of you have experience with medications and as i have posted my fibro has become much more severe lately...lots of extreme stiffness with a kind of burning tightening band that makes my upper arms shoulders and legs rigid.

If i go to reach for something it pulls all up the arm neck and shoulder and then the pain goes nuts.

Do you think muscle relaxers would help this?

I am getting run down emotionally not being able to do any my usual things. The pain and stiffness doesn't change where it is or intensity. Everyday is the same for weeks and its there all night too.

If i sit still and do almost nothing its beareable but that's no life.

Any ideas?

More pain relief will just mask it and i fear i will injure myself as this has happened with my legs too after a while out of action they became deconditioned and i injured myself pushing to walk myself well again!

I wish i had realized resting too much during a bit of an emotional crisis would do this!

If anyone reads this all the advice about keep moving as much as possible it's true.

I don't want anyone else to go from the type good life with some good days I had by pacing fun etc etc to the state i am in now where nothing helps.

 

[DK_engineer]

Willow, I take flexeril, which is a muscle relaxer. It has really helped me. I do well if I take it twice a day, morning and evening. It makes most people really sleepy, but not me for whatever reason. I read somewhere that flexeril (or cyclobenzaprine) is also a serotonin and norepinephrine uptake inhibitor, which may be part of the reason it tends to help fibromyalgia symptoms.

 

[diamond]

Thanks Dk engineer. Can you try and describe how it helps if that's not too difficult? Do your muscles feel less stiff in an obvious way?

 

[CaptainMorganUOR]

I'm on Tizanidine, primarily to help with muscle spasms. It's been a huge help.

 

[MargM]

Some days I find I have been tensing against the pain all day and when I get into bed I am so locked up I can't relax and get comfortable. 1/2 a Valium just lets evertything let go. Try to use it minimally , last resort but can reboot me sometimes. Not quite the Same problem as you but all info helps

 

[diamond]

Thanks all you are right all info useful. I take valium 5mg at night to sleep or even 10 mg if i keep waking and just cant get back to sleep. Even with thise i have been awake most of the last 4 nights my mind whirring.

 

[DK_engineer]

Probably the best way to describe how it helps is to describe what happens if I skip a dose...

Flexeril reduces pain for me. I usually take one in the morning and one at bedtime (10 mg tablets). Yesterday I ran out and started my day without my morning dose. My pain level increased from mild to moderate. I think of my pain in 2 categories - constant diffuse pain in my hands and feet, and sporadic sharp pains that can show up anywhere. Both kinds of pain got worse as the morning went on and I was finding it difficult to concentrate at work. On my lunch I refilled my prescription and took one pill. Within a few hours my pain receded back to a moderate level.

 

[DK_engineer]

Excuse me I mean my pain receded back to a mild level

 

[diamond]

Thanks DK it is all trial and error for us all. For years i didn't take any pain meds so that i knew if i was having a good day and knowing it was me not meds helped my mind cope and learn to understand this illness in depth.

It also stopped me from overdoing it beyond aching all over because the meds were masking pain ... now i don't have good days so i am having to explore all options.

Thanks again for posts if i repeat myself forgive me i don't have the energy to read what i wrote at the beginning!

 

[moe1959]

Yes ask your Dr. Hope he's working for YOU.

 

[moe1959]

Be careful with valume,your more than likely becoming addicted, and most drs won't perscribe valume with pain meds. If your not oN Pain meds your probley needing a higher dose. Becoming addicted to valume can be very scarry if you have to stop. Should suddenly your Dr. Say you can no longer take valume and opiets, INSIST YOUR WEANED OFF VERY GRADUALLY FROM THE VALUME. YOUR PHARMACIST IS THE LAST STOP THEY KNOW THE COMPLICATIONS, AND WILL NOTIFY YOUR DR.
I DIDN'T HAVE THIS INFORMATION, AND WENT FROM 4 MG A DAY TO. 0mg. THE WITHDRAWS WERE TERRIBLE !
Try muscle realaxers, and pain meds. The lowest dose of valume possible. Go to Google and do some homework, your Dr. May not be aware.

 

[diamond]

Thanks Moe1959...yes i am aware of valium addiction. I was very strict and only took 2mg occasionally for sleep but without repeating it all you know i had emotional crisis then big pain increases and was awake night after night had ptsd etc and in the end my will power lost against a breakdown and i gave into valium to sleep.

I was stuck as no sleep meant more pain and i felt soooooo alone with the emotional turmoil and hurt and severe pain. It is all one big mess now i have to try and undo.

 

[Chexmix]

My doctor gave me muscle relaxers to help with sleep at night. Guess he thought it was killing two birds with one stone. I take about 1 per month. I try to avoid meds because I inevitably get side effects, but some days....

 

[moe1959]

I take amnitriptolane for sleep. It's a older antidepressant, but it's a Godsend. I take 100mg at night.

 

[sweetpea51]

I take tizanidine twice a day and I take 10 mg of melatonin at night to help me sleep... It does help.