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Nerve Damage From Back Injury. Prescribed With Baclofen. Suggest Alternative Medication
Question: I have nerve damage from a back injury,i am having unbelieveable muscle spasms in my legs.they gave me baclofen.i don't like what I read about withdrawal side affects.i can't take flexoril. is there something else I could aske my doctor for that will work without all the side affects? Want you to know it is not from dehydration
Brief Answer:
BZD,cyproheptadine,Tizanidine,Chlorzoxazone
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX, thanks for using XXXXXXX
I went through the query and understood your concern.
I like to tell you that all the listed adverse effects will not be present in single individual and the side effects may or may not affect each individual.
Baclofen is primarily used for the treatment of spastic movement disorders, especially due spinal cord/nerve injury while flexoril is a muscle relaxant. Both acts in different mechanism and they have there own list of side effects. So on using the drug if your symptoms disappear then you can continue the drugs with monitoring the side effects.
The withdrawal symptoms of baclofen can be minimized by tapering the dose when discontinuing the drug. If withdrawal symptoms reappears then you need to restart and then have to taper gradually. The other drugs tried for the same reasons are benzodiazepines(BZD) and cyproheptadine with very minimal evidence. The muscle relaxants like tizanidine or chlorzoxazone may help you. I have used both these drugs in my patients and with minimal side effects. So you can discuss about these with your doctor on selecting them.
But baclofen is the preferred drug for muscle spasms of neuronal origin.
Hope this answered your query and helpful to you. Feel free to ask if any related query and I will be glad to answer them.
Wish you faster recovery and good health.
Regards
BZD,cyproheptadine,Tizanidine,Chlorzoxazone
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX, thanks for using XXXXXXX
I went through the query and understood your concern.
I like to tell you that all the listed adverse effects will not be present in single individual and the side effects may or may not affect each individual.
Baclofen is primarily used for the treatment of spastic movement disorders, especially due spinal cord/nerve injury while flexoril is a muscle relaxant. Both acts in different mechanism and they have there own list of side effects. So on using the drug if your symptoms disappear then you can continue the drugs with monitoring the side effects.
The withdrawal symptoms of baclofen can be minimized by tapering the dose when discontinuing the drug. If withdrawal symptoms reappears then you need to restart and then have to taper gradually. The other drugs tried for the same reasons are benzodiazepines(BZD) and cyproheptadine with very minimal evidence. The muscle relaxants like tizanidine or chlorzoxazone may help you. I have used both these drugs in my patients and with minimal side effects. So you can discuss about these with your doctor on selecting them.
But baclofen is the preferred drug for muscle spasms of neuronal origin.
Hope this answered your query and helpful to you. Feel free to ask if any related query and I will be glad to answer them.
Wish you faster recovery and good health.
Regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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