Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives Alternatives and ALCHEMISTS Muscle Relaxants Needed!

I am recently diagnosed with AS, and in the middle of a bad flare up at the moment. It's not so much the pain that is troubling me, but the tightness of my muscles, particulary in my right buttock. My Dr has referred me for physio, but as I live in the UK, there is a long waiting list!

I find it worst at night, when the discomfort means I can't sleep, even when taking Zopiclone! Can any one recommend a natural muscle relaxant? I really don't want to take valium

Oh, Valium was the first thing I thought of...but, makes me so groggy the next day I don't like it either. How about 5-HTP? That helps me sleep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-HTP

http://www.iherb.com/Search.aspx?c=1&kw=5-HTP

zanaflex is not "natural" but i have good results with it and the side effects are ok. dry mouth but i just drink at least 8 ounces of water with it and then i'm asleep when it kicks in anyway or i'm taking it during the day, i drink another 8 ounces of water when the drug kicks in (about 45 minutes after taking it). it also lowers my BP which then puts me to sleep, perfect for bedtime! if i need it for the daytime, i'm like that for about an hour, so i just time it so i'm not driving or anything requiring alertness for about that hour or two. it only lasts in the blood stream about 6 hours and i find the muscle relaxant effects are very good for about 5 hours or so. and since it only makes me drowsy for about an hour or two, when i wake in the morning, it is not making me drowsy with things like flexeril.

i've heard others say they like skelaxin as well. i've never tried that one.

i've been quite pleased with zanaflex. it really has made a difference in my life. before zanaflex, if my muscles went into spasm, they just seemed to stay in this constant low to moderate degree of spasm and just got worse with each thing that put stress on them. now, something may cause them to spasm, but each night the zanaflex helps to "reset the counter" so to speak.

i tried flexeril and hated it. it made me feel doped up for a day or two after taking just one pill. i just couldn't function that way.

if you want something "natural", heat helps my weaker spasms. a nice hot bath just before bed helps me tremendously. but ice helps me even more. i'm lucky that ice works so well. i've been told by a PT that some people's muscles spasm more with ice. if ice works for you, and your worse spasm is localized like it sounds like it is, you could do what i do. when my SI is particularly inflamed and/or my buttocks muscles are spasming the most (that "like a horse kicked me" feeling), i go to sleep with a soft squishy blue colpac icepack under my SI and/or butt. combining the hot bath, muscle relaxant, and icepack for bed (laying flat on back with pillows under knees and neck supported with a thin feather pillow) and most of the time, i sleep well for an extended number of hours. if its my thoracic area that's the problem, i usually am awoken by pain after fewer hours.

ultrasound is also something in my toolbox, but its PT or chiro's office, so something i have to go in for.

if you want a "natural" sleep aide, Valerian Root Tea. Tastes very "medicinal" but puts me out and no groggy feeling the next day. i've read that in europe (germany, i think?) doctors prescribe valerian root as a sleep aide over anything else.

i think a lot of my worst pain is from muscle spasms, so i've had a lot of time to try to figure it out.

sue

PS oh yes, one more thing. when my piriformis muscle gets really bad (inside the butt, connects SI to trochanter), in addition to the above.......a technique called counterstrain that i learned from the PT.......though stretching is supposed to help tight muscles, it only seems to make my spasming muscles spasm more, however, the very opposite, shortening the muscle in a passive way, causes the muscle to stop fighting so much, and it starts to relax......it works very well.....though i learned this technique at PT, its really pretty logical to figure out, just figure what position would shorten and then relax the muscle the most, and let it be resting in that position for a few minutes until it relaxes, if you press the muscle a little, you can feel it relax. it really is pretty cool when it works.

I actually like flexaril. I take zanaflex now because I built a tolerance to flexaril. My husband and I refer to zanaflex as the elephant tranquilizer because it will knock you out flat on your butt. Prepare for a full 8 hours with this one.

Natural muscle relaxer --- passion flower and valerian root. I can't remember which one of these is the muscle relaxer and which is the muscle relaxer. Go to a health food store/supplement store. I'd ask someone who really knows what they're doing which one is the relaxer. Usually these are paired together in one pill. You may have to take them for a few days to get the effect.

My husband takes muscle relaxer on a daily basis because of his terrible tension headaches. He liked the passion flower/valerian root, and he's not much of a supplement type of guy. He agrees with me on the other muscle relaxer though. I'd start with flexaril.... Zanaflex is good, but quite strong. I hated taking Valium. I felt like a total zombie on it... I think it actually made me depressed because my doctor had me taking it every day.

Aly

I also wanted to add that marijuana can be a great muscle relaxant. This is actually how it helps pain since it's not really a pain killer. Don't know how you feel about this one... but just a little before you go to sleep could be good.

Passion flower is the muscle relaxer! Valerian root is the sleep aide. Hard to find separate, but you could order passion flower on the internet by itself.

Ok I think I'm finally done posting now!

Aly

magnesium and calcium are both natural muscle relaxants
try 500mg magnesium citrate and 750-1000mg calium citrate, you can go higher as needed, but above 500mg magnesium can casue mild diarrhoea (the colon is a muscular tube, so it relaxes too much !! )calcium is often low as we are using it for other things...like fusion !!
the 5-htp is also very good for sleeping as its the precursor for serotonin whihc becomes melatonin which makes you sleep,it is also very good for muscular aches and pain (like fibromyalgia) as it increase natural pain inhibitors like beta endorphin. note you cant take 5-htp while on SSRI's

Alvita makes an herbal tea that is just valerian root, nothing else.
and i can attest that that one is the sleep aid; knocks me out when i take it,
but not for too long and i don't wake groggy.
they also make a passion flower herbal tea but i've never tried that so i'm not sure if its pure passion flower or mixed with other herbs.
i do know that most of their teas are pure 1 or 2 things, not mixtures of lots of things for "flavor" like most brands, at least the ones i've tried.

http://www.alvita.com/

sue

i don't think others probably respond like i did with the diarrhea, i took 1 pill of less than what is recommended and had very loose bowels.......maybe i should try even less?

sue