Bhanu Garg in Health

Can you take ibuprofen with muscle relaxers?

You may wonder- Can you take ibuprofen with muscle relaxers? Let us tell you that when you are taking medications, you must be very clear regarding their prescription and dosage. If you do not have any idea regarding this, you can connect with an expert at Manipal hospital bangalore. Let us first understand what muscle relaxers are and then we will go through the information of how they produce their reaction amid the presence of other medications.

What are muscle relaxers?

Muscle relaxers or muscle relaxants are medicines that affect the painful muscles. These medications are recommended in case you have muscle spasms or muscle spasticity. Muscle spasms or cramps are sudden and involuntary contractions. These types of conditions take place in the group of muscles. They can cause too much strain in the muscles and may lead to severe pain. Muscle spasms can occur in the lower back, neck or can also cause fibromyalgia (musculoskeletal pain).

Muscle relaxers, prescription medications, and related facts

Along with muscle relaxers, there are two types of prescription medications. These medications further divides into antispasmodics and antispastics.
Antispasmodics are the type of medications that treat the muscle spasm while antispastics are the medications that help to treat muscle spasticity.
There are some medications like tizanidine, which you can use to treat muscle spasticity but you cannot use antispastic to treat muscle spasms. They may produce different effects on the body.
Muscle spasticity is the continuous muscle spasm that is known to cause stiffness, rigidity, and tightness. It interferes with the normal style of walking, talking, or muscle movement.
On the other hand, muscle spasticity is the type of medical condition that takes place due to injury to different parts of the brain or spinal cord that are especially involved in the movement.
Prescription drugs can help you relieve pain and discomfort from muscle spasms or spasticity. In addition, these are the over-the-counter medications that may help to treat aches and pain associated with the muscle spasm.
In the case of ibuprofen and muscle relaxants, one is anti-inflammatory while the other one is a muscle relaxer. You can take both medications at the same time. However, you should take care while taking the dosage. Some muscle relaxers are very sedating and some are taken at night. Most of the time, 800mg of ibuprofen is prescribed along with a little sedating muscle relaxer.
There is no reaction between muscle relaxers and ibuprofen. You can take both medications simultaneously for a while. The reason is that both are different groups of medications and attack the different receptors on the body. Both medications possess different chemical structures and are completely safe to take.
If you ask- Can you take ibuprofen with muscle relaxers? We will answer that you can use other treatment modalities that may include physiotherapy and chiropractic therapy. This may allow you to heal the injured part of your body. This way you can fasten the process of your medications and can get immediate relief from the conditions like muscle spasms and muscle pain.

What are the things you should take care of when you are using prescription muscle relaxants?

Muscle relaxants like carisoprodol and diazepam can be habit-forming. You should take them cautiously. Also, you should take these medications only if prescribed by a doctor. On the other hand, muscle relaxants have withdrawal symptoms such as hallucinations and seizures. They can act on the senses and can make you feel the things of the unreal world. Also, if you are continuously taking the muscle relaxants, do not stop all of a sudden while taking the medications especially if you are taking them for a long time.

Muscle relaxants cause depression and affect your central nervous system. It sometimes can cause problems while staying awake and paying attention. While you are taking muscle relaxants, you should pay attention to your mental health and coordination. Also, you should not take muscle relaxants when you are taking:

Alcohol or have the regular habit of smoking
CNS depressant drugs, including opioids or psychotropics
sleeping medications
herbal supplements

Talk to your doctor in case you want to take muscle relaxant and if you:

are older than 65 years
have any kind of mental health disorder
have liver problems

What are the favorable conditions for muscle spasticity?

Doctors prescribe only certain types of medications to treat spasticity. This is because many medications are not approved. These are called off-label drug use. Also, the following medications are not muscle relaxants but they can still help you have relief from spasticity.

Benzodiazepines

These medications come under the groups of structures that are sedative. They can help relax muscles. Benzodiazepines work on increasing the effectiveness of neurotransmitters. They are the chemicals that help to increase the messaging between your brain cells.

Examples of benzodiazepines include:

clonazepam (Klonopin)
lorazepam (Ativan)
alprazolam (Xanax)

However, these medications can have dominant side effects like drowsiness and problems in having balance, and memory issues. These often create the habit of taking medications.

Clonidine

These are the medications that help by working on preventing the nerves from sending pain signals to the brain. They are also sedative in nature. Also, you should not take clonidine when you are using muscle relaxants. Taking it with any kind of similar drug can increase the risk of having side effects. For example, if you take clonidine along with tizanidine, it can increase the risk of having lower blood pressure. Clonidine is nowadays available in different genres and versions.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

Most of the time, people ask- Can you take ibuprofen with muscle relaxers? In actuality, ibuprofen falls in the category of NSAIDs that work by blocking your receptors of the body that cause inflammation and pain. NSAIDs are available in the market in different genres and versions. There are many stronger versions available in the market. They also come in the form of chewable tablets, especially for children. The side effects of these drugs can cause dizziness and can also upset the stomach. Examples of NSAIDs include ibuprofen (Advil and Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve).

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