Soma/carisporadol

[heapsreal]

Soma is said to be a muscle relaxer and used for sprains and strains to help pain while rehabing an injury.

Wow, this stuff helps my chronic headaches , I do feel a little drugged but in a good way.
I know it's just symptomatic relief but soma is working better than traditional pain medications from nsaids to stronger narcotic based pain meds.

When I woke up I could feel the headaches brewing and going into a crash. I took a few different headache treatments with no luck. I was about to curl up in the fetal position and just whimper until it went away. Then I took the soma, which has taken pain away and that irritable feeling when crashing and can't rest, has gone.

I have taken it before today and it's helped but today felt like I was going to get in that state where nothing was going to help until I took my sleep meds and went to sleep, maybe??

Just thought I'd share

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

Thanks @heapsreal ....

A word of caution for those with sensitivities ..... Soma is a member of the benzo family, and was first developed as an anti-anxiety med, so there's potential for .... you know..... the usual ...

 

[heapsreal]

Thanks @heapsreal ....

A word of caution for those with sensitivities ..... Soma is a member of the benzo family, and was first developed as an anti-anxiety med, so there's potential for .... you know..... the usual ...

I see it acts on gaba receptors but have to look deeper as it had analgesic effects on me. Different to say valium which wouldn't /hasnt done much for headaches in the past.
It's good to find something that helps to break the cycle of these headaches.
Actually I think I read it's a derivative of a barbiturates, but classed as a muscle relaxed, maybe hits a few different receptors at once.
I will have to keep it on the top shelf for moments when nothing works as seems that some get addicted to it.

Thanks yippe

 

[heapsreal]

https://m.psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Carisoprodol
Interesting.
Carisoprodol, also known by the brand name Soma, is a carbamate sedative-hypnotic. Carisoprodol is used medically as a centrally-acting muscle relaxant, anxiolytic and hypnotic for the short-term treatment of insomnia. Carisoprodol also has weak analgesic effects. Carisoprodol is sometimes found in formulations also containing caffeine and acetaminophen. Carisoprodol produces similar effects to barbiturates. Carisoprodol acts as a prodrug to meprobamate, meaning it is metabolized to meprobamate when it enters the body.
Carisoprodol, like barbiturates, has been primarily replaced by benzodiazepines due to a larger therapeutic window, having less severe adverse effects and being safer in overdose.

I actually thought it was more like tizanadine or maybe baclofen. Seems it's abit stronger.

 

[godlovesatrier]

God hope it's not a benzo. You don't want those god awful withdrawals I've head about. I think it's nuts that most of the really good sleep aids are either super addictive or contradicted due to there bad side effects (diphenhydramine).

You think they'd have figured out a sleep aid which knocks you out without causing major issues. Saying that maybe that's too difficult a task.

Hope your experiment goes ok!

 

[Learner1]

@heapsreal Have you tried boswellia, LDN, high potency curcumin, it an antihistamine like ceproheptadine?

 

[Seadragon]

Thanks @heapsreal ....

A word of caution for those with sensitivities ..... Soma is a member of the benzo family, and was first developed as an anti-anxiety med, so there's potential for .... you know..... the usual ...

Soma is not a benzo and works in a slightly different way, more like a barbituate but it is not a true barbituate either. Yes, there is unfortunately potential for tolerance and addiction as with benzos though as it is is Gaba-ergic (sp?) and anyway, it is not easy to obtain any more from the medical profession either as it is unlicensed in the EU and class C drug in the US (?).

 

[heapsreal]

Soma is not a benzo and works in a slightly different way, more like a barbituate but it is not a true barbituate either. Yes, there is unfortunately potential for tolerance and addiction as with benzos though as it is is Gaba-ergic (sp?) and anyway, it is not easy to obtain any more from the medical profession either as it is unlicensed in the EU and class C drug in the US (?).

Just use it infrequently and when needed.

 

[heapsreal]

@heapsreal Have you tried boswellia, LDN, high potency curcumin, it an antihistamine like ceproheptadine?

Yes tried all those and more. Antihistamines help sleep but not much effects when headaches severe. LDN made sleep worse, herbal anti inflammatories as well as nsaids to little for severe headaches/migraines.

 

[Rvanson]

Thanks @heapsreal ....

A word of caution for those with sensitivities ..... Soma is a member of the benzo family, and was first developed as an anti-anxiety med, so there's potential for .... you know..... the usual ...

Soma is absolutely not a benzodiazepine.

 

[Learner1]

Yes tried all those and more. Antihistamines help sleep but not much effects when headaches severe. LDN made sleep worse, herbal anti inflammatories as well as nsaids to little for severe headaches/migraines.

Taking Ng LDN in the morning, rather than evening greatly improved sleep. I take up to 4g of boswellia and 8g of Designs for Health CurcumEvail in a day for my IVIG headaches, which greatly helps. I tried several high potency brands of curcumin and this product was about 5 times as effective as the others. Have you looked into cranial cervical instability? Prolozone, prolotherapy and platelet rich plasma are cheaper alternatives to surgery.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

Actually I think I read it's a derivative of a barbiturates, but classed as a muscle relaxed, maybe hits a few different receptors at once.

It's not exactly a barbiturate either, altho its primary metabolite is meprobamate, or roughly the old favorite, Miltown ....

Thanks yippe

You're very welcome, Heaps .... several of your posts have been really helpful, and I appreciate them, and you ....

Soma is not a benzo and works in a slightly different way,

Soma is absolutely not a benzodiazepine.

If you read my post carefully, you'll see that I didnt say that it was a benzodiazepine, I said that it was regarded as being in the benzodiazepine family, probably because of its GABAergic properties and its agonist actions on GABAa receptors, and it was originally created as an anti-anxiety medication, which indicates that it works on GABA in many of the same ways a benzo does, which is probably why it's a CSA Sched C, prescription drug. Most Drs don't prescribe it, and prefer Flexarill, which has many of the same pain reducing properties, but works thru different mechanisms and is waaaaay less dangerously addictive. It has a much longer half-life as well, reducing the incidences of inter-dose withdrawals.

Soma has very effective analgesic properties, and works on muscle pain and spasms by interrupting the pain signals between the spinal cord and the brain's pain centers, whereas pure benzos, which also act as muscle relaxants, work by interrupting pain signals directly in the brain.

Like benzos, Soma is a CNS depressant, an anti-anxiety drug, and a muscle relaxant. A lot of effort as been put into avoiding categorizing it in any way as a benzo, using all sorts of misleading terms and descriptions, and while it isnt exactly a benzo, it is a member of the benzo family, with many of the same effects and side effects. It's withdrawal profile is identical to benzos (insomnia, nausea, vomiting, tremors, muscle twitching, anxiety, ataxia, hallucinations, delusions), as are its addictive properties, and it clears thru one of the same three CYP pathways that benzos do.

 

[katabasis]

I actually thought it was more like tizanadine or maybe baclofen. Seems it's abit stronger.

Stronger is an understatement - this stuff is heftier than most benzos are. I'm surprised you got it prescribed, must have been some injury. Definitely give it some respect, it's physically addictive and rather dangerous if you mix it with other sedatives. But if you find that you only have to use it occasionally, and have the self control to keep it that way, it's perfectly tenable.

 

[katabasis]

If you read my post carefully, you'll see that I didnt say that it was a benzodiazepine, I said that it was regarded as being in the benzodiazepine family, probably because of its GABAergic properties and its agonist actions on GABAa receptors

I have to agree with Seadragon and Rvanson, it's not really accurate to say carisoprodol is in the benzo family. In fact it would be in the carbamate family. It seems perhaps you meant the family of drugs that affect GABA receptors, which would more appropriately be called 'GABAergics', or just 'sedatives' if you're not trying to be so particular. I think most people would consider the boundaries of the 'benzo family' to be just benzodiazepines themselves, perhaps also including structurally similar drugs such as the thienodiazepines.

That said, it's all just a semantic quibble (I'll admit I love to quibble).

 

[Rvanson]

I was on Soma early on in my CFS/ME. It was worthless for me, but everyone is different.
Tylenol is also worthless to me. I feel no pain relief even at a high dose. It may as well be a sugar pill. If Soma works for you, that's great. I find that Alprazolam as a great sleep aid, as I suffer from severe insomnia, and Soma did nothing for that whatsoever. But, to each his/her alone. If you find that Soma works, then by all mean use it, if it helps you. My .02 centavos.