Suboxone and Zanaflex

My doctor recently prescribed me Zanaflex muscle relaxer for my neck pain. I am a little worried to take this along with Suboxone because I thought we were not supposed to take another CNS depressant when already taking one. Should I separate the doses by a certain amount of hours? And do they make you groggy the next morning? Anyone else have experience with this? They are 2mg capsules.

I also read that the Zanaflex capsules and tablets are a lot different and wondering how.

I was on both sub and zanaflex for a few years (it was only recently that I switched to a different muscle relaxant). I never had a problem mixing the two. I also fill them both at the same pharmacy (all my meds actually) and they have never warned me of any contraindications and all of my doctors are aware of all of my meds.

You shouldn't have any problems at all taking them together, as far as I'm concerned. Even when I would take my zanaflex near my sub dosage, it didn't seem to make the zanaflex any more sedating.

Oh, and once you are used to it, the zanaflex should stop making you drowsy - you'll adjust to it - at least I did, and it stopped making me sleepy at all.
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Thanks hatmaker, I've never heard of Zanaflex before my doctor gave it to me, but I won't worry as much now that I know you have taken them together and it didn't have any bad effects. I am having major tension in my neck and shoulders today. They haven't hurt like this since before I got on sub. I will try taking the Zanaflex tonight.

hatmaker (or anyone who knows the answers), I am confused about some things. I have tried looking online and I keep coming up with the same facts about Zanaflex, but no explanation as to WHY.

The first thing I keep reading is that you should take Zanaflex at the same time every day and if you miss a dose, take it as soon as you remember. What?? My doctor never told me this. I was under the impression that these were "take as needed" muscle relaxers. I don't want to be on another pill every day, expecially when I am trying to stabilize on Suboxone. My neck and shoulder pain is not as bad some days, so I don't really need them every single day. Do you take them every day or just when your pain gets really bad?

The other thing I am reading is that the effects of Zanaflex are a lot different whether you take it before you eat, with food, or after you eat...but no one is saying HOW the effects are different or which way I am supposed to take it.

One more thing...it says on the insert not to switch between the capsules and the tablets. So I looked this up and found this a lot...that the tabs are way different from the caps. Do you know how they are different? I've never heard this about any drug. It seems like just the mg strength would be what matters...not if it is in a tablet or capsule?? (I have 2mg capsules)

I'll keep researching, but I thought since you are on it, you might know these things. I have been googling for an hour and I'm not finding the answers.

I just read your reply above and remembered that you don't take these anymore, but still hope you might have some insight. Wink

I always used the Zanaflex PRN and never had a problem with it. My doctor never instructed me to take them every day at the same time and never to miss a dose. In fact I just looked at my old rx and it says, "as needed". And my pharmacist never said anything about those instructions, either.

As for the capsules and the tablets being different, yes, I've heard that. I started out on the capsules and had to switch to the tablets shortly after I started so it wasn't a big issue, but for some reason with this particular med, you can't switch back and forth between the two types.

But don't let that scare you into not trying it if you need a muscle relaxant. If you need one, then it could very well help you.

Oh - and one thing about muscle relaxants that I learned recently that i never knew. They are like antidepressants, you have to go thru a few of them before you find the right one that will work for you. That's why I'm not on zanaflex anymore. I found one that works better for me.

Give it a try for a while and see if it helps you. It might make you sleepy/drowsy until you get used to it. Oh and the empty stomach thing - I BELIEVE that if I took it on an empty stomach it made me more apt to get sleepier. If I recall correctly. But otherwise I'd just take it either way. Again, neither my doc nor pharmacist never stressed anything important about taking it with meals or not. My doctors have always given me strict instructions if there were something special about my prescriptions that they needed to stress upon me. They never did tell me anything special about zanaflex. It was just a muscle relaxant that I took as needed (up to 4 times daily) to try to reduce my pain.

I hope this helps.
_________________
-As I have grown older, I've learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake.

-I'm only responsible for what I say, not for what you understand.