Clonazepam & Tizanidine Combined

Everyday living
1

For the last 6 or 7 weeks I’ve been trialling Clonazepam to help with disturbed sleep due spasticity and spams during the night.

Then about 3 weeks ago I started on Tizanidine during the day, again to help with spasticity.

This was all part a pln set up by my spasticity consultant.

The consultant calls it spasticity & spasms, but I can only explain it as heavy/weak legs that sometimes jerk at a bit when I’m resting at night.

The mornings are without doubt the worse for stiffness and being able t lift my legs, but also if I over do things or try to walk a bit too far then I find I get very poor leg lift and start dragging my feet, left one in paricular.

I put this down to MS muscle fatigue, but consultant said its spasticity that brings on the muscle fatigue.

SO bloody confusing !!!

Anyway I’ve started on these tablets.

Tizanidine 2mg 3 x daily, (morning 6.30am, mid afternoon about 2pm, & then about 7pm), then at about about 8.30pm I take the 1 mg of Clonazepam, which used to be 0.5mg but I found it was doing absolutely nothing in regards to help with my sleep so increased to 1mg as per instructions.

Now though Im finding that most mornings are getting worse and I’m wondering if the last dose of Tizanidine (7pm) is mixing the the Clonazepam (8.30pm), and still in my system when I get up in the morning ?

My sleeping isnt that much better anyway even with all theses meds, but my legs are like lead weights in the mornings with no strength to hold me up .

My spasticity consultant said to trial out the dosage on the Tizanidine and hopefully find a good balance, but i’m finding it hard to work out what a good balance is .

She even suggested I could increase the dosage weekly up to 12mg if I needed to, but I’m thinking even at the starting dose of 2mg 3 x daily is too much for me, especially if the last one at 7pm is then mixing with the Clonazepam at around 8.30pm.

Maybe this is why my legs feel so weak in the mornings ?

Anyone else tried this combination of meds nd found it worse. ?

2

I don’t take my clonazapam til about 30 minutes before bed and I only take it on evenings I am having spasms

Seems to work for me

1 Like
3

I think the issue I’m having is the combination of both meds .

I take the Tizanidine 3 times daily and then the clonazepam around 8pm, so basically the Tizanadine is almost certainly staying in my system all day then I’m topping it off with the clonazepam at night.

I’m just not so sure my body can cope with it all ?

4

Not sure what to say, I have tried both but quit them, after a few weeks I was like a zombie and decided to do without them. I know I am in a wheelchair but I wear leg splints to support my feet maybe that would help. I tried several types and eventually had the made by taking a cast at the hospital. Don

5

Obviously everyone is different, my wife is very sensitive to most drugs and really doesn’t like taking any of them. She was on Clonazepam about three years ago for ten days, she can remember nothing from those days, she mostly slept and when she was awake was not much more than a zombie.

She has also taken Tizanadine in the past (but not with the Clonazepam) and just going back through her notes from that time it didn’t seem to bring any real benefits:-

6

I’ve cut back on the night time Tizanidine as I think it was combining with the clonazepam, I was just zonked in the morning .