Does Zanaflex help with anxiety in addition to relax muscle spasms?
- Posted:
- 13 Apr 2010 by Josslyn
- Topics:
- zanaflex, anxiety, muscle spasm, generalized anxiety disorder
Answers (6)
Anonymous 
jbacon8313 Apr 2010
I have anxiety and muscle spasms or what my specilaist calls periodic limb movement disorder. It mainly occurs at night when I'm sleeping. I take klonopin and lexapro which treat both of my conditions. I would recommend asking your doctor about combining these two if you have both anxiety and muscle spasms.
psych major
13 Apr 2010
Hey, whats the difference between restless leg and what you have-they seem to be pretty close as I have restless leg and it only occurs at night so really disturbs the trying to sleep...
jbacon83
13 Apr 2010
restless leg from what i've researched seems to be more restlessness and irritation. Web MD describes the sensations as similar to "they are not painful, but an uncomfortable, "itchy," "pins and needles," or "creepy crawly" feeling deep in the legs." PLMD only occurs when you are trying to sleep or rest whereas RLS can be anytime throughout the day. PLMD is more just spasms and twitching rather than feeling restless. You can look them both up on web-md and it describes both conditions in more detail.
Anonymous 13 Apr 2010
kellyandt...1 Mar 2011
My doctor prescribed zanaflex for me for muscle spasms, as well as for anxiety. Several medications have secondary benefits. Most American doctors, except some neurological movement specialists, do not indicate it for this use due to the slow advance of medical research in our country. However, in countries with medical research development based on scientific informational need and not pharmaceutical company fiscal advances (such as Germany and France), studies have shown it to decrease certain types of anxiety. Eventually when the drug brings in money more studies will be completed here.
brian2550327 Apr 2011
No zanaflex does not help with anxiety, it is only a muscle relaxer and helps with spasms, and will also help with sleep as it will make about 90 to 95 percent of the people taking it very drowsy, you would need something like xanax, ativan, klonopin, or valuim to help with anxiety, hope this helps.
6 Feb 2012
Freeborn81 is so correct! I see a neurologist and have a team of neuromuscular specialists. I suppose most non-neuro or psychiatric doctors may not realize this, but it does in fact help with at least some of the physiological symptoms of anxiety (a long-time enemy of mine). I am on Zanaflex for BOTH reasons, and as a sedative. I also take Klonopin (which isn't just for anxiety... it also actually helps some nerve pain and is used as an anti-epileptic). If anxiety is something you experience on a daily basis, Zanaflex will likely not help you too much and you may benefit from a low dose of something like klonopin, ativan, valium, etc. I listed those 3, since I know for a fact they are safe to take w/Zanaflex (I take klonopin every day and valium PRN). The biggest risk in mixing these, though, is the sedating effect.
Search for questions
Still looking for answers? Try searching for what you seek or ask your own question.
Similar questions
Are all generic brands the same w/ same results?
I am currently taking 10mg Diazepam manufactured by Mylan, for muscle spasms, insomnia and chronic migraine headaches w/anxiety. I have noticed no ...
4 answers • 30 Dec 2009 • 
Valiun vs Xanax - Is there a big difference especially with other narcotic pain medicines?
My Doctor has me on Hydrocodone 10/325 QD for pain and Valium 10mg BID for muscle spasms. The Valium also helps control the anxiety this injury is ...
3 answers • 13 Nov 2010 •
Which medication is best for treating severe muscle spasms?
muscle spasms are daily, roughly 20 times or more and usually involve contorting legs, feet, arms, face and hands. My neck twists so bad it feels ...
5 answers • 11 Jan 2011 •
Any one else experiance increased muscle spasms with Zanaflex?
I just started taking 4mg Zanaflex last night. I haven't been able to sleep since and I think it actually INCREASED my muscle spasms. I'm ...
3 answers • 29 Sep 2011 •
Zanaflex - does anyone with a spinal cord injury take this for severe muscle spasms?
1 answer • 24 Feb 2012 •
Is it zanax or zanaflex as zanax works wonders for treating anxiety but Ive never heard of zanaflex, posssibly generic...
Zanaflex is found on seaech, top of this page