Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

[birdy02]

I drank while taking Baclofen. In fact, on the day I hit my switch at 270mg I actually forced myself to drink a beer because I was overdosed on Baclofen and I was willing to try ANYTHING to make myself feel better. (to read more about my story go to https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...0mg-41806.html to access it). It was the very next day when all the dust settled from my overdose that I realized I had hit the switch and I haven't had or wanted a drink since.

Anyway, while I was in the process of increasing my Baclofen doses I became worried about drinking while taking Baclofen so I backed off. I did some more research and thought about it some and ultimately I went back up while drinking and hit the switch.

Here are my thoughts about it. First, it was important to me to find out if Dr. Ameisen was drinking when he hit his switch. He was not, however, he is not clear about that in his book and NOWHERE (that I have seen) does he mention that drinking while taking Baclofen would be a negative thing. In fact, the way the book reads, his first person that he helped (Mr A.) with Baclofen WAS drinking. If he wasn't then Dr. Ameisen made NO attempt to point out that he wasn't. I have not heard of Dr. Ameisen saying anywhere at anytime that there is something wrong with drinking while taking Baclofen. Even Dr. Levin is prescribing high-dose Baclofen to people while they are drinking and to my knowledge he is not telling them that they should quit drinking before taking it. Corkit, please correct me here if I am wrong.

For that matter, I have not heard any doctor come out and say that people should not be drinking while dosing up on Baclofen. Obviously, there are many in the medical profession that are not on board with taking Baclofen for alcoholism. If there was something wrong with taking Baclofen while drinking then that would give any person who was against Baclofen a great way to quickly squash it as a potential help to alcoholics. Yet I have heard no one jumping up and down saying that Baclofen was dangerous or ineffective for people while drinking.

It is true that the baclofen drug information sheets and websites suggest not using alcohol with Baclofen, here are some of them:

"The central nervous system depressant effects of baclofen may be additive to those of alcohol and other CNS depressants." from rxlist.com

"Avoid drinking alcohol. It can increase some of the side effects of baclofen." from drugs.com

"Use of baclofen with other drugs that also depress the function of nerves may lead to additional reduction in brain function." This one from medicinenet.com does not mention alcohol specifically.

These are basically saying to me that if baclofen makes you sleepy then when you drink you are liable to be more sleepy. If baclofen makes you dizzy then you are more likely to be dizzier when you drink. This makes sense. What I think has us most concerned is whether or not we are more likely to stop breathing if we drink while taking baclofen. My own APRN (Advanced Practice Registered Nurse - counselor who can prescribe drugs) was not the least bit concerned about prescribing baclofen for me up to 80 mg (she can't prescribe more). When I later told her I was dosing up using online meds she SUPPORTED me and raised no qualms about me drinking while doing that. Even the media that has started talking to and about Dr. Ameisen is touting this as a very old and safe drug and no issues about problems with taking baclofen and alcohol are being mentioned.

Based on all this, I would say that there is no direct danger from drinking and taking baclofen in the ranges we are doing. Now if someone wanted to off themselves and drank a ton of alcohol followed by taking hundreds of mgs of baclofen at once then maybe there would be a problem but I am not seeing any red flags being raised as baclofen is starting to become a phenomena in treating alcoholism.

Now, as for drinking causing more side effects and or making the switch harder to obtain, who knows? I have seen several references to that on this forum here and there and I hope that the ones who believe that will please tell why they do? I have not seen any studies or even anecdotal information to support this but I would love to hear more about it.

That information is probably very hard to come by without some scientific studies or a lot of data points that include other potential variants like weight, sex, drinking history, age, etc. If you had a lot of data points with all that info plus drinking/not drinking for each data point you could use some statistics to weed out the most potent influences on final switch dose.

As for side effects, certainly while you are under the influence you may be more sleepy, dizzy, etc, but does it make your general side effects worse while you are not intoxicated? I don't know. All I can add to this is that I did manage 5 days in a row AF when I was somewhere in 150-200mgs and I can not say my side effects changed during that time, but then again, 5 days probably is not statistically significant.

I would personally recommend someone who is drinking to go for the switch. I think several others here have also reached the switch while drinking (??). If I had waited until I stopped drinking then there is no telling when I would have been able to go for it. Since I now have NO cravings and am EASILY and HAPPILY AF, I have no regrets about possibly having a few extra side effects along the way or a possibly higher switch than if I had done it AF. The point is mute and I would do it again in a heartbeat, but that is me and I am not a doctor.

I am curious what others think about this topic and why it is believed that if you drink the side effects will be worse and the switch will be higher?

Kelly

[eight days a week]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

A very important topic Kelly, I hope a lot of people will answer and that we'll get a good overall picture of the different experiences people have had with mixing Baclofen and drink.

All I can relate is my personal experience. I'm extremely sensitive to all meds, and with Baclofen it's been no different. Even at very low doses I went into 'trances' and had to sleep during the day (which is unheard of for me). As a result I've had to titrate much much slower than I would have liked. Two months in and I'm only up to 100mg daily.

I'm still drinking, and for me the SEs of Bac and drink combined are noticeable and huge. I get no SEs at that level from Bac alone that I'm aware of, other than memory problems. After just a couple of drinks with an 'active' dose of Bac in me my concentration is seriously affected, and I'm not able to do things that I could still do on five times the amount of alcohol without the Bac. Again, if I'm out and drinking then just after a couple I get extremely dizzy and uncoordinated, which I've felt has been pretty dangerous at times (walking down steep stairs, crossing busy roads), so that's no longer an option for me.

Yesterday was extremely scary, and I was just at home. I had 12 UK units (which I have done for most of the last 17 years over four or five hours in the evening - that's not even a big night's drink for me, nowhere near it) over about eight hours. I was staggering about by the end in a way that I would normally be after twice that amount in half the time. I'm very lucky I didn't have an accident.

I also had all sorts of weird physical sensations in my head. Then this morning I woke at five completely disorientated, with loads of weird visual effects, almost hallucinations. It's also the first time this has happened, so it may be something's finally happening at the higher dose (as I wrote I'm super-sensitive to meds so fully expect that I won't be able to titrate as fast or as high as others, but also hope that any 'switch' will occur at lower doses than many).

I've read that some feel Bac takes a while for a higher dose to build up in the system and see effects, and I hope that's the case for me. I've been on 100mg for about ten days but yesterday's the first time I've been like that. There wouldn't have been much if any alcohol in my system by five am this morning, or even an 'active' Bac dose, so I can only put that down to the build up in my system. The staggering and disorientation yesterday could be down to that as well but was the alcohol on top of Bac was definitely the reason for most of it.

I don't necessarily the switch will be higher as a result of continuing to drink while taking Bac, but I'll be very interested to see what others have to say. It's quite possible that it's taking me longer to titrate as a result. Unfortunately going AF at this point is not a possibility for me. So, I'll stay at 100mg for a few days and see what happens. If it continues then I'll have to go down a little and then try to come back up.

birdy02;843258 wrote:

Based on all this, I would say that there is no direct danger from drinking and taking baclofen in the ranges we are doing.

I may be unusual in my sensitivity to meds in general, but so far it's definitely been dangerous for me, even at lower doses than 100mg. All I can suggest is that people try it, take things slowly at first, and adjust as they need to accordingly.

Looking forward to hearing what others have to say I surely can't be the only one who's been struggling at such low doses (or can I?!)

As I wrote in my next post: I should almost certainly be taking more during the day and before I start drinking, as I'm (mainly) an evening drinker these days. I have started experimenting with taking 25mg a dose at certain times, and it doesn't seem to affect me any more than 20mg (when sober), so the next stage is trying 30mg. As I'm drinking in the evenings anyway I don't see much point taking it then, so rather than go 20mg every 2 hours over 10 hours, I know I should work towards 25mg every 2 over 8, before moving up to an extra 5mg in a couple of the doses, and further on from there on my titration.

[hopefulspirit]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

I am someone who has been drinking and taking Baclofen. I don't think it's working for me. I seem to have less control, more blackouts, worse hangover etc. I'm choosing to continue titrating up (at 90 mgs) without alcohol.

I have heard of people drinking through it without instance. I just think I need a clearer head to make it work for me.

[birdy02]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

Hmmm. I should be more careful about generalizing. Everybody is so different and Baclofen seems to produce MANY different effects in people. My main point by saying that I believe that baclofen is not dangerous with alcohol was based mostly on the fact that doctors every where are not screaming about the dangers of giving baclofen to people who are drinking large portions of alcohol. However, that doesn't mean that individual reactions are going to be the same - good point Eight and Hopeful!

Eight, I like your advice: try it but with caution and the willingness to adjust as needed (paraphrased). Well said. Your bad episode sounds a little like what I was calling a baclofen overdose. When was the last time you had taken bac?

Hopeful, I'll be real interested to hear about your side effects now that you are not drinking compared to when you were drinking. That is awesome! I wish I could have done it while not drinking. I tried but couldn't do it. I had to make it work while drinking. Hopefully the bac level you are already up to will help you stay AF.

Kelly

[eight days a week]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

Kelly, you extrapolated your own experience and what you've read so far and came to a perfectly logical (but perhaps flawed?) conclusion, which you put to the board for discussion. I can't thank you enough for starting this thread!!

Could it be that doctors aren't making a big point about giving large doses to people who're still drinking because not many of them are doing it? Here in the UK I've only heard of one or two who're prescribing anything close to what's been suggested by Dr Ameisen's research (and I've looked just about everywhere).

Another theory - could it be that some patients lie to their prescribing Docs about their reactions so they aren't taken off? I won't be telling my Doc about my episode (let's hope it's just the one - please god(s)!!) in case he tries to pull me off it.

Hopeful - I also get much worse hangovers on Bac - again roughly what I used to get from drinking twice the amount. Interesting, as I never felt worse from taking Naltrexone under TSM (which I still do) even though many others have reported it makes hangovers worse.

I like to think of it all as Bac working at even small doses for me, gotta stay positive eh?

birdy02;843715 wrote:
Eight, I like your advice: try it but with caution and the willingness to adjust as needed (paraphrased). Well said. Your bad episode sounds a little like what I was calling a baclofen overdose. When was the last time you had taken bac?

My friend, I've taken Bac daily since I began in February, titrating very, very slowly due to the SEs (and not just when drinking). I've been on 100mg daily (20mg every two hours over ten hours) for ten days, and this only just happened, which is why I'm sure that for some (Most? All? I guess it's too early to tell) people there's a delay between moving up on a dose and the effects kicking in. Before that I was on 90mg daily for about two weeks. So, this was no sudden overdose.

Interestingly, at 60~80mg I felt grand (SEs while drinking notwithstanding). I wasn't indifferent to drink (and still am not) but I felt an anti-depressant effect almost from Bac, and since moving past that the more negative stuff has set in (greater SEs while drinking, not being able to sleep for long enough - an almost stimulant-type effect, more confusion and memory loss).

I'm going to edit in to my earlier post that I should almost certainly be taking more during the day and before I start drinking, as I'm (mainly) an evening drinker these days. I have started experimenting with taking 25mg a dose at certain times, and it doesn't seem to affect me any more than 20mg (when sober), so the next stage is trying 30mg. As I'm drinking in the evenings anyway I don't see much point taking it then, so rather than go 20mg every 2 hours over 10 hours, I know I should work towards 25mg every 2 over 8, before moving up to an extra 5mg in a couple of the doses, and further on from there on my titration.

eight(y times it seems I've bored my own self writing this post, so I pity anyone reading this - hope you skipped to the 'good' bits :H)

[Cinders]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

I have been taking Baclofen off and on for months. However, the largest script I could get was for 80 mgs/day.

For me that was a drop in the bucket. :-(

I have ordered Baclofen online to supplement my prescribed dosage and am going to try to get to the off switch.

In the meantime, I am following the HAMS suggestion for detoxing. i.e. A beer an hour, and then incrementally increasing the time between a beer until a "safe" level of consumption is achieved.

I am praying that this will work together.

I am at the end of my rope.

I will let you all know how it works.

Love,
Cindi

[corkit]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

I wish I could say I'm not drinking but that wouldn't be the case. I've felt some sleepiness but if I keep myself busy it's not a problem but the couple of days that I didn't drink not because I decided not to but the a situation arose where I couldn't and the effect was NO SE at all to the point that I thought I forgot to take my BAC! So I'm hoping as I go up with the BAC I'll have more AF days and experience no SE.

corkit

[birdy02]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

Wow, Eight, that again shows just how different people are with Baclofen. I would have some serious side effects if I was taking bac on your schedule! I started out at 4 doses per day at about 4 hours apart (approx 8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm). It ultimately didn't work but to make a long story short, I ended up having to go to three doses at least 6 hours apart to control overdosing and side effects (approx 8am, 2-3pm, 9-10pm). If I took the doses any closer together I felt they were "building" on each other and I couldn't control the bac level in my body.

I was not able to go above 200 mg until I went to spreading my doses out. I am still blown away by the people that take mega doses real close together around their witching hour. I would be in the hospital or six feet under if I tried that.

I know my body chemistry is really screwed up since I have had serious depression since childhood and have basically never been a controlled drinker so I just felt like I needed to kinda "wash" my body in GABA (baclofen) with spread out equal doses and keep going until I got enough built up in my system to reach the switch. It worked but there may have been a better way. I'm curious what times of day Dr. Levin is telling his patients to take their doses. Perhaps I should ask this in Corkit's Dr Levin thread.

Cindi! I'm so glad to hear you are going for it and I was so glad to see you had talked to Dr Levin. I'm very excited for you!!! What did he tell you about drinking and taking Bac at the same time?

My drinking on Bac changed some during the treatment. At first I thought the Baclofen intensified my drunkeness and that I had worse hangovers. But later on I actually thought the hangovers were easier and I even used drinking to help alleviate some of the Bac side effects prior to hitting the switch (the side effects actually became triggers). After hitting the switch and starting down it seems like the side effects are much better on the way down and now drinking beer to alleviate the side effects is about as interesting as eating green peas to alleviate the side effects. The indifference is amazing.

Kelly

[birdy02]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

Hi Corkit, I posted mine before I saw your post. That's really cool that you didn't have SE's when you were AF. Maybe that is why Dr. Ameisen went up on the schedule he did with minimal SE's! However, I am glad to report that the switch can be obtained while drinking otherwise it would not be a beneficial treatment to those of us that were not able to go AF.

Maybe the future of rehabs is to provide an AF environment where the switch can be reached easier and safer if it ends up that drinking/not drinking has an effect on SE's and the final switch dose.

Kelly

[gratitude]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

hey cinders,
you are in my thoughts and i wish you the best with the bac journey.

[bernard]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

Clinical testing of this question was reported early last year in the journal article "Acute Interaction of Baclofen in Combination With Alcohol in Heavy Social Drinkers." The short answer: No adverse effects.

Alcohol Clin Exp Res, Vol 33, No 1, 2009: pp 19–30

[birdy02]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

Bernard, Thank you so much for sharing that! That is really encouraging to the people who can't quit drinking but want to take Baclofen. Here is a link to that study:

Acute Interaction of Baclofen in Combination with Alcohol in Heavy Social Drinkers

The study only goes up to 80mg of baclofen. My personal experience is that above 80mg I had less perceived interactions with alcohol/baclofen than at lower doses. But that really makes no sense and there is NO science in that study!

For the people that are experiencing the "shallow breathing" (for lack of a better term) mainly at night, I can attest based on my experience that it does not appear to be worsened by alcohol. Now that I am AF for over two weeks after reaching the switch, that is one SE that I still have at night just like I did while drinking. Although I am coming down on dosing, I am still at 210mgs.

Thanks again Bernard! Great news!

[beatle]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

Bump -- interesting thread on a very important topic -- was on page 9

[Sunnyvalenting]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

I think it is best to not drink while on baclofen for a number of reasons. For me abstinence, permanent and secure is my goal. I believe that there must be at least some element of will power involved in the decision to abstain. My problem was in how to go about it and make it "stick". Baclofen has been the helpful adjunct on the side of judgment to help me keep to my goal.
I know that alcohol, even at very low doses reduces one's inhibitions. But when I am trying to stop drinking I WANT those inhibitions. I want to augment my inhibition to drink. Why should I put something in the way of the Baclofen working? Something specifically the opposite of what I ultimately want?
So what I did is stopped drinking, then started the baclofen to stay stopped. I am only needing about 60 mg/d in divided doses. I am a female and older or maybe it is just my own unique constitution. But it strikes me that I may be having success at this lower level because I already decided not to drink. I hope this makes sense to at least some of you.
Sunny

[curly8620]

Drinking While Taking Baclofen - Your Thoughts? Here are Mine

how will i feel the switch

Hi everyone, I'm a recovering cocaine and booze addict. I've done 2 rehabs and 2 sponsors at na and still think I can have just one beer. I am currently in majorca on my hols with my wife and daughter. I have been taking baclofen for about 4 weeks now and am up to 140mg a day. I can't believe how great I feel. I'm less anxious, self conscious, irritable etc etc. I don't even fancy a beer, or do I humm don't know really, but aren't going to try until I hit the " switch" . Don't actually know what that means. Can anyone tell me how I will know please !!: 971.789325