Hi all,
I used to take baclofen 10mg, two at night, one sometimes two in the morning and occassionaly one in the afternoon. I get spasms at night and very stiff legs in the morning, my doc has now put me on tizanidine 2mg, one to two, three times a day.
I started last night with two, not sure how effective they were for the spasms but I was still stiff this morning. They knocked me out last night quite quickly and the one this morning left me very drowsy, I took a baclofen during the day as I was at work and couldn’t face the drowsiness.
I was wondering if anyone could tell me their experience/opinion on tizanidine vs baclofen. I was hoping to be given something stonger that would last longer so it would stop my night spasms and morning stiffness but am I right in thinking tizanidine doesn’t last as long as baclofen. Anyone know how long they last and does taking more make them last any longer?
Thanks for reading.
Sean
After repeated attempts to get on with Baclofen, I decided to cut my loses. It made me feel a bit loopy to be honest and I never really felt any benefit from it.
I’ve been on Tizanidine for about a year now. Dose took some fidding with, especially after both my MS nurse and GP frightened me so much about the strength of it, I thought I was going to die in the night (woke up as normal - felt nothing) but 2 mg in the morning and 2 mg at night seems to work for me and although the stiffness still hasn’t completely gone (I’ve never had spasms) it is better making the tightness in my calves relax enough to allow me to walk. I wasn’t sure if it was actually doing anything but then I missed a day taking it and found out that it certainly was!
I think the instructions state they last six hours but I really don’t know if that’s true or not.
Hi Sean,
I’m on both Baclofen and Tizanidine.
Was just on baclofen for about 4 years and got muscle weakness in my legs- but could have just been progression.
Put on to 2mg tizanidine 3x per day. Morning one ok , lunch time one knocked me out and evening one sent me to sleep which was fine.(only problem was I couldn’t read my kindle for very long)
Didn’t like being knocked out at lunch time (have to work and drive) so Neuro changed me to 10mg baclofen at lunch time. Seemed to work ok but still stiff in afternoon so MS nurse suggested 1/2 baclofen at 11am then 1 whole one at around 1pm .
Basically was left to self medicate with baclofen. it’s a bit of trial and error.
Good luck
Jen
I never got on with Baclofen - made me feel “removed”. I’ve been on Tizanadine for just over a year and woudn’t be without it now. I started on 2 mg a day with a view to increasing weekly by 2 mg until I reached max dose which is 24 mg a day. This has taken well over 6 months but I am glad I persevered. It gave me an awful dry mouth when I first started it and again each time the dose was increased but eventually even that has gone apart from very occasonally.
I’ve experimented lots with dose/frequency and for me it works best 6 mg on waking, 6 mg late lunch time, 6 mg early eve and 6 mg bed time. If I take 2 doses without 6 - 7 hours between then then they make me very drowsy to the point I would not drive. My Neurolgist told me initially to take 12 mg twice a day. Therre is no way that would work - at the time I read up a lot and it seems it is at its peak 2 -3 hours after taking and outof your boday in 6. The patient leafet itself tells you to divide your doses equally though the day for when you most need them. Rarely get spasms at all. Hope this is useful.