Drowsiness, sleepiness and feeling tired can all occur with the common muscle relaxer cyclobenzaprine. (US Brand Name Flexeril)
Hi this is josh i’m a pharmacist with pharmacist tips.com here with a quick video or discussing cyclobenzaprine does it make you sleepy drowsy or tired real quick before we get the video started information not advice talk to your doctor your health care provider before you make any changes to your medications lifestyle etc okay real quickly what is cyclobenzaprine
In the u.s. it sold under the brand name brand name flexeril it is a muscle relaxer so it’s used as of course to treat muscle spasms it is indicated for short-term use it’s indicated the literature says suggest it be used for acute conditions lasting two to three weeks that’s that’s the official recommendation however we do see it use long term with chronic pain
Fibromyalgia certain things like that we just have to keep in mind the longer we use it the longer the risk of side effects and things like that but officially it’s recommended for short-term use but it is sometimes use long term what are the most common side effects we’re talking this happens in greater than 10% of people one out of ten who take it dry mouth
Headache dizziness and drowsiness and actually it’s probably more some studies show drowsiness occurs in up to a hundred percent of people who take this medication depending on the dose so absolutely gonna cause some drowsiness some sleepiness gonna make you feel tired so certainly something we want to keep in mind how can we reduce the chance we want to be mindful
Of that the drowsiness we got a function during the day some people the lower the dose lowering the dose say from five or from 10 to 5 milligrams can sometimes help gonna depend on the person of course a discussion you have with your doctor to see if that is an appropriate dose with you of course you want to avoid it with any other medications that already caused
Some drowsiness the two together can just really reduce your ability to function properly absolutely avoid alcohol with this medication just not going to do yourself any favors drinking while you’re on this medication you want to use the lowest effective dose kind of touched on that briefly a moment ago so a lot of times people will get the 10 milligram tablets take
It up to three times a day as the need for muscle issues sometimes the five milligram dose will provide that same muscle relief with less drowsiness so something you could chat with your doctor about some people just take it a bedtime they got to remain alert during the day they got a function so they just take it at bedtime so they can sleep we do it is recommended
That it be avoided with the stronger pain medications that opioids it is occasionally used together with them so you have to be mindful that that could in dramatically increase the risk of side effects of both and the older we get older folks are more sensitive to medications like these so have to be real careful you know if you take this it could increase the risk
Of falling and breaking a bone or something like that so um be mindful the older we get you just have to be real careful if you use medications like these that cause drowsiness so i appreciate you watching always talk to your health care provider if you have questions concerns about your medications ask questions in the comments below and i do have a more detailed
Video it should be a link popping up here where you can check out the full discussion of cyclobenzaprine and subscribe to my channel if you appreciate videos like these thanks again for watching
Transcribed from video
🔴 Does cyclobenzaprine make you sleepy drowsy or tired By Pharmacist Tips
