Posted by Elizabeth on March 26, 2002, at 22:55:17
In reply to muscle relaxants as sleep aids, posted by Michael D on March 22, 2002, at 18:27:57
I've taken Soma -- the only real muscle relaxant other than benzos that's used much -- at bedtime many times. I did have insomnia, but it was secondary to musculoskeletal pain. Soma is sedating, but like most sedating drugs, tolerance to this effect develops rapidly.
There're a lot of other drugs that are touted as muscle relaxants, but my impression is that any muscle relaxation that they do cause is the result of sedation, not a direct effect.
I took a pretty large dose of baclofen (which is labelled for spasticity, not for musculoskeletal pain, BTW) for a few months but it didn't do anything for the pain. It also wasn't sedating, and it had no noticeable antianxiety effect.
I've heard about baclofen being used for cocaine addiction. It's weird. Baclofen isn't a benzodiazepine; it's a direct agonist at the GABA-B receptor.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:99513
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020322/msgs/100444.html