Tizanidine and Hallucinations: What Users Say

• can...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 18, 2014

Tizanidine for Muscle Spasm "I was prescribed this medication for muscle pain related to rheumatoid arthritis and chronic tendonitis. Personally, I'm VERY sensitive to this medication and suffer the 'rare' side effects: slurred speech, hallucinations (only at night), disorientation (I've gotten lost in my own room twice when I take 4 mg), low heart rate. The highest dose I have taken is 8mg with Xanax for my anxiety. Once I stayed awake, although drowsy, I watched a movie; the second time I woke up in the ICU for bradycardia, hypotension, and change in the level of consciousness. Despite taking this daily for 2 months, I still have side effects. My husband says this medicine makes me drunk. I have been taking 1mg at a time. It does work well."

• Cer...
• November 1, 2013

Tizanidine for Muscle Spasm "This medicine helps me sleep, but that's the best I can say about it. It doesn't relieve pain or help relax my spasticity. If your pain and problems are only at night, this is good for you. I hallucinate a lot, once I adjusted to the dose, it changed, but if I ever have to take more than usual, then I start to hear and see things. I had conversations with my husband in the middle of the night when he wasn't there, and many other accounts. I would suggest you use caution. I have a very high level of muscle pain for many reasons, and I'm very spastic, so it's not a surprise that Zanaflex doesn't work as well as I'd like for me. I will continue to take it while I explore other options. It isn't a bad medication."

• Ash...
• August 31, 2019

For Muscle Spasm "I was given tizanidine to help with back spasms from 2 herniated discs. Within 10-20 minutes of taking this, I was extremely tired. The first time I had the side effect, I would wake up a few hours into the night completely drenched in sweat, and it sounded like people were talking, which I live alone. I continued taking it with the same issue every night. After a week in, I woke up with hallucinations. I had never been so scared in my life, it lasted a good hour. I never took it again, and when reading up on it after, this is a common side effect. I just want to warn other people before taking this medicine."

• Pun...
• August 4, 2014

Tizanidine for Muscle Spasm "My mother had taken this for years for leg cramps. She started having hallucinations. She started by having a dream every night for about a month that involved the same people. When she woke up in the morning, her dreams had become reality for her. I finally convinced her to go off the medication and now no more problems. Her cardiologist suggested she go off the medication about 6 months before."

• K8a...
• August 28, 2018

For Cluster Headaches "I have occipital neuralgia, my nerve pain has been horrible and exacerbated by insomnia. This medication has been the only one in 10 years to actually make me sleep without feeling groggy in the morning. I will say that you should take a minimal dose because I have felt slight hallucinations and like I’m having problems swallowing, although I feel that this is more of an anxiety than actual reality. I’m in the medical field, so I feel comfortable saying this. I have taken it too late at night and had difficulty walking the next day, which can be pretty scary. However, it is a muscle relaxer. Take as prescribed."

• mjd...
• August 30, 2014

For Muscle Spasm "Worked great when I first started the meds, but slowly had to increase the dosage for relief. I have fibromyalgia. I take 12 to 16 mg at night. I have started having hallucinations and terrible nightmares. It causes really bad dry mouth. It doesn't help me sleep anymore. I will see if there is something else out there."

• Dew...
• February 1, 2020

For Muscle Spasm "I took 1 dose of tizanidine 4 mg and wham! Not with any warning, it hit me. This drug should be taken off the market!!! I almost fell, literally fell asleep standing and just made it to a chair! I had a hallucination, I guess they call it, I saw green lines, my heart rate dropped, my mouth became extremely dry, I could hardly talk, I blacked out for a few minutes, was extremely tired, and the pain! I felt 100 times worse than before. There was a nasty taste in my mouth, then my heart was having palpitations. I became extremely tired very fast, hallucinated, and had no relief, just tired! I have an autoimmune disease (adrenal hypofunction) and was afraid to take ANY med until this got out of my system, it gave me a whopper migraine or pain in my head, anxiety, and my heart rate dropped. Never ever will I take this."

• sli...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 3, 2018

For Muscle Spasm "I'm 60 years old. This is the worst medication I have ever been given. I took the medication for 2 nights, and that was enough for me. I felt like I was on LSD in the 70s. I was asking my dogs to turn off the lights, like they were human. I saw bugs crawling all over the electrical outlets and anything electric. When I say bugs, I mean thousands of them. NEVER AGAIN."

• Ivy...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• March 27, 2015

For Muscle Spasm "I have been on this med for years and while it helps, the side effects are awful. I hallucinate, sleepwalk, carry on lucid conversations, eat (that's the worst one!), and by morning, I'm in pain again. There has got to be something better than this! Even Soma was better, but the lucid conversations, answering the phone, and answering the door were something that couldn't continue either. I've been off of the tizanidine for 2 weeks now and all of the side effects stopped, but I can't take the pain!"

• Mar...
• August 7, 2016

For Muscle Spasm "Dr. ordered 6 mg of this for back spasms because Flexeril was not doing the job. Had the most bizarre reaction to any medication I ever took. I've had allergic reactions before, but this was disturbing. Within 45 minutes of taking the 6 mg capsule, I could not open my eyes even though I tried. Then I started sweating profusely from every pore in my body. Then I became paralyzed! I tried to lift my arms and couldn't! My breathing became shallow, and I started hallucinating! I was finally able to get out of my chair and get into bed after 2 1/2 hours. This was a 'one and done' medication for me!"

• TXG...
• February 8, 2020

For Muscle Spasm "I fell off a 10-foot ladder onto my left knee, resulting in a stage five tibia plateau fracture and broken tibia. Anyway, my muscles do get very tight. He prescribed 4 mg every eight hours as needed. I could feel the muscles relaxing, especially my calf, but I had hallucinations so bad I wound up in the hospital for three days. I mean, it was bad!! So bad they restrained me after I punched out five nurses. Seriously, I feel bad about that today, but it was the medication. I’ve taken Flexeril before, Soma helped someone so much, got me kind of loopy though. I’m sure not everyone experiences hallucinations, but it’s true I did. For me, it was so bad even in the hospital they called in psychiatry before I could even think of getting discharged. Praise God, by then the meds were out of my system. I can say Zanaflex never made me drowsy."

• No...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• February 8, 2015

For Muscle Spasm "I was prescribed tizanidine 4 mg mainly as a sleep aid, but I also suffer from muscle spasm. I take one pill before bedtime, and in about half an hour, I'm ready for bed. The problem? I'm wide awake in 2 hours and need to take another pill. This goes on all night. If I take two at a time, I start hallucinating, have weird dreams, and I feel my heart beating faster (tachycardia). I continue to take it because two hours of sleep is better than being awake for 36 hours. I will, though, ask my doctor to let me try soma."

• con...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 23, 2012

Tizanidine "Zanaflex works when I use it for my tight shoulders leading to my back; however, I seem to be having some side effects that most people are just laughing off. I think my husband thinks I'm a little off. I have hallucinations - yes, I realize they are real. The other is when I start to move around all of the joints seem to be tight and the muscles spasming around them. It is about 5-10 minutes long. I lose my balance and one more thing, I have acute hearing loss at times too. That could be unrelated."

• Psy...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 1, 2023

For Muscle Spasm "I was prescribed tizanidine following back surgery. I experienced severe hallucinations and delusions after each dose of this medication, despite being taken off all prescription pain medications. I returned to my normal, coherent self about 14 hours after the last dose."

• Psy...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 1, 2023

For Muscle Spasm "I was prescribed tizanidine following back surgery. I experienced severe hallucinations and delusions after each dose of this medication, despite being taken off all prescription pain medications. I returned to my normal, coherent self about 14 hours after the last dose."

• Fri...
• August 3, 2011

For Muscle Spasm "This is my 3rd month on Tizanidine. Was on 2 mg four times a day for severe low back and neck spasms and pain from an injury sustained while in Iraq. Also been on many types of relaxers and other pain medicines with no significant relief until my doctor wrote me a prescription for tizanidine. Since I've been on it, daily activities have increased, taken 2-6 hour road trips with no major problems, and been able to increase my nightly naps and turn those into dream-filled lapses in reality for close to 6 hrs/night! Cut Ambien use in half. Now on 4 mg three times a day. The only negatives I have for this medicine are it doesn't last long enough, dry mouth is bad, dreams are sometimes too vivid, causing nightmares, and hallucinations have occurred due to user error. Follow doctor's orders while using this medicine."

• Ang...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• September 24, 2019

For Muscle Spasm "I was given Tizanidine 4 mg tablets to take for muscle spasms in my back and hips. The first time, I was so thirsty I couldn’t drink enough, then I started seeing drawings and writing on the wall. I was convinced that spiders were coming down on webs on my bed. The worst experience I had was after I had taken it the night before my blood pressure bottomed out, and I split my face open in my living room. Nine stitches and a broken kneecap came from that. This medicine is not the one for me. I’ve passed out more than once with it, but the last time I done it, and I’m taking Baclofen now."

• Hel...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 13, 2018

For Muscle Spasm "I hate this drug, will not be taking it again. Within 20 minutes, I was either in a coma or knocked out sleeping. I have no idea which sedation I was under... pretty scary. I had hallucinations, where I saw a devil over me, red lights, just weird. Woke up, and I could barely move, my body was weak. No muscle pain, but a dangerous drug that puts you in a slight coma."

• Sca...
• December 20, 2017

For Muscle Spasm "This medicine should NOT be available to anyone. This medicine, when I took it, made my ears ring, my mouth dry, and hallucinations. I mean serious, bad hallucinations. This drug needs to be reassessed by the FDA because it literally will take someone out of commission one day. I felt like I was dying due to these side effects. This medicine should not be on the market. PERIOD!!!!"

• dan...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• June 11, 2023

For Muscle Spasm "For me, it helped to a degree (may be misdiagnosed). It lessened the pain I have in my chest muscles, but it is still there. The side effects for me are unusual. It makes me extremely drowsy and heavy feeling. Plus, when being woken up while asleep on this medication, I feel like parts of my body are vibrating, my heart is racing because I feel panic. As I'm woken suddenly, I am hallucinating random objects (sometimes with only one eye?). And when I go back to closing my eyes, it's like I'm still dreaming? Maybe a weird version of sleep paralysis? Then I've been having bad/dark/stress dreams. By the time I wake up, I'm in pain again =/. It has been moderately scary but heightens my side effect anxiety."

• bre...
• September 23, 2009

For Muscle Spasm "I got this medicine to help with spasms, which it did. Helps me 'shut down' at the end of the day too. I do have a few hallucinations with it before I fall asleep and seem to have increased bad dreams, also dry mouth, but I do think the benefit really outweighs the side effects."

• pac...
• April 21, 2011

"At first, 1 mg in the morning and night seemed to help. But then, after 3 weeks, I started becoming way too tired to function. The dry mouth after taking the tablet was the worst I've ever had, and I started to wake up in the middle of the night, hallucinating every few days. I also take a small dose of either Lunesta or Ambien every night. The hallucinations seemed to be more frequent on Lunesta nights, so I stopped taking that and went down on Tizanidine just at night. I've had a couple of nights where I felt pretty weird, but no hallucinations. However, I'm not sure it's really helping other than to help me sleep now. I think I'll ask about trying to increase the Tizanidine and go off the sleeping pills."

• cra...
• February 18, 2013

Tizanidine for Muscle Spasm "This medicine helped for fibromyalgia but caused hallucinations and fatigue."

• mik...
• April 21, 2021

For Muscle Spasm "Never again hallucinating from this after a radiofrequency ablation (RFA)."

• Ina...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 22, 2018

For Muscle Spasm "Tizanidine caused hallucinations. Didn't help alleviate muscle spasms or pain yet."