What You Have to Learn about Muscle Relaxants
Nowadays, doctors look to prescribe pain relievers for those who are suffering from injuries, medical conditions, and diseases. Often, muscle relaxants may even be prescribed in place of or in addition to pain relievers. These medications can help a patient be relieved of pain and muscle spasms.
However, crucial information about muscle relaxants is not widely known. People today are not aware of what muscle relaxants target in the body, which parts of our anatomy are affected by their use, as well as their side effects. Worse, people are also not aware of the risks linked to abusing muscle relaxants. Such information should not be kept from the public because this could be hazardous to their health.
Thankfully, we are here to help you learn more about the function of the muscle and how muscle relaxants affect the different parts of our body. Read on to discover more.
Understanding the Muscle
Muscles exist to help us move the different parts of our bodies. They allow us to do the most mundane yet essential things, such as chew food, breathe with our lungs, walk from point A to point B, and pump the heart. They rely on brain signals and food energy to function properly.
Smooth and striated muscles control voluntary and involuntary body movements. Molecules in striated muscle fibers allow contraction. Muscle contractions “shorten” abruptly. With all these said, calcium is an essential nutrient for the contraction and movement of our muscles.
Meanwhile, spasms are involuntary muscle contractions. Overuse, fatigue, heat, or tension deprive muscle tissue of nutrients, resulting in spasms. Narrowing of the arteries reduces blood and nutrient delivery to muscles in peripheral arterial disease. Leg cramps may result as a result of this. Other times, muscle spasms are caused by diabetes, kidney disease, and other conditions. Muscle spasms usually start unexpectedly, fade quickly, and are momentarily unpleasant and irritable as we go from day to day. Smooth muscles can also spasm.
On the other hand, muscle spasms can be caused by neurological illnesses and trauma. For example, multiple sclerosis and brain/spinal cord injury are two instances where spasms arise in striated muscles. Protein that transports oxygen and nutrients is carried through muscle striations.
Because of these instances of diseases and muscle trauma, muscle relaxants are prescribed to allow patients to live without the discomfort of muscle spasms. With the right prescribed dosage and mindful medication intake, people are able to manage their muscle conditions better. Thus, their lives will significantly improve.
What Muscle Relaxants Do to the Body
Muscles are impacted by diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. Meanwhile, injuries to the brain or spine are also possible, such as whiplash or lower back discomfort. The majority of the individuals who suffer from these injuries experience the effects brought about by car accidents or sports injuries. Muscle relaxants exist to relieve somebody of spasms, pain, and suffering caused by muscle disorders and injuries.
Muscular relaxants prevent muscular spasms. Some relaxants target the central nervous system (CNS), while others target the muscle. Prescription muscle relaxants are available in pill, capsule, or liquid form. Some are injected, while others are sprayed in the mouth. Your doctor will prescribe the proper medication as these types of medication aren’t available over-the-counter.
It must be worth noting that it’s critical never to take someone else’s prescription or muscle relaxants. Also, avoid antihistamines and alcohol as you take muscle relaxants.
The Effects of Taking Muscle Relaxants
Muscle relaxants can cause:
- Drowsiness
- Dizziness
- Agitation or Irritability
- Headache
- Nervousness
- Salivating
- Hypotension
These effects may sound irritable and uncomfortable, and they are. However, many people also don’t know that using muscle relaxants has physiological and psychological effects that provide a high. This contributes to some frequent users’ addictive tendencies, sometimes unknowingly at first. As people who take muscle relaxants experience an addictive high, they are also at risk of ignoring the risks of abusing this type of medication.
Because each drug has its own set of effects, it’s difficult to generalize how a muscle relaxer high works. For example, Flexeril, a commonly prescribed muscle relaxant, produces a simple relaxation that doesn’t necessarily cause a high in every patient that takes it. What it does is offer muscle relaxation to lessen discomfort.
Experimenting with dosage and administration routes may potentially result in sleepiness.
The Function of Muscle Relaxants
Muscle relaxers are routinely used for acute discomfort due to misuse and addiction. We’re concerned about painkiller addiction. Many people are unaware that muscle relaxants have a high risk of abuse and addiction. Carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant, has a high addiction risk due to its relaxing effect. Some of these medications are relaxing.
All of these factors influence your doctor’s muscle relaxer prescription. Even if you are given one, you may need more to find the correct one.
These medications may be prescribed to relieve muscle pain. Muscle spasms can alleviate discomfort while the body heals. Muscle mobility is also enhanced. Because of the possibility of side effects, provide your doctor with a full medical history. Women should notify their doctor if they are pregnant or intend to get pregnant. Some muscle relaxants are safer to take during pregnancy than others.
The Common Muscle Relaxants Today
Today, the common muscle relaxants include:
- Baclofen
- Tizanidine
- Carisoprodol
- Orphenadrine
- Chlorzoxazone
- Methocarbamol
- Cyclobenzaprine
- Metaxalone
- Dantrolene
Muscle relaxants function differently. Some are more effective in particular circumstances. All of these medications can cause sleepiness, but they have different adverse effects. Some cause nausea, stomach pain, dark urine, and skin and eye yellowing. Others cause dizziness, headaches, or weakness. Some side effects are minimal, while others are hazardous. Cyclobenzaprine has the potential to cause heart collapse.
Some muscle relaxants might lead to addiction if used for an extended period of time. Long-term usage of diazepam can develop into dependence. Withdrawal symptoms occur when the medication is abruptly discontinued. vomiting, anxiousness, and insomnia
Certain muscle relaxants are not suitable for everyone. Baclofen is not recommended for people who have stomach ulcers, epilepsy, diabetes, or mental health problems. Diazepam is not suggested for people who have lung, heart, liver, or breathing problems.
The Side Effects of Muscle Relaxers
Muscle relaxants, like all medications, have side effects. They do not affect everyone, and they usually improve as the body adjusts. Muscle relaxants cause fatigue. This leaflet cannot list all possible adverse effects. Common side effects are listed here. More information can be found in the medication’s leaflet.
- Baclofen
Baclofen can cause nausea, tiredness, drowsiness, visual issues, weakness, dizziness, lightheadedness, headache, dry mouth, breathing difficulty, aching muscles, anxiety or agitation, confusion, unsteadiness, increased pee need, shakiness, increased perspiration, and skin rash.
- Dantrolene
Dantrolene causes dizziness, sleepiness, weariness, nausea, stomach pain, headache, appetite loss, rash, speech or vision impairments, fever, chills, difficulty breathing, and seizures. It has the potential to irritate the lining of the heart and sometimes even fill the lungs with fluid. Dantrolene can also harm the liver.
- Diazepam
Diazepam may cause side effects that include drowsiness, lightheadedness, amnesia, disorientation, and violence.
- Methocarbamol
Methocarbamol causes the following side effects: amnesia, allergic reactions, anxiety, impaired vision, slow heart rate, disorientation or dizziness, headache, heartburn, feeling nauseous, itching, rash, and low blood pressure.
- Cannabis Extract
Cannabis extract may cause dizziness, depression, diarrhea, constipation, mouth ulcers, exhaustion, and appetite disorders. Hallucinations have also been reported.
Conclusion
Despite what muscle relaxants can do to relieve you of pain and discomfort, it’s important to learn that muscle relaxants are a drug that could have addictive tendencies to whoever takes them. Thus, take it with caution and with the proper knowledge. This reminder is applicable to all ages, whether young or old.