Cyclobenzaprine: MedlinePlus Drug Information

Whether you’ve experienced persistent muscle pain or occasional spasms due to a medical condition, your doctor may have prescribed a muscle relaxer, also called a muscle relaxant. The cyclobenzaprine high is not a medically intended effect of the drug, and misusing it in this manner can have serious consequences. Drugs.com provides accurate and independent information on more than 24,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines and natural products. This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Data sources include IBM Watson Micromedex (updated 3 Sep 2023), Cerner Multum™ (updated 28 Aug 2023), ASHP (updated 10 Aug 2023) and others. Any missing drug warnings or information does not in any way guarantee the safety, effectiveness, or the lack of adverse effects of any drug.

Common Medications May Increase Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease – Healthgrades

Common Medications May Increase Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Posted: Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:58:05 GMT [source]

Nine24,25,30,31,33-37 of these ratings of improvement were physician rated, and 118 was patient rated. Likelihood of experiencing overall improvement in back pain by the end of the study among patients treated with cyclobenzaprine hydrochloride compared with placebo. Squares represent the sample size; horizontal lines, the respective 95% confidence intervals of the odd ratios.

Symptoms of overdose may include the following:

Robaxin is the brand name of the generic medication called methocarbamol. It was developed in the 1960s to treat pain and provide relief from muscle spasms. While its exact mechanism of action remains unclear, scientists believe Robaxin can help with pain and discomfort caused by musculoskeletal conditions by blocking the pain signals that are sent to the brain. It is also believed that Robaxin relaxes the muscle by having depressive effects on the central nervous system. Lioresal is capable of minimizing the severity and frequency of muscle spasms and co-occurring pain. The effect of Lioresal, when taken regularly, is seen quickly within a few days.

• An option that is easy on the pocket and comparatively less sedating too is Methocarbamol.
• As such, if you’re on other antidepressants while taking cyclobenzaprine, your doctor should closely monitor your treatment course (8).
• Muscle relaxants should be avoided or monitored before operating machinery or driving a motor vehicle.
• Objective  To perform a systematic review of cyclobenzaprine’s effectiveness in the treatment of back pain.

The extended-release capsule is usually taken with or without food once a day. Do not take this drug for more than 3 weeks without talking to your doctor. Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully, and ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain any part you do not understand.

Evidence of Effectiveness

However, this medicine does not take the place of rest, exercise or physical therapy, or other treatment that your doctor may recommend for your medical problem. Cyclobenzaprine acts on the central nervous system (CNS) to produce its muscle relaxant effects. Its actions on the CNS may also cause some of this medicine’s side effects. Generally, cyclobenzaprine is more effective in treating acute musculoskeletal pain due to an injury in the back or neck. Chronic pain from muscle spasticity related to neurological disease or injury responds best to baclofen. Both baclofen and cyclobenzaprine carry significant adverse effects, and you should seek professional medical advice to determine which is best for you.

Depending on the patient’s response, this dosage may be increased to 10 mg, taken three times a day, if necessary. According to Drugs.com, tizanidine treatment usually starts with an initial dose of 2 mg (milligrams) that is taken every six to eight hours three times a day. Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril) is an antispasmodic drug used to treat musculoskeletal pain related to acute injury. Research supports the use of cyclobenzaprine in patients with acute lower back pain, acute neck pain, and fibromyalgia. Several measures of the sensitivity of the meta-analysis results to various assumptions were conducted. A test for the relative influence of each individual study on the results was determined by sequentially dropping individual studies and calculating summary measures.

Antispastic drugs work at the spinal cord or on specific muscles to reduce muscle tone and involuntary movement. As the name suggests, they treat spasticity, a muscle’s resistance to movement that’s dependent on the speed of movement. Examples of conditions involving muscle spasticity include cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injury (1). Gablofen over-the-counter alternatives can also be used as 15mg flexeril therapy for muscle spasms caused by acute lower back pain, tension headaches, or other similar conditions in different patients. Over the counter means that this medicine can be bought without a prescription, unlike Baclofen, which should be tried before one looks towards prescription medications. Also known as Tizanidine, Zanaflex is used for spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy.

There are no adequate studies to show that Robaxin or Flexeril are safe or harmful during pregnancy. These medications should only be taken if their benefits outweigh the risks. Muscle relaxants should only be taken with medical guidance from a doctor. Cyclobenzaprine has a higher retail cost of $42.99, compared to Robaxin. Generic cyclobenzaprine tablets are often covered by Medicare and insurance plans.

Medical Professionals

We explored several sources of heterogeneity, including year of publication, type of syndrome (acute vs chronic back pain), study quality scores, and duration and dose of therapy using metaregression. Clinicians should monitor for signs and symptoms of serotonin syndrome if the patient is taking other serotonergic drugs. In two case reports, the authors described patients who quickly developed serotonin syndrome after initiating cyclobenzaprine in the short term.

If there are tender spots over the muscle or trigger points on physical examination, a skeletal muscle relaxant is a reasonable adjunct to analgesic treatment of low back pain. Skeletal muscle relaxants may also be used as an alternative to NSAIDs in patients who are at risk of gastrointestinal or renal complications. Robaxin contains methocarbamol and is usually dosed multiple times per day.