Antiepileptic drugs (AED's)

[Greg]

I'm just wondering if anyone here has had much experience or knowledge of antiepileptic (anticonvulsant) medications being useful for alcoholism, insomnia, anxiety, or depression. Obviously topiramate/Topamax has already been discussed for the treatment of alcoholism but what about others such as gabapentin, tiagabine, lamotrigine, viagbatrin, and pregabalin?

My limited research so far has indicated that lamotrigine may be useful in treating depression (not just bipolar) while tiagabine and gabapentin have been mentioned as potentially useful in sleep disorders and anxiety disorders (not having the addiction potential and sleep disrupting properties of the benzodiazepines). Pregabalin is supposed to be a 'new and improved' gabapentin so time will tell there.

Any other information about these medications would be of interest.

Edit : Not meaning to push the idea of taking pills...these medications could have serious side-effects rather than just beneficial effects!

[gyco]

Antiepileptic drugs (AED's)

hi greg,interesting thread im not a doctor i dont beleive many here are these are questions you should ask them,remember it is a proven fact AL brrings on depression tht is why many of us have got to this state,my opinion,as far as the drugs your talking of i no Diazapam[valium] is used for withdrawl of Al abuse in hospitals,but coming off of tht can even be worse,it does stop pain,as far as gabapentin there is a new one[celibrex,for nerve pain],ive been on it and others for over a month now as far as keepin the feelings of drinking away,i dont beleive so,lets face it ,no matter what we do,were in a spiral with what ever route we take,we or i are addicted to whatever we or i do,sometimes just seing a councillor that listens will help,hope it helps gyco

[beatle]

Antiepileptic drugs (AED's)

I have been on both carbamazepine (Tegretol) and lamotrigine (Lamictal) -- both are anti-convulsant medications also prescribed for bipolar (which I am, according to diagnosis).

I felt almost no effect from these medications, even at fairly high doses for fairly long periods of time, but both have a pretty safe profile and side-effects are few.

I felt benefits from baclofen in terms of my anxiety from the first time I took 5mg. I never expected this. I was taking it for alcohol addiction, not for anxiety. I was relatively new to this, and had not even registered that it was also for anxiety.

My psychiatrist (who had never heard of bac before and was initially very skeptical) has since suggested that it may have been that because I was on Lamictal when I started baclofen, that the bac effect was felt so quickly on anxiety. In other words, that there was a synergy. This makes sense to me, but I'm not a doctor and I haven't seen any research on this.

Anyway, it seems that danger in combining these is minimal (again, I am no doctor, and this is not advice, but at least my very careful psychiatrist is comfortable with combining them) -- but I wish there was more research to refer to... to support the synergy theory, or at least to allay fears about combining these medications.

[Greg]

Antiepileptic drugs (AED's)

My apologies for sounding as if I was wanting medical advice. I certainly don't expect anyone to give me advice to use in place of a doctor's, and I will not be taking anything based on what anyone posts here. I would always consult a doctor first. I was simply curious about uses of antiepileptic drugs that could possibly be helpful in alcoholism and associated emotional issues.

I was once falsely diagnosed with bipolar, but have since been classified as unipolar depressive. Tegretol may have raised my mood a bit but I was drinking at the time and of course that's a potentially dangerous mix. I would never suggest that anyone combine AED's with alcohol. Lamictal is said to be useful in treating depression in bipolar and possibly unipolar disorders. Gabitril (tiagabine) and Neurontin (gabapentin) are mentioned as being more useful in anxiety states and insomnia, including insomnia in alcoholics after they have become sober.

Baclofen does seem to help my emotions to some extent, but not strongly. Some anti-anxiety effect is noticeable at times and possibly even a very mild antidepressant effect. Maybe I'm simply less depressed because I'm not being driven insane by alcohol cravings!

Baclofen and Lamictal may act synergistically (hope that is a word lol) because they both have a degree of CNS depressant action. Just a theory.

[beatle]

Antiepileptic drugs (AED's)

Greg;803591 wrote: My apologies for sounding as if I was wanting medical advice. I certainly don't expect anyone to give me advice to use in place of a doctor's, and I will not be taking anything based on what anyone posts here. I would always consult a doctor first. I was simply curious about uses of antiepileptic drugs that could possibly be helpful in alcoholism and associated emotional issues.

Greg, I only put all that rigamarole in there about "I am not a doctor, this is not medical advice, bla bla" because others have warned me to do this. I used to just write outright what I thought, assuming that everyone knows I am not giving medical advice... anyway, forget about that nonsense. (And of course I know that you are responsible enough to consult a doctor before acting on whatever I write.)

We're all here to share information and experiences. People are then free to do what they want with it.

That said, I never noticed any somnolence when taking tegretol or lamictal. In fact, I had to move my daily dose of lamictal to the morning because I felt it was increasing my insomnia.

In that sense, baclofen was perfect for me (until recently). It solved my insomnia problem, but I NEVER experienced somnolence during the day. Pretty amazing... but, as you know, it has become a problem recently for me.

Now, this is a bit of an aside, but I have stopped taking bac close to bedtime, and I have stopped taking it in the middle of the night, too. I'm sleeping great now, but I am waking with that horrible, indefinable anxiety (along with depression) that used to plague me before I started bac.

And back to you, I think (and again, not medical advice lol) you probably need to go up much higher in dosage on the bac before you experience the benefits. I know you have had extremely negative side effects, but as I've said so many times before, just take it slowly, sloooooowly.

[Greg]

Antiepileptic drugs (AED's)

I realise it's important for us all to make it clear that what we say isn't meant to be taken as a substitute for a doctor's advice. You were simply being sensible.

I've read of Lamictal/lamotrigine causing insomnia, and that it's more of an energising+antidepressant type of drug than most of the anticonvulsants. I think Tegretol may have improved my mood a bit but it's a long time since I took any.

I really wish we could figure out WHY baclofen can cause insomnia when a fair bit is taken before bed. It doesn't seem to make sense, but I suspect that a GABA-B agonist doesn't share ALL the properties of a GABA-A agonist. I have definitely experienced baclofen as a drug that "feels different" to GABA-A agonists like benzos and alcohol. One of our members said they are able to sleep well on baclofen by taking Valerian and magnesium oxide at night with it, but I had such bad insomniac reactions that I'm scared to do any more night tests with bac. As for the next day, I'm guessing that the anxiety and depression feelings COULD be due to baclofen's very short half-life. By the time morning comes there would be a much lower level of bac in the bloodstream than at any other time of day, now that you don't take any during the night or approaching night. This could lead to minor withdrawals, at least in theory. Another reason why I'd love to find some way of taking it at night!

Yes very slow titration is probably the only practical way for me to take baclofen, although I have experienced a remarkable lack of alcohol craving most of the time with low doses. It's only approaching night that the cravings really hit...which is the time I can't take the medication...how ironic!!

[beatle]

Antiepileptic drugs (AED's)

double posted

[beatle]

Antiepileptic drugs (AED's)

Greg;803623 wrote: As for the next day, I'm guessing that the anxiety and depression feelings COULD be due to baclofen's very short half-life. By the time morning comes there would be a much lower level of bac in the bloodstream than at any other time of day, now that you don't take any during the night or approaching night. This could lead to minor withdrawals, at least in theory. Another reason why I'd love to find some way of taking it at night!

Yes very slow titration is probably the only practical way for me to take baclofen, although I have experienced a remarkable lack of alcohol craving most of the time with low doses. It's only approaching night that the cravings really hit...which is the time I can't take the medication...how ironic!!

This "next day" theory (lower bac in bloodstream) makes perfect sense to me, hence my new strategy: Stop taking baclofen at least a couple hours before bedtime. Have the bac by your bed, and take it when you wake up in the middle of the night (which I always do, several times... although much less now that I don't take the bac at bedtime).

You can see where I'm going here.

I'll let you know how it works (for me).

P.S.
There are lots of natural supps that can help you sleep-- I started taking melatonin again recently (maybe part of the reason the sleeping improved?) and there are several others that have always helped me a lot. No harm in adding this to the routine. You see, the bac did such wonders for my sleep that I stopped with all those other supps.