Has anyone taken muscle relaxers, and Gabapentin?

General
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My Dr prescribed the two meds, to see if they might possibly work for me. I have had minimal pain, with these drugs, it doesn't always help though, I am on so many meds, I don't know which is which, Iam very depressed about all these darn tests that I am being made to take. I hate Dr.s and it seems like I see at least 1 a week! I can't afford all these dr.'s or even the pt that the dr wants me to take.

I know everyone else here is tired of being tired, but hang in there maybe they will come up with a cure soon!

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I’m on gabapentin. I have been on 100 mg 3 times a day and my doctor just had me double it. I’m slowly increasing and today is the 2nd day of increasing the morning dose and it is making me dizzy and sleepy. The increase is helping with the weird itchy numb thing I have with one leg. I had almost rubbed the skin raw on one part of my leg because of the constant itch. Now its not so numb and I don’t feel the need to scratch or rub it constantly. I just feel woozy feeling. I know that will get better with time.

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My pain management dr hade on muscle relaxers. I told her I couldn’t even tell I was on them but she insisted saying my muscles need the relaxation. My primary doctor started me on 300mg of neurotin 2 weeks ago and it feels as if a lot of the. “Little” aches are subsiding. I’m hoping as it increases it will work more. So far so good!

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Have you talked to the places about making small payments. Some places will give a cash discount. I take lyrica {which has really caused me to put on weight} and flexirl. I hope you feel better soon.

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Hi Jackie!

Oh, I know about the incessant tests, seems that no matter how complete you think your diagnosis is, they always suspect more! These stinkin' autoimmune diseases always bring their friends along! The tests are exhausting of our mental and physical resources, but lets not forget our financial ones!

I take Lyrica (225 mg 3x daily) and muscle relaxants, I know the Lyrica helps nerve pain, as I have Sciatica, and I surely do know if that is being helped, also have exposed nerves in my teeth, and it helps there too, it does nothing for joint or bone pain however!

My Rheum wanted me to try 4 mg of Tizanidine at night but forgot to give me the script, so I when I went to my GP, he wrote it, but for three times a day, and even adding 2 more doses, I still cannot sleep like I need to! ha!

I hope you soon get some solid answers, Jackie. I know this is hard on you!

Sending big hugs,

SK

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I am on gabapentin, it has helped me with some of the nerve pain I was experiencing and also with the painful to the touch pain(I forget the correct term for this) I’m also on morphine for pain. I cannot get out of bed in the morning until the short acting morphine has kicked in. I am also on the slow real ease morphine and am now sleeping through the night and not waking up during the night because of pain. I am able to take the short acting morphine during the day but find I don’t need it once I get going in the morning. I’m so grateful for this pain relief as it’s been sometime since the pain level allowed me to do much more at all. I do suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome as well and they don’t seem to make me any more tired than is normal for me.

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Hey dude! I'm on both gabapentin and muscle relaxants. The muscle relaxants help the spasms I get at night and stuff...If I lay in one position too long, my back gets angry. It lets me get at least a few hours of sleep at a time. As for the gabapentin...Unless you have actual nerve pain, this won't really help you. It helped ME, but I had nerve pain. So I guess it depends on what your symptoms are. (Also note, gabapentin can cause SERIOUS depression and/or confusion, on top of fibro stuff, so be very careful. If gabapentin doesn't work for you, try Lyrica)

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Hi Jackie!,

I was on Gabapentin many years ago but it was not effective for me; I mainly recall feeling more "foggy" as well as generally sluggish feelings. However, I have heard many accounts of it being wonderful for many Fibro sufferers!

Which muscle relaxant were you prescribed? I have found my experiences have differed greatly depending on the exact med.

For instance, my body seems to think flexeril is some sort of joke that just gets tiring after awhile. Did not help me any time I was RX' ed it. BUT, I have had relief with Soma 350mg. RX as needed for years!

Go figure. Please tell your doc if a certain treatment or med is just not working or is making you feel worse!!

Best!,

Leslie

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Hey girlfriend, it's been ages! Welcome back to the group, Leslie! So very good to hear from you, hope you are well and happy!

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Hello Jackie

I take Gabapentin and Flexeril and have done so for some years. The dosage of the Gabapentin has been increased as my pain has increased.

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I take gabapentin the same as Rachel. My dosage has increased as my pain has. I have taken flexeril and SOMA and if I stop getting relief with one we switch to the other

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I agree completely with Lesaly82. I took Gabapentin for a few years with a muscle relaxer and after being off it for a few months and then trying it again for a few months I really didn't notice any difference other than feeling foggy. You don't say which muscle relaxer you are on but like Lesaly I too tried Flexeril and it did absolutely nothing for me, neither did any of the other ones. But Soma 350mg 4x helps me TREMENDOUSLY! If I don't take it for several hours I notice it! Lyrica nearly killed me and none of the anti depressants ever worked. I finally realized that my depression wasn't depression, it was anxiety. When my doctor RX'd me the extended release xanax to take every day, no more depression!!!

As far as all the tests and scripts your doctor or doctors want you to try I would say listen to your body, you know what does and doesn't feel right. If the test sounds like something that will help your direct needs then do it. If it's something that sounds like 'what does that have to do with how I feel?' then I would say ask many questions about it with your doctor and if he can't convince you that the test would really reveal anything about your condition then don't do it. Same with with RX. Before you fill the script or take the sample study up on the medication and see if it is something that would really help you. Main thing is to ask ask ask and research research. And listen to your own body.

Hope this helps.

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I have taken both, the pain pill wasn't that great to me and was hard to get. The muscle relaxers I swear by, it is only through the muscle relaxer, ambien and topomax that I get any real sleep. Even with just a good 3 or 4 hours, the rest are basically fibro sleep. I actually have 50% of my life back. I can get up, get dressed, I excercise and do other things I couldn't before. I stubbed my toe a few days ago and felt no pain! That was incredible, usually any finger or foot areas were so sore and a touch sent me through the roof. My all over pain is so much less. Again, everyone please read Figuring out Fibromyalgia. Gentle hugs.

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Oh, yes. I’m on them now along with about 14 other types of meds. I have a lot of other diseases though. I don’t have any problems with 1600 mg neuronton and Robaxin. Trazadone is best for my sleep. I also take 500 Topamax.

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But they don’t work…

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Thank-you, Sus, for the warm welcome back!! It has been too long, indeed--I hope you are doing well. (((((BIG Hugs!!!)))))

Les

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Sweetie, how ya doin? You said you have minimal pain with the neurotin/muscle relaxers but they don't always help? I take 800 mg of Neurotin 4x a day and as time goes by different Doctors tell me that I can take more...but I don't. I think that with all the meds I take I wouldn't be able to tell on way or another. I take flexeril as well, to go along with my Imitrex injections for my migraines, also for my muscle spasms and tremors but I double the dose for these ailments and I get good relief.

I would suggest to you to go to your Dr. appointments well armed with notes on your conditions, how you've felt in the last month, how this drug and that drug make you feel. (I always give new meds at least a good 2 wk to 4 wk trial and make notes of their affects) Go to your appts. like you're the boss, a nice boss, but boss none the less and let the Dr. know exactly what it is that is top on your ailment list and go down from there...don't let them sidetrack you with ailment # 1...get their opinion and let them know it's time to move on to # 2 and so on. Take a friend or family member with you to take notes...someone to play your "legal secretary" and that won't get caught up in playing nicey nice with your Dr., someone who will help you stay on track (cuz we have problems with that). Also I think it is important to let your Dr.s know that you're not there to add a bunch of new meds to your list...you are willing to swap out one for another if no affect has been successful from the prior...you are willing to try physical therapy, pain management, aquatherapy, as well as being referred to specialists, ie. neurologists, rheumatologist, psychologists (really helps with tools to manage life in pain) and most of all don't let them stack your drugs. If they want to try a new one, find out what it's for and if you're already taking one for that condition find out why the new one and find out how to go off the other, sometimes you need to wean yourself off one before the other and this may not always be easy or fun to do. They're real quick to say " okay well lets try this for your fibro but don't tell you what to do with the last med they gave you for that. Stacking the meds can actually make your condition worse and make you feel awful when you're trying to feel better, then you go back and say "I feel awful on that med when maybe that med would have worked if they would have told you to stop with the previous one etc.

I have multiple conditions and have to be very diligent with my different Dr.s to make sure one knows what the other is doing and why and how that may or may not affect what the others are doing.

Lastly, the financial ability to pay these days is being addressed all over the place. My husband recently became unemployed after 15 years with the same company and we always had good insurance. Little did I know that the clinic that I go to has a program for just this type of thing. I filled out paperwork and now have qualified for a 90% discount and my clinic also works with a local pharmacy that dicounts the prescriptions as well and has applied for me to the pharmaceutical companies that don't offer generics for their meds ( like oxy, cymbalta, requip, etc) and they in turn send the medications to my Dr. at no charge to me because I have qualified as low income with my clinic. Also, see if your clinic offers a patient advocate that can help you work through some of the more confusing aspects of your care and can do some or all of the leg and paperwork you might require to get your care and med needs manageable financially. You can also go to needymeds.org and see what they can do for you if you want to try to do some of this yourself. Being tired all the time sucks honey, I am there with you and have to force myself to be an active and productive part of my family although they are very supportive and validating, I still need to "feel" like I'm pulling my weight. I try to just stay in today...next week holds all kinds of things I could stress about so I'm better off in the today. I don't sleep very well too and have tried all the sleep aids and some of the meds I'm on my Dr. will say, "This might help you sleep as well" FAIL but their hearts are in the right place...I'm trying to be satisfied with the rest I get, at least I'm not on my feet which KILL by the end of the day. Try a good hot shower and fresh cotton sheets before you go to bed....I hit yard sales for the kind of sheets I like because you just can't find the old fashioned kind anymore and they want nearly a hundred bucks for the Egyptian Cotton ones that still don't have the feel I was looking for. This makes a big difference for me and my Chiropractor tells me that a hot shower is one of the best things I can do for myself and I look at it as an indulgence which is one of those tools I was talking about....be sweet to yourself, whenever you can! I hope some of this helps. Arm yourself with 'your' information and jot down anything and everything that you feel might be pertinent to your case and let your Dr. know that "their care" has either helped or had little or no effect on you. So now what?

Okay, that's about all I've got and my hands are numb ;) You've come to the right place, Good luck to you!

PeacenLove Always~Laurel

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I use muscle relaxers for bad flare ups, usually for my upper back. The only thing about them is that they are highly addictive so I try to be careful and not take them more than twice a week. I have been on gab before and it did make me gain weight and did not help with my pain. I have found that weight gain is tricky for someone with fibro because Its not like I can just work out hard at the gym and lose it. I also gained weight with lyrica and a few others. i no longer take any daily medications because from my experience after 7 years they only made me worse by adding on unpleasant symptoms and were painful to come off of. I agree with you- I hate doctors too and see way too many of them! There is research proving that hypnosis works very well for fibro patients. I did that for a while a couple years ago and I never felt better in my life. I had to stop because I couldn't afford to continue. Now I am seeing a PT thats covered by insurance and she s been more helpful then any of the doctors I have seen in the last 7 years including the specialists. I also use a lot of ice 20 min, 3 times a day where I have pain. Good luck!

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Wow, the muscle relaxers that I am on are called Metaxalone. It does seem to help some.

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I also take about 2400 mg of gabapentin. Also tramadol and muscle relaxers. And it helps but not all the time. Fibro is a mystery to drs. But they try and I appreciate my dr. He makes me try different needs and i will tell him whether it works or not. I’ve had Fibro for about a year now. I can’t work as the Fibro mostly his upper body. I have allot of tender spots in my arms, back, shoulders, hands…and fingers. I also get stupid Fibro fog. Pain in my lower body hit my feet, toes, calves, thighs…geez I guess it’s all over…lol. sorry ppl I am going through Fibro fog right now. I’m scattered and forgot what I was talking about. This is so hard for me. The while life change…it’s just not right. Sorry guys I’ll stop.

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