Cyclobenzaprine side effects

What is Cyclobenzaprin?

Cyclobenzaprine is a muscle relaxant, commonly used to ease the pain in the different skeletal muscle problems and relieve muscle spasms. Sometimes, this medication is also used to treat fibromyalgia.

In most cases muscle problems are treated by using medications and physical therapy, because it’s proven to be the most helpful way to solve or ease these conditions.

Doctors can’t explain how Cyclobenzaprine works. They assume that it somehow activates brain stem and as the consequence causes increased concentration of epinephrine in the spine. This medication is actually a tricyclic anti-depressive, and the raise of norepinephrine is responsible for the ease of the pain in muscles and nerves (the analgesic effect).

Adverse Effects of Cyclobenzaprine

Cyclobenzaprine has many side effects. Every change you notice in your condition should be considered as a side effect and reported to your pharmacist and/or your doctor.

The most common side effects among patients using Cyclobenzaprine are drowsiness, dizziness and dry mouth. Less commonly reported were nausea, tiredness, weakness and digestion problems, such as heartburn or indigestion and change of taste. About 1 to 3% of all treated patients have also complained that Cyclobenzaprine caused constipation, nervousness, confusion and different vision problems.

Some generally rare side effects of Cyclobenzaprine include: loss of appetite and also loss of taste, general ill feeling (also known as malaise), ringing in the ears (called tinnitus), vision difficulties, thirst, bloating and gasses, diarrhea, flushing and increased sweating. Sometimes it is hard to differentiate between the real side effects caused by this medication and sings of something else, that doesn’t have anything to do with the used drug.

Other side effects, that might be connected with the use of Cyclobenzaprine include also: vertigo (spinning feeling in the head), tremor (uncontrolled shaking of the body or parts of the body), sleeping problems, especially insomnia and also coordination difficulties.

Patients using this medication have also been complaining about: unconsciousness, heart problems (tachycardia, arrhythmia or heart palpitations) and also about hypotension (low blood pressure). Cyclobenzaprine may be responsible for some effects on the brain and cause depression, anxiety, psychotic episodes or hallucinations and also seizures in some rare cases. Patients have reported rare cases of liver problems, when using this medication. There were cases of liver damage, yellowing of the eyes and the skin (jaundice), but also some changes in the color of the urine (darkening). Some patients experienced upper right abdominal pain, which was also associated with liver problems.