Soma

[kim]

Please let me know what soma is and why my brother is acting the way he is now that he is taking this?  He recently was falling asleep and then grunting loudly and then after eating something, he seemed better.  He has since acted like he does not know what we are talking about.  At first I thought he was having a seizure and was ready to take him to the emergency room.  My Mom says he takes it in the car and takes shots of it during the day.  Should we be as concerned as we are?  Please e-mail me as soon as possile at ***@****.  Thanks a lot!

[robert ward]

Is this soma the kind used in religous rites and is it derived from the milkweed plant  asclepias acida

[FD]

To Robert;.;.
No, The soma we are talking about is a drug called carisoprodol. Its a muscle relaxent that came out in the 1950s, And was used as a tranqulizer, It some how turns into meprobamate in your system after you eat it, Meprobamate is the drug in Miltown and Equanil, I dont know why they called it soma, every time I punch in the word soma on a search engin, all this  religous stuff comes up;.;??;..;?????

[Lynn]

I've recently bee prescribed Soma for TMJ.  I'm not sure how to describe this but it makes me "herky jerky".  I mean it makes my arms and hands sort of jerk around and I don't have any control over it.  It's sort of like twitching but more abrupt.  This is supposed to relax my muscles but it seems to be having some sort of an opposite effect on me.  It also makes my mouth ver dry and it gives me that feeling that you get when you been swimming for a long period of time.  That really heavy feeling when you get out of the pool.  My dentist doesn't seem to be very knowlegeble about alternatives.  I'm hoping that someone here might have a sugguestion for an alternative treatment that I might be able to bring to his attention.

[Brian to Lynn]

That is an unusual reaction to Soma.  There are many other muscle relaxants your dentist can prescribe.  Also, is he planning on trying to resolve the TMJ or simply use medicine to treat the symptoms?  Finally, Soma is VERY addictive and is not a good choice of drug for most conditions.

[Lynn to Brian]

My regular dentist doesn't treat TMJ so I had to find someone that did.  I've only see this man once and he is the one that prescribed Soma for me.  He is planning to treat the TMJ.  Although I'm feeling frustrated with him because when I saw him for the consultation he spoke briefly about TMJ, took an x-ray and didn't examine me at all.  He spent almost the entire time talking about insurance and what they would and wouldn't pay for.  So I gave him a call today to discuss the problem I am having with the Soma and he seemed put off as though I was bothering him.  He simply said, "well, I don't know of any other medication that you could try so you need to give your family doctor a call".  I wouldn't see my OB/GYN for an ingrown toenail so why would I go see a GP for TMJ, especially when I'm under the care of a dentist that supposedly treats this problem.  My regular dentist was kind enough to find someone else in my area that treats TMJ so I will be picking up my x-rays from Dr. "no help" and seeing the new dentist on Wed.  I did make a call to the pharmasist and he said my reaction to the med. is very unusual.  I also called my regular that I see on very rare occasions and he told me that everyone he knows of that has taken Soma has had very bad side effects from it.  So, just call me confused!!!!  Sorry to ramble on, I guess I'm venting.  Thank you for responding to my post and wish me luck!!

[Brian to Lynn]

I'm glad you're seeing someone else for your TMJ, the other guy sounds like a jerk.  Good luck.