Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

[Virgil]

Hi Folks,

In the six weeks that I have been taking baclofen, my anxiety has been higher than normal. Now that may just be coincidence. I certainly hope so! However, I discovered a paper by Dr Olivier Ameisen, as follows:

http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi...t/agm058v1.pdf

In this paper, Dr Ameisen cites research showing that lack of anxiolytic activity and even anxiogenic actions have been reported for baclofen. Now, although I knew that anxiolytics reduce anxiety, I had to check the meaning of 'anxiogenic' and it transpires that an anxiogenic substance causes anxiety.

So, my question is - for those on MWO who are taking baclofen, have any of you experienced an increase in anxiety that could be attributed to the baclofen?

Thanks in advance.

V.

[eight days a week]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

Oh V, I do hope Baclofen isn't the cause of your extra anxiety (and as a fellow GAD sufferer, I know even the thought it might be may be causing you extra anxiety in itself).

Have you asked your prescribing doctor about this?

[Virgil]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

eight days a week;794388 wrote: Oh V, I do hope Baclofen isn't the cause of your extra anxiety (and as a fellow GAD sufferer, I know even the thought it might be may be causing you extra anxiety in itself).

Have you asked your prescribing doctor about this?

Hi 8,

Yes, I put the question to my doctor and was told that baclofen cannot cause anxiety. But that conflicts with Dr Ameisen's paper.

There is every possibility that the reason for my elevated anxiety over the last few weeks is due to other factors and not baclofen. But, reading Dr Ameisen's paper made me wonder. Particularly as Dr Ameisen's personal experience of baclofen was that of anxiety reduction as explained in The End of My Addiction. That's why I thought it wise to start this thread.

V.

[eight days a week]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

Your doc is pretty experienced with using Baclofen across many many patients, as I understand it from your posts V, so I'd say in my very humble opinion there's a very good chance that it's related to other factors. You've made a lot of changes to your other meds and supplements recently, especially before and when starting Baclofen, haven't you?

I hope others will chime in here, and that as many people as possible who take Bac will see this - there is no way for you to know if others have experienced anxiety unless anyone who has sees this thread and replies.

[beatle]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

There have been several people on other threads mentioning increased anxiety with baclofen. I'm sure one of them quit baclofen because of it.

I haven't read the paper you posted, but obviously there is some connection, at least in some people.

As a life-time, severe anxiety sufferer, my experience with baclofen was an immediate, almost complete, elimination of anxiety (at least unattributable anxiety, i.e. anxiety without a clear cause).

However, as I titrated up, I did have some very bad nervous/anxiety/panicattack type incidents. These were really bad... worse than before I started bac. I had to force myself to drink then to get over the debilitating physical consequences.

I think the reason that happened was three-fold:

1) I titrated up too quickly (for me)
2) I was especially stressed by other outside factors at the time of these incidents
3) Two of the 3 times this happened, I was also taking a low-dose prescription pain-reliever that must have interacted with the bac.

Anyway, it seems that yes, some people do have increased anxiety, but I think this might have to with combinations with other drugs and the rate at which you titrate up. Also, like almost all bac side effects, it probably wanes with time.

[Virgil]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

beatle;794642 wrote: There have been several people on other threads mentioning increased anxiety with baclofen. I'm sure one of them quit baclofen because of it.

Anyway, it seems that yes, some people do have increased anxiety, but I think this might have to with combinations with other drugs and the rate at which you titrate up. Also, like almost all bac side effects, it probably wanes with time.

Hi beatle,

I really value your feedback - thank you!

In my case, I think it very unlikely that baclofen is interacting with my other medications. I'm currently not taking any psychiatric medicines - apart from the very occasional diazepam and I'll do my best to cut that back to zero. Regarding the rate at which I titrated up, it was 10mg every three days, which I thought was considered to be safe. So, it's your last sentence above that I'm pinning my hopes on. And, I still think my elevated anxiety may have been caused by other factors and not by the baclofen. Time will tell.

Thanks again.

V.

[mrblue]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

Beatle, thank you for sharing this information. I've been on baclofen for 5 months, but for the last 2 months, I have been having severe panic attacks. I have been wondering if it is the baclofen this whole time, but, until now, I couldn't find any information that backed up my feelings that it was baclofen. So thank you for making me aware that others have had this same problem.

Would you mind pointing me in the right direction to find the others that you mention have had anxiety/panic attacks from baclofen.

Thank You

[Cinders]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

I am glad you started this thread, Virgil.

I do not suffer anxiety at all when on Baclofen unless there is an external cause. I had one situation that did cause me huge anxiety but if you knew what it was, you would agree the anxiety was caused by good reason.

However, I have never titrated up beyond 140 mgs/day and I did not stay there very long as I was having issues with sleep. I also am not prescribed enough to go above 80 mgs/day, so I had to go back down anyway.

I am seriously considering supplementing my prescription with an online purchase. I would like to get up high enough to hit my "off switch."

It is good to know in advance that I may have to deal with some anxiety issues if I do titrate up much higher. I will know to back off and let my body settle down a bit.

As always, Beatle, thank you so much for your input.

Love,
Cindi

[beatle]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

It's good to know my input was of help -- that's one of the great things about MWO isn't it (sharing information)?

Re the anxiety: I am still having the occasional bout, which is disappointing, considering how the bac basically eliminated it in early days.

However, the anxiety/panic attacks recently have indeed occurred during times of particular stress, and the important difference from before the bac is that the anxiety/panic attacks are always attributable to a specific outside state of affairs. Before the bac, I had panic attacks at seemingly random times, and not being able to identify the source increased the severity. Now I am able to see why it is happening, which makes it much easier to deal with.

[craving]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

my anxiety reduced right away on Baclofen.
I was never diagnosed anxiety and I would have never consider that I suffer from it. Since being on Baclofen my life seems to much easier. Having less fears. Really exciting :wave:

[WitsEnd]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

Hi, I'm on 200 mg and titrating down, having hit my 'off' switch at 225 mg. This took me from July till December on non-prescribed baclofen.
Having experienced a lot of anxiety since childhood, I found baclofen diminished this. But I used to have panic attacks for a brief, isolated period in the 90s when taking prozac and so was familiar with this.

So, I was surprised by the return of a spate of panic attacks in the period when I was titrating up on baclofen (at 10 mgs every five days, which, while it may be slow, is still a whack of baclofen) from about 40mgs up to 160mgs, in diminishing frequency.

I found it a big comfort when I managed to remember (well, you know what panic attacks are like and baclofen) that this WAS a panic attack: in other words, familiar.

However, as I climbed higher on bac I found much less panic, more weird hallucinations, but also the amazing indifference to alcohol. However, I haven't found baclofen does anything to alleviate depression: that stays and that still feels crap.

But, my god, the fact that it is possible to put that tiger of alcoholism to sleep inside you is enough, I try to remind myself, to counter all the bad depressive thoughts there can be. There is always hope in our lives, it's just usually at the bottom of the box, under the mothballs. Good luck, Virgil. :goodjob:

[Greg]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

I have experienced very severe insomnia on baclofen when I take much of it close to bedtime. Worse insomnia than I've experienced with anything else. However it seems to reduce anxiety during the daytime when I take it, and may be helping a bit with depression.

I'm not going for my off-switch at the moment as I could never tolerate baclofen at high doses. 50 mg per day seems to be helping with cravings and I may try for 75 or more as long as I can bunch it up away from bedtime.

[Cinders]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

I can't say with certainty that Baclofen has gotten rid of my panic attacks because I am a "cocktail" of meds, including the Baclofen for my cluster headaches and Horner's Syndrome.

However, I haven't had a single panic attack since starting the Baclofen. Not one.

And my depression has been very minimized in the last week. I wonder if the increase in Gabapentin has helped?

I take Baclofen, 80 mgs/day (20 mgs tid), Gabapentin 1600 mgs/day (400 mgs bid, 600 mgs qd), Verpamil 240 mgs/day (80 mgs tid.)

I do get horribly groggy at times, quite spacey, etc.

In my case, though, these are a minimum to handle my cluster headaches and the spasms I can get in my neck, back and eye from them. The Baclofen is actually now part of my medication to handle them. So, in my case, the side effects from these meds are part and parcel to managing something besides my alcoholism. I haven't got a choice. The cluster headaches are so debilitating, I will take those side effects.

Love,
Cindi

[brightlite]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

Ah..Cinders. What are the cluster headaches caused from? Are they like a migraine. Is there something that triggers them. Just curious. When I was taking the BAC everyday, I would have episodes where my eye would twitch uncontrollably.

[Cinders]

Has anyone experienced an increase in anxiety on baclofen?

Bright,

I have lesions on my brain. I have cluster headaches and I have Horner's Syndrome.

My GP feels I have early onset MS.

I have found stress, head stuffiness from colds and allergy, and lack of rest can trigger them, as well as a binge.

I am lucky that the drugs I take help keep them at bay.

The headaches I have are called "suicide headaches" because people do commit suicide during the attacks. They last 2-3 hours and the pain is excruciating.

Unfortunately, alcohol alleviates the pain for a while, at the same time, alcohol is known to trigger them. One of those viscious cycles.

In my case, staying AF is best in all regards.

Cindi