Muscle Relaxers

[autumn83175]

Hi Everyone,

As most of you know I had several surgeries on 3/27.
I am feeling very good for the most part. I am not having any real pain and for that I am thankful. I do however have a new problem. It seems the surgery has all my muscles in knots. This does not seem unreasonable as everything was shifted around by at least an inch. I have an appointment with my doc tomorrow and was told by my physical therapist to ask about muscle relaxers. This is a whole new world for me as I never have muscle issues before.

Can some of you please tell me what you take? Why you take it? What it does for you? Do you have any adverse effects from taking muscle relaxers? I would like to have a little knowledge when I go if possible.

Thanks in advance for all and any help you can offer.

Autumn

[TiffanyAnn]

Hi Autumn:
The muscle relaxer I take is Flexaril. It works pretty well for me and I believe it's pretty common. You might ask your doctor about it and see what he says.
Tiffany

[justpancho]

Hiyas Autumn! Good luck tomorrow at the docs. I've been using muscle relaxers for about umm... over a month now. My doctor has me on Robaxin. They work really good some days, but others they don't help much. I guess it probably depends on how bad I am. The good thing is that they relax all of your body so you can feel so much at ease. The bad thing is that they can make you sleepy. I'm sort of a wuss so I usually only take a half. When my doctor prescribed them to me, he said 'take a half and you'll be okay.. take a whole and you'll be kind of sleepy.. take 2 and you'll be feeling fine... take 2 and drink a shot of vodka....." then he stopped and smiled really big and nodded his head up and down hee hee. Having never tested the last theory I can say that a glass of wine and one makes me feel nice although I'm not sure if you are supposed to mix the two.

Anywho.. I hope that all goes well tomorrow for ya!

panch

[mek918]

Muscle relaxers do absolutely nothing to me - I've tried at least 5 different kinds. Very very strange, but I think I am totally immune. It's frustrating....

[The webby]

Good morning Autumn,

You might want to ask your surgeon if Soma would be something for you to try. There are some who think that not all of the muscle relaxers work the same above the shoulders/neck. In the case of Soma, apparently it does work on muscles above the shoulders. Ask him if he understands that they all work equally on this part of the body or what???

I have used this particular medication for twenty years. The first time it was prescribed, my jaws were wired closed and I was in the hospital. My muscles were in a disastrous mess following orthognathic surgery that was "badly botched". Anyway, there wasn't any way for me to swallow tablets so it had to be crushed and put into a Hershey's chocolate concoction ... then drawn up into a 5 or 10 cc syringe with a long tube on the end that slid down the side of my teeth to the back of my mouth/throat area. All I can tell you is that Soma is an extremely bitter tasting medicine ... and that is why the strong chocolate is used to disguise the taste ... a little :-((. So I don't know whether you would have to ask your surgeon for it to be made up this way or if you are able to swallow a tablet. You don't want it to melt in your mouth ... oh my gosh ... you do not want that!

But on the bright side, it was helpful as part of my tools to take the edge off of the pain that was muscle related in an acute pain period as well as for a tool for assisting me with my chronic pain symptoms. The reason I have needed to stay with that drug all these years is because my muscles were badly damaged in 1983 and over the course of countless surgeries aimed at reconstructing the damaged stuctures in my face and joints ... well... my muscles are very, very short and sclerosed -- no elasticity. This causes them to get very tired. I have to use almost 100% of my muscle length and strength all day long just trying to speak and eat as a part of daily living. By the day's end, my face is always exhausted. The Soma helps with this problem but it certainly does not eliminate my "discomfort".

Hopefully, you would only need this medication for a short while because it sounds as though your surgery went very well and you should be able to expect a good recovery without irreversible muscle damage such as mine.

To stay on the topic of your post, that is about all for now. It's my two-bits' worth on muscle relaxers as it might apply to you.


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Webby
(my Net nickname)