Best Muscle Relaxer??

Hey,

I was wondering what drug is best for actual muscle relaxation. I have been taking Valium for 2 years, but the knots I have that give me the most trouble are still very much there. If I stop taking it, the tightness and pain comeback quickly.

Obviously valium is just masking the symptoms of an underlying condition.

I have a BMI of 22, am extremely lean, and eat healthy, however I play a number of sports which take a toll on my body.

The only muscle relaxer I have ever tried is valium, also Xanax if that even counts.

My question is, is there a muscle relaxer out there that might have the chance of not just masking the symptoms but actually releasing these tense muscles and letting the knots be massaged out?

Thanks!
MJ

Soma/Carisoprodol might be better for your purposes, but i'm not sure how much better it would be than valium.

matchpoint88 said:

I was wondering what drug is best for actual muscle relaxation. I have been taking Valium for 2 years, but the knots I have that give me the most trouble are still very much there. If I stop taking it, the tightness and pain comeback quickly.

Obviously valium is just masking the symptoms of an underlying condition.

The only muscle relaxer I have ever tried is valium, also Xanax if that even counts.

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Valium is NOT a muscle relaxer. It is an anxiolitic, as is Xanax. If it's helping you, it's only because your tightness and pain are somehow related to anxiety. Flexeril (Cyclobenzaprine) is a muscle relaxant. But you're better off just soaking in a hot tub or getting a massage if you've got muscle soreness from exercise.

Flexeril sucked for me. Somas are inconsistent. Where is the pain?

AfterGlow said:

Valium is NOT a muscle relaxer. It is an anxiolitic, as is Xanax. If it's helping you, it's only because your tightness and pain are somehow related to anxiety.

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you are mistaken. valium is a muscle relaxant, an anxiolitic, an anticonvulsant, a sedative, etc.

AfterGlow said:

Valium is NOT a muscle relaxer. It is an anxiolitic, as is Xanax. If it's helping you, it's only because your tightness and pain are somehow related to anxiety. Flexeril (Cyclobenzaprine) is a muscle relaxant. But you're better off just soaking in a hot tub or getting a massage if you've got muscle soreness from exercise.

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Diazpam is not just an anxiolytic, it has strong muscle relaxant properties, more so than most other benzodiazepines with exception of clonazepam.

Although it is not considered a "muscle relaxant", its simply labeled a benzodiazepine. However it is prescribed for muscle pain/spasms but not so much due to its addictive properties. For me Clonazepam works best for muscle relaxation, more than any of the official "muscle relaxants"

But since the OP specifically asked what is the most powerful "muscle relaxant" and not what works best for muscle relaxation, diazepam/clonazepam are both out of the question.

The most powerful muscle relaxant from my experience is Carisoprodol (Soma). Soma also works well for anxiety since its metabolite is barbiturate-like. This also makes it addictive. But if you don't take it daily you should be fine.

More info

Thanks for the replies all!

Sorry I left out some details. I played pro soccer for awhile and over the course of my career dislocated several ribs, my clavicles, and messed up my scapulas.

To make it simple, it isn't soreness from working out, it is chronic tension due to injuries.

The area of these ribs and clavicles which I injured is in the area where the Sternocleidomastoid muscle begins. Over time this muscle has gotten more tense, to the point where it compresses cranial nerves in the region just inferior to my skull right in the mastoid process.

Compressing any nerves of course makes for a lot of pain symptoms that really dont exist but are just referred from the same vertebral level as my Sternocleidomastoid dysfunction, which for me happens to be between my uppermost Cervical Vertebrae.

In essence, I am open to any suggestions how I can relax these muscles, they are literally as tight as rope and have knots as big as marbles in them. Drugs or other alternative suggestions and methods would be very well received!

Ever since I have retired from sport, I have spent a lot of time flying planes, but the FAA took away my licensee for Valium, and I am willing to climb mouth everest in board shorts to get it back!

Thanks all!

Soma is definitely the best imo
Its also the best high for a muscle relaxant

haha, k'd i know i just falsely corrected you in the last thread, but i think i am actually right here. excuse me if i am doing the same again

"benzodiazepines" is a chemical class of drugs. "muscle relaxant" is not. all kinda specific drugs qualify as muscle relaxants, from many different classes of drugs, including things like some benzodiazepines, some anticholorgenics, some etc.

valium is a muscel relaxant. it just has a bigger place in other treatments, so it is not thought of so much as drugs that are strictly used as MRs, like soma.

but the disntiction you are trying to make does not really exist, even though i certainly understand why you would think of soma or flexeril as MRs and valium as something else. in reality, caspirodal and cycowhatever are actually "something else" as well. and they all act as skeletal muscle relaxants.

I have tried Valium & Somas & prefer Somas as a muscle relaxant. You stated that you have knots size of marbles & I dont think any muscle relaxant will release those knots. What you need is a professional massage therapist.

Did you try asking a doctor which would be best? I've heard great things about Soma, but my dr told me that for specific types of spasms Flexeril is much better, and it depends on the situation. For me flexeril (cyclobenzaprine) works very well for muscle spasms in my lower back, I dunno what I'd do without it.

Baclofen works a treat for relaxing muscles.

Wow thanks for all the tips. I def need to find a massage therapist once I start trying new meds.

My GP doc lives about 1,000 miles away from me, I spend my year between a few places. Regrettably my only doc where I am now is a psych who won't even talk about this stuff.

I'm hoping to fly down south this week to see my GP. The only problem is he is in love with Benzos. I am not lying when I say he has written a Benzo script for 75% of the people I know that have seen him.

He thinks anxiety is the answer to everything, blah, i'm sure I can convince to at least let me try felx or soma.

Can you drink on soma or Flexeril? I drink on benzos all the time and only once have I had a problem, then again I was an idiot in college at the time with a frat. :/

thanks
m.j.

matchpoint88 said:

Wow thanks for all the tips. I def need to find a massage therapist once I start trying new meds.

My GP doc lives about 1,000 miles away from me, I spend my year between a few places. Regrettably my only doc where I am now is a psych who won't even talk about this stuff.

I'm hoping to fly down south this week to see my GP. The only problem is he is in love with Benzos. I am not lying when I say he has written a Benzo script for 75% of the people I know that have seen him.

He thinks anxiety is the answer to everything, blah, i'm sure I can convince to at least let me try felx or soma.

Can you drink on soma or Flexeril? I drink on benzos all the time and only once have I had a problem, then again I was an idiot in college at the time with a frat. :/

thanks
m.j.

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I don't think your going to get muscle relaxers like Soma or Flexeril from a psychiatrist. They don't deal with muscle pain, just psychological problems. They have little experience with any other practices than psychiatry. At least none of the 5 or 6 psychs I've been to would never do anything like prescribe Soma for muscle pain. I asked one of my psychs, don't remember which and he just laughed. I was dead serious. I love Soma and my general practitioner and family doc won't give it to me because they consider it a narcotic. That's why I decided to ask my psych. He laughed and changed the subject.

K'd-OUT-in-AZ said:

I don't think your going to get muscle relaxers like Soma or Flexeril from a psychiatrist. They don't deal with muscle pain, just psychological problems. They have little experience with any other practices than psychiatry. At least none of the 5 or 6 psychs I've been to would never do anything like prescribe Soma for muscle pain. I asked one of my psychs, don't remember which and he just laughed. I was dead serious. I love Soma and my general practitioner and family doc won't give it to me because they consider it a narcotic. That's why I decided to ask my psych. He laughed and changed the subject.

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Soma is a great pill for relaxing the muscles but I find it ludicrous that doctors see Soma as a narcotic.

Soma and alcohol is much more consistent and predictable than benzos and alcohol.

Soma's effects stack with alcohol (I find the two to be similar in a lot of ways), but they seem to add to the effects of alcohol, instead of multiplying the effects of alcohol like benzos do.

Like, I would never feel comfortable popping some xanax or valium and then going out for a few drinks; you can take a dose of a benzo, and feel almost sober, but with only a couple beers, be completely plastered and acting like a moron.
I've recently been taking a soma before I go out drinking, and drinking less than usual - in order to get just as "drunk", but not get as much of a hangover.

TheLostBoys said:

Soma is a great pill for relaxing the muscles but I find it ludicrous that doctors see Soma as a narcotic.

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I know seriously. In rehab they called it a narcotic on a video we watched about opiates. Everybody addicted to opiates in the class started whispering to each other or laugh with their hands over their mouth when they said that. We all knew it wasn't and the video was bullshit.

matchpoint88 said:

He thinks anxiety is the answer to everything, blah, i'm sure I can convince to at least let me try felx or soma.

Can you drink on soma or Flexeril? I drink on benzos all the time and only once have I had a problem, then again I was an idiot in college at the time with a frat. :/

thanks
m.j.

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Muscle relaxer scripts are not controlled substances, generally if you walk in with muscle spasms you will get either soma/flexeril, whatever the doctor thinks is best. It's worth asking him, they are useful to have around if you get a bad spasm every so often.

You shouldn't drink on soma nor flexeril, both make you drowsy and you should avoid adding another CNS depressant (alcohol) to the mix. You can't really abuse muscle relaxers IMO (I don't, maybe others disagree on this). You would only take the muscle relaxer when you were feeling bad, not daily, so you just definitely wouldn't take it if you planned to drink.

K'd-OUT-in-AZ said:

I know seriously. In rehab they called it a narcotic on a video we watched about opiates. Everybody addicted to opiates in the class started whispering to each other or laugh with their hands over their mouth when they said that. We all knew it wasn't and the video was bullshit.

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LoL, yeah......seems like there is a conspiracy to make every pill that makes you feel good in any way, even if there is a remote possibility that you crack a smile from using a pill, the DEA comes along & schedules it.

purple_cloud said:

Muscle relaxer scripts are not controlled substances, generally if you walk in with muscle spasms you will get either soma/flexeril, whatever the doctor thinks is best. It's worth asking him, they are useful to have around if you get a bad spasm every so often.

You shouldn't drink on soma nor flexeril, both make you drowsy and you should avoid adding another CNS depressant (alcohol) to the mix. You can't really abuse muscle relaxers IMO (I don't, maybe others disagree on this). You would only take the muscle relaxer when you were feeling bad, not daily, so you just definitely wouldn't take it if you planned to drink.

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Somas can be very addicting.......they are a great combo along with my Vicodin. If I take 1 Vicodin for my back pain, they dont work as good as they use to but when I ass a Soma with the Vicodin, it works great!