Baclofen vs Flexeril: How to Pick One for Your Back Pain
Both drugs belong to skeletal muscle relaxants, and both of them aim to give relief from muscle spasms. Still, Gablofen acts primarily on the spinal cord, and Flexeril acts centrally, causing muscle relaxation. Muscle relaxers (also called muscle relaxants) are prescription medications that affect muscle function. Healthcare providers prescribe them to treat several symptoms, such as muscle spasms, spasticity and musculoskeletal pain. Flexeril is a muscle relaxant that is used in conjunction with rest, physical therapy, and other treatments to relieve pain and suffering caused by muscle strains, sprains, and other injuries. Cyclobenzaprine belongs to the skeletal muscle relaxant class of drugs.
Always discuss your medical history with your healthcare provider to determine which medication is safest for you to take. Be aware of possible adverse effects and contraindications related to your personal history. Discuss dosing and delivery options with your healthcare provider to minimize risks. If you’re dealing with spasticity and chronic pain related to neurological disease or injury, such as multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury, then baclofen may be best for you. The most common adverse effects of cyclobenzaprine are drowsiness, dry mouth, dizziness, and confusion (8).
Celebrities With Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Also, it is used to treat muscle symptoms caused by multiple sclerosis (an autoimmune disease that attacks the brain and central nervous system), including pain, spasm, and stiffness. Although all skeletal muscle relaxants should be used with caution in older patients, diazepam especially should be avoided in older patients or in patients with significant cognitive or hepatic impairment. The most common side effects of baclofen are muscle weakness, how much flexeril can you take at one time confusion, vertigo, nausea, and momentary sedation or drowsiness (2, 4, 11). Additional potential side effects of this drug include low blood pressure, swelling, shortness of breath, and insomnia among many other reported adverse effects (2). These side effects are most common with oral baclofen and less common with intrathecal baclofen because the drug is injected directly into the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord (11).
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The best natural muscle relaxers and how to use them.
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Muscle relaxants are a somewhat common prescription due to the frequency of acute and chronic back pain. Low back pain is a very common issue — it remains among the top five reasons people see a primary healthcare provider. If other treatments don’t work to alleviate the pain, providers may recommend a muscle relaxant. If you have acute back or neck pain due to a musculoskeletal injury or fibromyalgia, cyclobenzaprine is the best treatment option. If you have spasticity or persistent pain as a result of neurological disease or injury, such as multiple sclerosis or a spinal cord injury, baclofen may be the best option for you. Selection of a skeletal muscle relaxant should be individualized to the patient.
Risks of Baclofen and Flexeril
Over the counter means that this medicine can be bought without a prescription, unlike Baclofen, which should be tried before one looks towards prescription medications. Baclofen is a muscle relaxant and antispastic used for treating spasm of skeletal muscles, muscle clonus, rigidity, and pain caused by multiple sclerosis. Baclofen is also injected into the spinal cord to treat severe spasticity, spinal cord injuries, and other spinal cord diseases.
- Muscle relaxants are often prescribed to treat pain caused by muscle spasms, and each medication works by a different mechanism of action.
- Prices for Flexeril (cyclobenzaprine) start around $4 for a bottle of 30 tablets, strength 10 mg.
- Additionally, there are a few essential nutrients in ACV which help control the fluid balance in the human body, hence, it prevents dehydration.
- The drug comparison information found in this article does not contain any data from clinical trials with human participants or animals performed by any of the drug manufacturers comparing the drugs.
However, the dose is usually not more than 80 milligrams mg per day 20 mg four times a day. Drug accumulates when dosed three times a day, reaching steady-state concentration within 3 to 4 days. Cannabis extract is believed to have dual muscle relaxant properties, i.e., both local and central effects. Unfortunately, there are no available manufacturer’s coupons for Baclofen or Flexeril at this time. A manufacturer’s coupon comes from the drug company that makes Baclofen or Flexeril. However, coupons can be found at prescription drug websites like Helprx.info.
What are These Drugs Known to Treat?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved three muscle relaxants—baclofen, tizanidine, and dantrolene—to treat muscle spasticity. Botulinum toxin is approved to treat a variety of medical conditions that affect how the body functions. Various musculoskeletal conditions can lead to tense, cramping muscles or muscle spasms. Muscle spasticity occurs when skeletal muscles contract involuntarily and cannot relax.
Be aware of contraindications and drug interactions when taking these medications. Conservative treatment, such as physical therapy, exercise, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), should always be the first line of treatment for muscle spasm and related pain. However, more severe cases, these primary treatments may prove insufficient. For persistent pain, your primary care physician may recommend muscle relaxants. Antispastic medications are effective in treating spasticity, but high doses can lead to unwanted side effects.
Other treatments can help with spasticity as well, including physical therapy and Botox® injections. Other medications can also act as centrally-acting muscle relaxants, such as benzodiazepines, but they’re most commonly used as anxiolytics, sedatives, or anticonvulsants. On the other hand, direct-acting muscle relaxants include dantrolene. All the muscle relaxants listed above are prescription medications, which need approval of a physician or other licensed prescriber. QuickMD can prescribe most muscle relaxants online via telemedicine, and the prescription is sent electronically to your pharmacy of choice. To talk with a doctor and see if a muscle relaxant is a good solution for you, get in touch with QuickMD today.
It may also be used off label to treat conditions like Tourette’s Syndrome and hiccups. The way that Flexeril works is that it stops your brain from perceiving pain by blocking the nerve impulses that your brain would interpret as hurtful. Flexeril works best when combined with relaxation and physical therapy, and is used to treat specific injuries and pain, versus a chronic condition like multiple sclerosis.
