Mylospas contains methocarbamol 750 mg, a centrally acting muscle relaxant. It is used for painful muscle spasm — acute back and neck pain, stiff neck, and muscle pain after strain or injury. It is available from a pharmacist, causes drowsiness, and is intended for short-term use.
What is Mylospas?
Mylospas is registered in South Africa as Schedule 2, available from a pharmacist:
| Product | Contains |
|---|---|
| Mylospas | Methocarbamol 750 mg tablet |
Methocarbamol is a centrally acting muscle relaxant. It does not act on muscle directly — a point worth understanding, because it explains both how it works and why its side effects are what they are.
Instead, methocarbamol works in the central nervous system, depressing transmission in the spinal pathways that maintain muscle tone. The muscle relaxes because the signal telling it to contract is reduced, not because the muscle itself has been acted on.
That is why the main side effects are drowsiness and dizziness rather than general weakness — the medicine is working on the nervous system, so it sedates.
The combination targets a specific problem: the pain–spasm cycle. An injured or strained muscle goes into spasm; the spasm itself causes pain; pain provokes further protective spasm. Left alone, the loop sustains itself long after the original injury would have settled. Reducing the spasm interrupts it.
Methocarbamol is often preferred over some other muscle relaxants because it has no anticholinergic effects — no dry mouth, blurred vision or urinary retention — which makes it better tolerated by older people than orphenadrine-containing products such as Norflex Co or Lenaspasm. It also contains no paracetamol, so it does not restrict what else you can take.
What is Mylospas commonly used for?
- Acute low back pain with muscle spasm.
- Neck pain and stiff neck, including after awkward sleeping or whiplash-type strain.
- Muscle spasm after injury or strain.
- Muscular pain in the shoulders and upper back, often tension-related.
- Fibrositis and muscular rheumatism, for short-term relief.
- Painful muscle conditions where spasm is a significant part of the problem.
- Muscle spasm associated with some neurological conditions, on medical advice.
It is intended for short-term use — typically a few days to a couple of weeks. Muscle relaxants generally work best in the acute phase, and their benefit fades while the drowsiness continues.
Movement matters more than most people expect. For acute back pain, current advice is to stay as active as you can manage rather than resting in bed — prolonged rest slows recovery and stiffens things further. The medicine is there to make movement bearable, not to replace it.
It relieves the spasm, not the cause. Persistent or recurrent back pain needs assessment.
An anti-inflammatory or paracetamol is often used alongside it, since they work by different mechanisms — and because methocarbamol contains no painkiller of its own, adding one is straightforward.
How Mylospas fits into this medicine category
| Group | Examples | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Centrally acting muscle relaxants | Methocarbamol (Mylospas), orphenadrine, cyclobenzaprine | Reduce muscle spasm; sedating |
| Muscle relaxant + analgesic | Norflex Co, Lenaspasm | Paracetamol plus orphenadrine |
| Simple analgesics | Paracetamol | Pain and fever |
| NSAIDs | Ibuprofen, naproxen | Pain and inflammation |
| Compound analgesics | Napacod, Stilpane | Paracetamol with codeine |
| Corticosteroids | Prednisone | Powerful anti-inflammatory, as courses |
See the pain, inflammation and musculoskeletal medicines hub.
What to check before using Mylospas
Do not drive or operate machinery until you know how it affects you. Drowsiness and dizziness are the main effects, and they can be pronounced at first.
Do not drink alcohol with it. The sedation compounds.
Speak to a pharmacist or doctor first if you:
- Have myasthenia gravis, or another neuromuscular condition.
- Have epilepsy, or a history of seizures.
- Have liver or kidney disease.
- Are elderly, where drowsiness, dizziness and falls matter more.
- Are pregnant or breastfeeding.
- Are giving it to a child, which generally requires medical advice.
- Take any other sedating medicine — opioids, benzodiazepines, sleeping tablets, or sedating antihistamines.
- Take medicines for myasthenia gravis, such as pyridostigmine, whose effect methocarbamol may reduce.
Take it with food if it upsets your stomach, and follow the pack instructions. This page does not set doses.
One harmless but startling effect worth knowing: methocarbamol can turn urine brown, black or dark green. This is a known and harmless effect of the medicine, not a sign of anything wrong — but it causes considerable alarm in people who have not been warned.
Possible cautions and when to ask a pharmacist or doctor
Common effects are drowsiness, dizziness, light-headedness, nausea, headache and blurred vision.
Stop and seek medical attention if you develop:
- Marked drowsiness, or difficulty rousing, particularly if combined with alcohol or another sedative.
- Confusion, especially in an older person.
- A fall, or repeated unsteadiness.
- Fainting, or a slow heartbeat.
- Swelling of the face, lips or tongue, or difficulty breathing.
- A rash, blistering or peeling skin.
- Yellowing of the eyes or skin.
- Fever, sore throat or mouth ulcers, or unusual bruising or bleeding.
- Worsening weakness, if you have myasthenia gravis.
See a doctor rather than continuing if:
- Pain lasts more than a week or two, or worsens.
- You have numbness, tingling or weakness in a limb.
- You have loss of bladder or bowel control, or numbness around the groin — seek emergency care immediately.
- Back pain follows significant injury or a fall.
- Pain comes with fever, unintended weight loss or night sweats.
- Pain wakes you at night, or is worse lying down.
- You are over 50 with new back pain, or have a history of cancer or osteoporosis.
- You are using it repeatedly for recurrent episodes — recurrent back pain needs assessment and often responds better to physiotherapy and exercise than to medicine.
Related medicine guides
- Browse Pain, Inflammation & Musculoskeletal Medicines guides
- Read: Prednisone used for
- Read: Donapan used for
Frequently asked questions
What is Mylospas used for? Painful muscle spasm — acute back and neck pain, stiff neck, and muscle pain after strain or injury. Each tablet contains methocarbamol 750 mg.
Is it a painkiller? Not directly. It is a muscle relaxant that reduces spasm, which relieves the pain the spasm causes. It contains no painkiller, so paracetamol or an anti-inflammatory can be added.
Does it make you drowsy? Yes, commonly — it works in the central nervous system. Do not drive or operate machinery until you know how it affects you.
Why has my urine gone dark? Methocarbamol can turn urine brown, black or dark green. This is harmless and expected, though startling if you were not warned.
Can I take it with paracetamol or ibuprofen? Usually yes, as they work differently. Check with a pharmacist, particularly if you take other medicines.
How long can I take it? Short-term — a few days to a couple of weeks. Muscle relaxants work best in the acute phase.
Should I rest my back? Staying as active as you can manage generally speeds recovery. Prolonged bed rest slows it.
Can I drink alcohol with it? No. Alcohol adds to the drowsiness.