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Misc Tizanidine / Zanaflex - anyone use?

Jabberwocky

Frumious Bandersnatch
Joined
Nov 3, 1999
Messages
84,999
I got scripted these a few weeks ago after someone told me they give a good "buzz" when taking w/ my usual morning mix of bupe and gaba, but I am just not getting that "buzz".

I break it open and will sniff 2-4MG - I am scripted the 2MG pilll. there have been times I feel I have gotten a somewhat "nod" and passed out, but thats it really.

just wondering if anyone else is using these; whether it be for good or bad, just let me know.
 
have been taking 12-16mgs at night to help get to sleep in the form of 4x 4mg pills for about a year now... thats about all i have found it useful for. havent got any buzz from them, cant even really pin down the way they "feel" - i just know 45mins after dosing i am out for a good 4 hours.
 
@xivixive wow! that is quite a dose! I would be GONE.

But one thing I found out BBT was that taking Zanaflex and Gabapentin together can nullify the effects. taking them together can also cause a number of other symptoms such as: Neck Pain, Musculoskeletal Stiffness, Muscle Tightness, Drug Ineffectiveness, and Increased Sedation.

Have you had any of the other symptoms as well? Because if so we may have found the problem, also, I wonder if maybe there is a difference between the type of pills? Mine are tablets that have a number on one side and then scored into 4 pieces on the back so they can be broken down into 1 mg doses if need be. I know they ramp up my bupe a ton and I have actually been able to stop taking my valium for the past 4 days. I just have not needed it. But maybe I am one of only a few people that get this effect or maybe the medication interactions are doing something.
 
MD, that is interesting about the effects combined with gabapentin. i have a hard time not blowing through my bottle of 90 300mg gabapentin in 4-5 days, but now that you mention it - i definitely recall waking up feeling like i am hit by a train those days... and now that i am really thinking about it, when i first started the gaba i would wake up still feeling its effects... 3 months later the zanaflex was added... and thats when i stopped feeling the gabapentin the next day, even after dosing all day the day previously.. and instead noted feeling crippled from a tight back the next morning... i think i will not take the tizanidine next time i get gabapentin and see what happens.

however this is actually the last month i will be able to get zanaflex, only about 25 pills left, i am wondering if there will be a withdrawal.... ive missed 2-3 days scattered around the last year and not noticed anything, but just knowing ive taken it 300 of the last 365 days makes me think i will have to supplement with something those few days so i can sleep... maybe some hard alcohol, which i never ever touch...

during opiate withdrawl i have dosed 16mgs of tizanidine every 2 hrs attempting to knock myself out... hasnt really worked... just get really really really tired... like the kind of horrible tired where you lay there with legs twitching and heavy eyes tearing for sleep... but it doesnt happen....
 
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They work good for me during opiate withdrawal. 2mg at night and it puts me out and i can stay asleep for a good 5 to 6 hours wich 7 hours is a normal amount of sleep for me. They reduced my neck spasm and RLS (worst part of WD for me) and helped me sleep ( second worst part imo) no noticeable high per say but great for kickin for me anyway.

Ive only used 2mg a night for 4 nights in a row so not much experience with zanaflex but i will be using them again when i get done with my taper and i would recommend giving it a try if kickin.

I have read somewhere muscle relaxers (in general) make some peoples RLS during W.D much worse but they helped me when I tryed them

Somas are way better imo but if i took somas four days in a row by the 4th day i would be at unhealthy levels to feel anything even to help me fall asleep. I didn't have that tollerance problem with zanaflex but it was just four days. Anyone see tollerance issues with zanaflex like somas? Sorry for the long post.
 
I just sniffed 4MG about 10 mins ago; I get nothing - I am going back to my gaba full-time; I still take 1800-2400MG/day but they are pretty much everywhere on the streets of Boston; so I always bought through the street rather than Dr. however, my Dr. had me on 1200MG of gaba at night for sleep; I am going to tell him to stop scripting these and lets try 1800MG for sleep. should be pretty easy since he's a "private" Dr. who I pay per visit, that fucker. but its worth it for what I get.
 
I used to take it but it sucked IMO, it was wayyyyy too sedating and it's antichollinergic effects were way too strong for me, it really fuckin dries you out and dehydrates you especially at doses over 8mg in my experience. Also, it's not sedating in a good way either.

No recreational value. The only person I know who abused Tizanidine/Zanaflex was my dearly missed friend, as many of you may recall, Mr. Flowers00. May he rest in peace. I'll never forget you brother, I wish we coulda hung out just one more time.. Anyways... He was one of the most severe opiate addicts I've ever known, but he would add the Tizanidine and Xanax etc to the opiates, he never did Tizanidine by itself...

It's just not good at it's intended use IMO. In all my years as a chronic pain patient who tried every pain med, Tizanidine never helped me at all for my muscle spasms. Carisoprodol was the most effective muscle relaxer for me, with roxicodone. Adding in Lyrica didn't do much, tolerance builds way too quick.

Good luck OP.
 
I've IVd them. During opiate withdrawal of course. One of the most reckless things I've ever done. The "rush" is just the most overwhelming urge to sleep I've ever had. It's akin to IVing ketamine when discussing the time in which one has to pull the needle out before saying goodnight.

I would have to say that Zanaflex IV is probably the strongest and most effectively I've ever been knocked out. 4mg. Obviously, never do this.
 
you IV'd these? and it just straight knocked you out. not in a way where you are high then nod, but just bye-bye!?

these things are little balls/pebbles it seems; not even something I would think of IV'ing.

the minute you break a pill the balls go all over the place. kinda a pain in the ass - def. moving back to gabapentin next week.
 
I have the scored tablets. They have a wafer like shape to them and can be broken down to quarters. They instantly knock me out with the force of ten thousand Mike Tysons
 
you IV'd these? and it just straight knocked you out. not in a way where you are high then nod, but just bye-bye!?

these things are little balls/pebbles it seems; not even something I would think of IV'ing.

the minute you break a pill the balls go all over the place. kinda a pain in the ass - def. moving back to gabapentin next week.

woah you have totally different pills than me, ya I had the scored ones as well. Back in the day I IV'd these as well with opiate and had insane results. I know it is not the smartest thing, but my goodness mix that with subs or any weak opiate IV and you are gonna be high as fuck.

I stick to snorting now on the weekends, and it works amazing for me. Only so so during the week when I use it orally. But ya it definitely is a diff between the 3 ROAs
 
I don't think tizanidine/ zanaflex is worthless, but I don't know that I'd say it's got true "recreational" value either. It does seem to help me a bit with back spasms/ pain, but the analgesia is far more limited than its sedative effects. I don't know that I'd view it as a true "potentiator" of opiates either, tho it does help if you're looking to "nod"


I've been prescribed the 4mg zanaflex/ tizanidine tablets (as another poster said, the capsules are less effective) and I've only taken them orally up until this morning (when I snorted one 4mg pill for the first time). Apparently the bioavailability is slightly higher intranasally, per the study below (and yes, we know the trade-off with snorting pills/ binders...not great on your system):


http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/ar...l-muscle-spasm


With faster onset, but shorter duration of effect, per the same study.


Bioavailability is apparently also increased when taken with a high fat meal (again, with tablets only...oddly, capsules were actually LESS effective after eating), based on another study here:


http://www.pubpdf.com/pub/17062304/E...ules-and-table


Similar to some other posters, I've had tizanidine knock me out for a few hours, but then I wake up and have a hard time falling back to sleep.

I've just snorted a 4mg tablet, eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and drank a glass of whole milk (my "go to" low-volume/ high fat "meal", for opiate potentiation, etc) in hopes of getting back to bed.


About 30-40 minutes in and starting to feel the "nod" creep up, and motor skills start to falter. So, I'll have to compare the "end result" with prior oral use, typically in a fasted state, and see if the effects are any more pronounced.


But yeah, as a complement to opiates/ narcotics for those seeking the "nod" without the risk of mixing benzodiazepines, I can see tinazidine/ zanaflex having some value.
 

update:


Roughly 4 hours post-dose and I'm awake. Again, 3-4 hours seems about the max time for tizanidine to have any beneficial effect on putting me to sleep. Makes sense, with tizanidine's biological half life of roughly 2-3 hours, so most of the medication should essentially be out of my system within 4-6 hours.


I think the effect of 4mg intranasally (and with food) was more intense than the same dose orally, in a fasted state. "Sleepiness" was more pronounced with, again, some loss in coordination and balance, just before heading to bed and falling asleep. Nasal "discomfort" is minimal (from the chosen intranasal route), tho there is a faint headache that I feel might be building in the distance, heh. Hopefully drinking a lot of water, and a quick shower and "nasal rinse" will resolve this.


I did also notice that I initially felt slightly groggy upon waking naturally, but that is now starting to subside. That might also have something to do with the fact that I'm on other medication (fentanyl via duragesic 25mcg patch- day 1.5), and that I only slept a cumulative 5 hours or so (with 2-3 "breaks" of wakefulness over 13 total hours).


Anyway, just some anecdotal experience/ feedback to personally corroborate both the clinical studies and some similar input from other posters.
 
I love this drug for opioid w/ds. But I find I have to redose every 4 hours as well. I'll wake up out of a sound sleep
at the 4 hour mark. Like Clockwork. Still I think they work well. I take between 8-12mg a night. Sometimes 16. With lower doses I mix w lunesta and clonazapan (all for withdrawal so I can sleep) ... I get a bit of a buzz that way too.
 
I'm not a huge fan of tizanidine, honestly- I've found that for w/ds stuff like baclofen or even methocarbamol are more useful for their sedative/ relaxant effects.

Zanaflex is better than the useless Flexeril that most docs shovel out, though.

I never found this drug to be recreational in the least, but I understand that different bodies have different chemistry and thus may experience different effects from a substance.

To the person running through their gabapentin script in 5 days- gabapentin dosing is weird, the bioavailability goes down with higher mg doses; I believe the ceiling is something like 1800-2400 mg per dose. Just a bit of info to maximize your enjoyment.

Back on topic, I suppose that large doses like you've described would knock out an inexperienced or substance-naive person... are muscle relaxants lethal if overdosed or will you just sleep for a long time? I don't take them because my pain is disc and nerve related (mainly).
 
my baby mom got a bottle of these so i snagged a few off of her i am on sublocade/klonopin/gabapentin---weed- welll any way i just took 1mg i hope it makes something stronger.. lol i usally dose my 1800mg gaba at once lol hey man it keeps me off real hard drugs.. I love gabapentin for my anxiety it helps me alot
 
I take 4mg p.o. 3x daily. At that dose, it does a wonderful job of stopping muscle spasms, but has little to no psychoactive effect. I've taken it as high as 24mg in a single dose, to no real effect beyond relief of spasms. I wouldn't necessarily expect what is essentially a clonidine analog to be recreational anyway.

I am extremely hard headed when it comes to sedatives FWIW, so I might not be a great example....
 
Mmmmh - I miss Myolastan. .Since that dissapeared from the market the usually precsribe Tizanidine as a muskle relaxant - and it works. I had do take it by myself because of a spine problem and I just felt sick with it. My body feeling was terrible, I ran against doors, I was to slow for everyting, also my short term memory i guess suffered. And I stumbled a lot of times because my body feels so weak.. I hate it.

Will never take them again.

JJ
 
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