Question on Muscle Relaxers...

This is only going to be a short 'n' sweet post, because I am a bit short on timetonight. (Trying to FINALLY get around to some cleaning after a long period of uncharacteristic laziness!) But I have a very important question, since I don't have insurance for the time being & hope that someone has had or heard of a similar experience.

I usually don't experience a great deal of muscular pain. Mainly it is arthritic joint pain, migraines, & peripheral nerve spasms. But today, after exhausting myself physically a few days ago, I feel like all of my muscles got blugeoned by Mike Tyson. So I went over to the nearest Good Neighbor pharmacy & was able to pick up one tablet of the lowest dosage of Norflex just to take the edge off while I stretch/massage the knots out. Seemed like a good idea at the time, as I've taken them before without poor reactions.

The problem: Taking the muscle relaxer ACTUALLY made my muscle pain worse. Even before I was able to work out the problem areas, it feels like my muscles are on fire, even the ones that didn't hurt before. My rectum, vagina, ankles, feet, sternum, ribcage, my head... All of those gradually began to hurt after I took the pill. My head is still pounding!! And the weirdest thing is that my Mother, who has various autoimmune health problems, has had similar reactions to muscle relaxers.

I'm not sure what it means, except for that I'm never touching one of those again in my life!! But I'm just really curious if anyone has had a similar experience. It's not under ANY listed side effects for any sort of brand, so it's an anomaly that I would really appreciate an answer for.

Hi I hope your feeling better by the time you read this post.
I have fibromyalgia and ME and I USED to be on muscle relaxant meds,however I had to stop as they were making me feel even worse What would happen is that my muscles would begin to relax then if I became stressed or tried to do housework or any exercise at all they would tense up again, making the muscles almost fight the relaxant if that makes sense?
So the more the muscles contracted the more widespread and painful my body became as the medication wants your body to relax.
Although it could be a reaction to the medication itself especially if your mum has the same experience?

I hope I've helped a little
Take care
Jk

Thank you!! Hahaha I'm surprised this didn't get more hits, but I appreciate it. It's DEFINITELY gone away by now lol! At least someone had a similar experience to some extent. : )

Shayatanica, I never experienced anything like you described. Muscle relaxants made me stoned out of my mind.

Did you mention the effect to your doc? I'm wondering if you had an allergic reaction to either the med or a component of the pill.

I don't have a doctor, but when I do get one, I'll ask about that! Thank you

@OP
sounds like your muscles were trying to relax from being worked out...especially if this isn't a chronic problem. Also you stated that your pain is mostly joint and nerve related which is something I wouldn't try a muscle relaxer for but something thats more for inflammation.

I can't answer what happened because you had responses from other muscles that weren't troubling you...to your knowledge. For muscle pain there are a few things I do as alternatives to medication.

If I DID try an alternative med, I'd ask for Valium. I take Valium for muscle relief before bed or half during the day if I'm stiff. As a preventative measure I stretch when I wake up and before sleep. It makes me dizzy so I either do them on the ground or hold onto a wall.

ALTERNATIVES:
hot baths.
icy hot or similar
TENS unit
arnica. thats homeopathic. basically it helps your body release more magnesium.

Luckily it doesn't sound like chronic pain but it does seem like an odd reaction. There are other meds you can take for muscle pain besides muscle relaxers like anti-inflammatories (ibuprofin) or low doses of valium. Best thing to do really is small preventative measures. Swimming is the best thing I can do to keep my muscles working without too much pressure.

I'm interested in seeing how that happened though.

I had done some moving furniture & stuff a few days prior, so I didn't experience any pain before (probably because I had been stretching), but it just crept over me. I don't really self-medicate, but I figured it would help in the meantime while I got a massage, to speed up the process so I could go back to normal... I react well with Valium, but that's not what I had on me, so I kind of improvised.
So, it didn't have anything to do with my usual pain. Or else I would have treated it differently or just dealt with it.

When I find a doctor, I'll ask what was up with that reaction. I mean MAYBE there were muscles or connective tissues that were stiff but unnoticeable until the medicine kicked in? That's the most that I can deduce on my own.

Yeah, I do most of the alternative things you mentioned. Stretching pretty much daily as a preventative, hot showers, icy hot... I want to buy a TENS though. And I'l have to read up on arnica to see if there are any contraindications!

I just posted in this forum because I figured that other people with chronic pain MUST have had bad reactions to certain meds... And since I don't really get much muscle pain & google searched everything, I thought I'd ask. : )

I got an ulcer from taking too much Advil from my arthritis. But since I now know that Valium can be used at a low dose for muscle tension (I've usually only had it for anxiety), I have a safer option should any circumstance arise again!

Thank you muchly

Yes, I am allergic to most medications. Synthetic ones that is. I have paradoxical reactions to many things, including muscle relaxers (meaning they cause muscle spasms rather than relieve them.)

As for some of your symptoms, I would take ashwagandha. It's an herb my homeopathic MD suggested. It's a natural cortisone, has no negative side effects, and you can't over dose it. It works wonders for my inflammation, which causes a great deal of my chronic pain to be worse.

Be well.