Are Muscle Relaxers Addictive?

How Dependence on Muscle Relaxants Forms and Getting Help to Quit

As your use of these kinds of medications increases, you might find yourself wondering a common question – are muscle relaxers addictive? It’s important to understand how these drugs work so you can determine whether or not you have a problem and when to get help.

Many people start to use muscle relaxants to deal with the pain or discomfort they are experiencing. They don’t set out to become dependent on these medications, but that’s what can happen over time. We’ll take a closer look at this topic below.

If you think you are already addicted to muscle relaxers and you need help now, call Purpose Healing Center immediately for help. With facilities in Scottsdale and Phoenix and a staff of talented, understanding professionals, you’ll be in good hands right from the start.

What Are Muscle Relaxers and How Can They Become Addictive?

Muscle relaxers are medications that are often prescribed to relieve muscle spasms, stiffness, and discomfort. When used properly, muscle relaxers can effectively help patients with issues such as back pain, neurological disorders, and more.

The primary method used by muscle relaxers to achieve the desired effect is to depress the central nervous system. In this way, they are able to reduce muscle tightness and pain perception.

One of the issues that can lead to problems with muscle relaxants is that the way they interact with the central nervous system can cause other outcomes beyond muscle relief. They can also contribute to drowsiness and dizziness, and may also cause a feeling of euphoria. These additional factors can contribute to the potential of a dependence or addiction developing over time.

Understanding Dependence on Muscle Relaxants vs Addiction

This is a good point to stop and talk about the difference between dependence and addiction in a medical context. It’s easy to confuse these two or use the terms interchangeably, but they are not the same thing.

First, let’s talk about dependence. This term applies when the body adapts to the use of a drug and you require more and more of that drug to achieve the same effect. So, if you take muscle relaxers regularly for muscle spasms, it’s likely that higher doses will gradually become necessary to get the job done. This is a physical dependence. You’ll also be likely to have withdrawal symptoms if you stop using the drug or reduce your dosage.

Addiction sometimes follows as a next step in the process. With addiction, there is a psychological component. Not only do you want to use the muscle relaxers to treat muscle spasms, but you also have a psychological compulsion to use the substance. This is where you start to cross over into substance abuse. You may justify the use of muscle relaxants by pointing to muscle pain, but it could be other factors motivating you to expand your pattern of misuse.

How Muscle Relaxer Dependence Develops

Unlike with some other drugs, the path toward dependence typically starts with a valid prescription and a legitimate reason for using the medication. You might need help recovering from surgery. Or you have chronic pain that hasn’t been successfully managed with other techniques.

Whatever the case, dependence on muscle relaxers usually starts slowly and gradually builds up over time. Explore the four stages below to understand how you can go from treating muscle pain to suddenly facing a serious addiction.

Tolerance Buildup

The first step is building a tolerance in your body for muscle relaxers one dose at a time. As you use these drugs, your body will start to respond to them less and less – meaning you’ll need to take more and more to deal with your muscle spasms or other issues.

Increasing your dosage should be a red flag that a problem is developing. Unfortunately, many don’t notice this escalation right away or realize that it is a problem. Soon enough, you’ll be taking more skeletal muscle relaxants than you planned on at first, and the effectiveness of the drugs will only continue to decline.

Short-term Relief Leading to Long-term Use

Your doctor may recommend using a prescription muscle relaxer as a short-term solution to the problem you are facing. Most initial prescriptions are only provided for about two or three weeks of use.

Any prescription drug should be used specifically in line with the recommendations provided by a doctor. Many people choose to keep treating their muscle spasms with these drugs beyond that initial prescription – sometimes by acquiring the drug through illegal means.

Transitioning from short-term to long-term use is a hallmark sign of a prescription drug addiction. If you have been prescribed muscle relaxants, take the directions very seriously and only use them in line with your doctor’s recommendation.

Recreational Use

When you use muscle relaxant medication recreationally and no longer target it to a specific condition or pain, it’s clear that addiction treatment is needed. You might be taking muscle relaxers now to experience the sedative effects they offer, or even worse, you might be mixing them with substances like alcohol or opioids.

If you arrive at this stage of abuse with this prescription drug, a strong dependency is in place and you are at risk of an overdose. This prescription medication is designed to treat pain but now it is being used in a dangerous way that will cause your physical and mental health to continue to spiral.

Mental Health and Coping

For some, muscle relaxants become a way to self-medicate for things like anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Of course, this is also quite dangerous. You will continue to have more and more withdrawal symptoms when not using the drugs, so your rate of use will increase and things will gradually get worse.

Muscle relaxers are not meant to treat anxiety or depression. These controlled substances should only be used in the prescribed dosage and for the purpose of dealing with muscle pain and discomfort. It’s important at this point to seek help for the prescription drug addiction you are facing so the dependence can be addressed and you can get proper, appropriate help for your mental health challenges.

Signs You Might Be Addicted to Muscle Relaxers

It’s important to watch for signs of muscle relaxer addiction so you can take action as soon as possible, whether it is yourself or a loved one who is fighting this battle. Addiction treatment can be extremely effective but it’s always important to get started right away.

Using a commonly prescribed muscle relaxant more frequently – or at higher dosages – than is recommended is an early warning sign. Skeletal muscle relaxants need to be used properly if they are going to have the desired effect without turning into a problem. Doing anything that goes against a doctor’s orders, whether it is taking muscle relaxers too often or mixing muscle relaxers with other substances, is a dangerous choice to make.

Taking Muscle Relaxants to Function Normally

Another sure sign of addiction is when you need to take skeletal muscle relaxers daily just to function normally. This is a good test for addiction to any type of substance. If controlled substances are dictating your daily activities, a problem is in place and your muscle relaxer addiction needs to be addressed.

You may also be addicted if you experience withdrawal symptoms when not using muscle relaxers as often as normal. Muscle relaxation might have been the initial goal, but these withdrawal symptoms point to a dependence that has gone beyond standard treatment.

The Potential for Long-Term Health Damage from Muscle Relaxers

So, are muscle relaxers addictive? By this point, we have shown they certainly can be when used improperly. But is this a big deal? After all, muscle relaxers aren’t as dangerous or damaging as other types of drugs, right?

That’s not a good way to think about this situation. In fact, all types of drugs, including muscle relaxers, can cause harm to your mental and physical health over time. In this case, there are a number of different ways muscle relaxers can harm your long-term health.

For starters, liver damage is possible when using these drugs regularly. Those with a muscle relaxer addiction may not realize the harm they are doing to their liver along the way. You may also experience problems like decreased coordination due to the impact these drugs have on your brain and spinal cord.

The Loss of Muscle Function and the Potential for Overdose

Without the ability to control muscle movement properly when trying to complete basic daily tasks, injuries will become a very real possibility.

Finally, as your addiction progresses, there is also the possibility of an overdose. You typically don’t get much warning from overdose symptoms, so you could suddenly find yourself with dangerously low blood pressure and other physical symptoms that put your life at risk.

Central nervous system depressants like these aren’t as notorious for causing overdoses as other drugs of abuse, but don’t take for granted their potential to put you in grave danger.

Not all muscle relaxers work in the same way, so the danger to your health will vary from one drug to the next. Whether it’s respiratory depression, extreme drowsiness, or any of the other physical impacts of this prescription medication, it’s always important to respect these substances.

Make a Change and Get Help for Muscle Relaxers Today

It’s easy to keep putting off the idea of getting help for your use of muscle relaxers. Each day you can just tell yourself that you’ll deal with it tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow never comes, and the cycle continues.

Break your physical dependence on these drugs by working with Purpose Healing Center today. Give us a call and explain the situation you are facing.

Our team will be happy to craft a customized treatment plan that addresses your muscle relaxer addiction in a productive, sustainable manner. We are excited to serve you!