Check with Moderator Ron, he takes at least 4mg once a day I believe.

I take it 4 times a day so I can't help you out. I thnk Ron can though.

"C"

I take zanaflex, for muscle spams, but it makes me tired so I just take it at night. I haven't noticed any withdrawal symtoms. It does help me sleep at night,and I wake up fine the next morning. I can't take it during the day, it just makes me so tired/groggy.

God Bless,

Cindy4hope

Thanks for the replies. So, you both take zanaflex, one 4 times daily and the other just at night with no issues; guess I'm the unlucky one! Time to talk to my pharmacist and doc about possible interactions or something, because it's just too much.. Waking up to bad withdrawal symptoms 5 or 6 days in a row is really, really getting to me. About two hours after my morning meds I'm feeling 100% normal.. Hmm.. Well, i do take something which is on the list of interaction drugs but it's only supposed to be a very minor side effect that's unrelated; I'll update this post if I get a clear answer as to what is causing the problem, and for now, I guess I have to say goodbye to sleep again for a bit. Thanks!

JWM

I've been taking Zanaflex for over a year now. I started with 2mg at bedtime only, then it was 4mg at bedtime. More recently, its now 4mg 2-3 times a day.
And this is NOT every day, there are days when I need it to help with muscle spasms.
When I was taking 4mg at night, I never had any negative side effects. Never woke up groggy, never any withdrawals, or anything else. I can take it 4-5 days straight, stop for a week and start it up again.
I am curious about why your doctor would write a script for Zanaflex to help you sleep? Zanaflex will make you feel groggy, but the intent of this medication is to help with muscle spasms, muscle tightness, etc.
I have heard a number of people that have had negative side effects with ambien, especially after they have been taking it for a period of time. I was on abmien 5 or 10mg a night for about 6 monhts (every night). The longer I was on ambien, the less effect it had and didn't help me sleep.
Now, if I take ambien, the following day my stomach is really upset.

I would talk to 1) Your doctor 2) Pharmacist to check for
any interactions with other medications you are on.
And I would also talked to them about other medications to help you sleep.

I'm surprised at the number of people I've talked to or read on these boards that feel sleepy when taking Zanaflex or Flexeril...I never get even the slightest bit groggy and neither of them stop my muscle spasms, just sorta barely take the edge off (Zanaflex I've taken at 8mg doses and Flexeril I just started back on and I take that at 30mg dose). I was just responding to a post about Trazodone for sleep...perhaps you could try that to help you?? Apparently everyone but me gets good sleep on that!

Best of luck to you, both with the sleep AND especially with the withdrawl feeling! I hope you can figure out what's going on...please let us know, OK?

Take care of you...

Thanks Ron and Tanya for the replies.. So I skipped the zanaflex last night, managed to sleep a few hours, and woke up *without* the withdrawal feelings. I'm checking with my dr and pharmacist for possible interactions. My doctor originally put me on it for sleep because I tried ambien 10mg and 12.5cr for a week each, roughly, with no results. As zanaflex makes people groggy, and usually with a 'clean' or no med hangover, we thought it worth a try to help with my sleep.

Trazadone I have heard of, and actually wanted but forgot to take my list of ideas/experiences to my Dr last month and as such, got the z.flex.

And Tanya I used to get FLOORED by one 10mg flexeril, and then one day everything changed, and now my body/brain reacts to it like it is caffeine or speed or something; 20mgs and I'm up for an eternity. Give me 100 mgs and I'll paint your house, bad back and all =P

Thanks for the replies, and again, when I (hopefully) get a clear answer as to why, I'll post it here. I do take a few meds, but they are all common; if there's an interaction I'll be sure to post it. Have a great day~

JWM

I spoke with my pharmacist, over the phone, who was so nice and spent an entire hour with me(!!) reviewing ALL of my meds, how they each work, and trying to find the cause by a good and careful process of elimination. Unfortunately, we found nothing that seemed to show that this should even happen. Our conclusion was simply that possibly due to an undocumented interaction, it is causing me to excrete my narcotic/pain meds from my bloodstream at a rapid pace, bringing on the morning withdrawals. I'm leaving it on the back burner until after my next PM appointment in 2 weeks. I'll post then. If anyone has a similar reaction and wants to talk specifics, please PM me.

The Z puts me out like a light,and other people have the expected reactions to it. IDK, guess its just my body chemistry. the only problem i have with it is i seem to have a great shortness of breath,which is telling me that i am over medicated. so its an emergency"have too sleep coz ive got a final test" and i cant sleep..antidote. some folks chemistry is different than what is expected, so good for you on following up!

I have also taken Zanaflex in the past for muscle spasms. I can only take it at night because it makes me groggy. It really doesn't put me to sleep, but helps. When the dr. up the night dose, I felt so hungover every morning. I don't take it now unless the muscle spasms are really severe.

I've been on Zanaflex 4mg's 3x"s a day for a year now. I do start taking it in the late evenings because they make me drowsy or just plain knock me out. I fall asleep easily on it, but wake up periodically throughout the night. I go ahead and take one again and fall back asleep. I don't have too many problems waking up at 6:30 am to see my family off to school/work. I never had any withdrawal symptoms while on it, and I find it works well on muscle spasms and insomnia. I want nothing to do with Flexeril-it leaves me hung over the entire next day.

First of all, I love my Zanaflex. I only take it at bedtime and I split the 4mg tabs in half so I only take 2mg(cuz it knocks me out with just 2mg and helps with the muscle tightness.)

But, did you know that Zanaflex can cause major hypotension? It is a listed side effect and if you are taking BP meds, it can magnify the effect. I do not take BP meds and in the hospital, they gave me a whole 4mg tablet and it dropped my BP to 66 systolic. Could your crummy morning feeling be because your BP is so low? Looking at your symptoms, really, it could be because of low blood pressure.

Methadone does NOT have a huge half life. It is usually gone in 6-8 hours, so it could be withdrawal.

Any medication that directly affects your CNS can cause "withdrawl like" symptoms. Some more severe than others. It also depends how "chemically sensitive" you are as an individual. Everyones reactions are different.

I don't know if you 've ever taken either cyclobenzaprine (flexeril) or amitriptylline (elavil). The first is a muscle relaxant, the second, an older form anti-depressant, which is now used for pain and sleep disorders BECAUSE of their side effects. Both these medications cause withdrawl symptoms in most people after they have used it even for a few days. Again, it depends what your 'tolerance' level is, and if you have any other underlying medical conditions. Both these medications, even though prescribed for different reasons, are from the same drug class.

Using myself as an example, when I was diagnosed with fibro before my accident, I was given amitripylline. It helped only for the first 2 months, then when they tried to increase the dose, I could not tolerate the "morning after" side effects. I stopped taking it "cold turkey" because I was on a very low dose, but I still had withdrawl, insomnia being the biggest factor.
When I was given flexeril for my neck and back, I found I only needed it at bedtime, and allowed fairly decent sleep, but again, if you take regularly for more than 2 weeks, you need to wean yourself off slowly, by 1/2's and 1/4's.

Both these medications have a half life of approxx 18 hours. So does Zanaflex.
Now depending on the "dose" you take of Zanaflex or Flexeril, will reflect in the "hangover halflife" I call it, the following day. It also depends on the time you take it before going to bed. The closer to bedtime, it doesnt usually "peak" in your system for sleep purposes until about 3-6 hours afterwards.
So you may find lying in bed tossing around for a few hours annoying. Taking it (if your schedule allows it) about 3 hours before bedtime, will allow your body to uptake the medication first.
Because I work shiftwork, I usually have to "Adjust" my timing on this.So if I know I have to work @ 8am the next morning, I try to take the muscle relaxant earlier etc.

I do find that once that 18 hour period hits, and I'm not due for the next dose for a bit, those can be a few rough hours, pain, irritability etc.

What ERnurse has said is also true, Zanaflex can cause major HYPOtension, and alot of people correlate the "funny woozy feeling" as the drug, but its actually your body trying to compensate for the blood pressure drops. And will significantly increase if you are on any heart meds. Sounds like you reviewed this option with your pharmacist.

Hope that helps.

Zanaflex is the only muscle relaxer that works for me. I have tried damn near every other and they have done little to nothing. That being said, one 4mg pill makes me tired, 2 of them... knocks me out. As far as next day, I really dont feel any side effects, even from 8mg.

Maybe you'd better consult with a doctor about any meds. Cause they can be dangerous.

By the way you can do it EDITED

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I have been taking zanaflex 4 years for back/leg/foot spasms. Like most it makes me too drowsy to take at work so I start with one 6mg at dinner, one at 7:00 and then two at 9:00pm. Most nights it will calm everything down. Some nights my foot just lays there, twitches and jumps and my PM doc shakes his head and asks if there is anything else to report, go figure. As for sleeping they work much better than sleeping pills and I do not feel hung over in the morning. Most all other muscle relaxers just do not work. Soma was great but most docs I know will not prescribe it. I have not really heard a reason why.
George

...never again.

I normally take 5-7mg. Ambien to help me sleep. Works great, no side effects. Well, my PM doc wanted me to try Zanaflex, because he thought it would help with the muscle spasms in my back, and also help me sleep.

I took one 2 mg. pill the night he prescibed it. It was the worst night in my life. I felt spacey and wired, I was sweating (I could literally feel the sweat popping out on my body), I had weird dreams (when I finally slept), and my head was just buzzing. I actually thought at one point I might need to go to the ER, I felt so strange. I couldn't wait for morning. I didn't go on my usual walk in the morning, because I was actually scared to leaved the house. Not good. Once it wore off, I felt fine, but it really affected me strangely. I can take both Flexeril and Tranxene with none of these side effects, although both make me sleepy, Flexeril in particular. The first time I took that after my surgery, I literally slept the whole next day!

I'll stick with my Ambien for sleep problems!