Hello...I was hoping to reopen a discussion on zanaflex...I was wondering if anyone could explain the action of this med and why it has such a different effect than standard muscle relaxants. I tried it twice, and both times it knocked me out...when I woke up an hour or two later, I felt almost as if my throat was paralyzed, and it was very hard to swallow. Scary! After reading your other thread, I looked up the dosage on my bottle. I had taken a full 4mg tablet each time.

I was considering trying it again with a half tab, but am a little nervous about it...it seemed that I read somewhere, though, that it could help some with nerve pain moreso than the other muscle relaxants. Does anyone have advice/info about this?

Also, a word of warning: Zanaflex can interact dangerously with Cipro (ciprofloxacin), a commonly used antibiotic. I recently had surgery and needed cipro for an infection...as I was reading the cipro pamphlet there was a strong warning about interaction with tizanidine. The med name sounded familiar, so I checked my zanaflex bottle, and sure enough, that's the generic name. However, I had both prescriptions filled at the same pharmacy, and no one caught this interaction. Thankfully I was no longer taking the zanaflex, but if I had been, I shudder to think what would have happened. So please, beware, all of you on zanaflex, if you need an antibiotic!

Thanks for any info you can share...

Donna