baclofen withdrawl syndrome

[controll]

Does anybody here, have any advice on how to deal whith baclofen withdrawls. stopped cold turkey not knowing any better. Went thru a living hell, ended up in the emergecy rm. They did not know anything about baclofen whithdrawls, even though I explained to them that was cause of my suffering. They gave me Xanex , and sent me on my way. I endured for one more day in hell. Looked it up in the net. And discoverd you dont just stop taking baclofen. went back on it and whithin 3 days, was back to normal. stayed on 30mg. a day for a week , decided to taper off by just 2.5mg a day, evry 5 days. Whithin 3 days i was going thru whithdrawls again. A living nightmare cant eat, cant sleep, dellirium, fever, feeling like i was going to die.. Got back on 30mg. a day, on for 6 days now doing better but still suffering from mild dillirium, and mild fever. Went to dr. he did not even know about not quitting cold turkey. Went to a dependence treatment center, they told me they could not help me. Any advice would be greatly apreciated. I wish evrybody in MWO forum the best of luck, in reaching their goals...:new:

[Sunnyvalenting]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

I was told to decrease by only 10 mg/d/week. In otherwords if I am at 70 mg this week and need or want to get off of it I go to 60 mg/day for 7 days, then 50 and down slowly over 6 weeks to zero. It is a GABA agonist and enhances the GABA (calming) effect. As a result the dopamine pathways turn on higher to maintain a balance. If you suddenly stop your brain is just as hyperexcited as tho you abrubply stopped alcohol. This balancing issue and need for tapering rather than stopping suddenly is not at all uncommon in meds. The ER personnel could have looked it up! Sorry you had to go through that misery
sunny

[RedThread12]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

C: Are you saying that you decreased by 2.5 mg, stayed at that dosage, and 3 days later experienced severe withdrawal? That's what I read and if that's the case that's some news for me. Thanks.

[Cinders]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

OTW,

Yes, I have taken you off the "ignore list."

No one can say what the potentially dangerous drug Baclofen does to the brain because very few in a universal population of the world has done what Dr. A did and espouses.

However, I can unequiviacally say that that over the last several thousand years, many people can attest to the fact that a potentially addictive drug, alcohol, is infinitely capable of doing many dangerous and lethal things to the population that consumes it and who becomes addicted and worse, craves it to the point of living with the addiction to ease the constant bombardment of the craving or being free of it decides, eff it, I am going to keep taking the drug.

40% of those who consume it addictively DIE FROM IT!! This also means there is data about those who don't die from it but become feeble minded or physically incapacitated from alcohol, I know this from another seriously life changing event in my life and this stupid fogged mathematical brain keeps remembering this stuff. These statistics speak loudly and clearly to the brain fogged mathematical alcoholic mind. So, I know what alcohol does to the brain. It destroys it. I do not know what Baclofen does to the brain.

No. I do not think Baclofen will be heralded as a wonder drug for alcoholism. At least I hope not. I hope the pharmaceutical companies work on a drug that is less invasive and without the serious side effects that Baclofen has. The pharmaceutical companies just have to be convinced there is enough money out there to pay back the R&D and more.

In the meantime, those of us who simply cannot (or in the case of your stance, will not) just go AF, are willing to be those stupid guinea pigs.

If I had a disease that was fatal and there was hope out there for a medicine that might help me survive, would I desperately seek it?

You bet.

Oh, I have a disease that is fatal and there is hope out there.

I am grasping at straws. I hope and pray I don't get the short one but know I have no choice.

Oh, yes, I have a choice. I could just choose not to drink. For some d@mn reason, this brain can't wrap itself around that as I wander through my sober days wondering why I feel I can't ever be "happy" again. Some GABA thing going on. (Read slight sarcasm here..)

I am so glad you found your way out OTW (and there is no sarcasm here. I am always grateful to read of other's search and solution, absolutely not being sarcastic.) but, the rest of us must just be hopeless cases that don't deserve to continue to search, possibly help the next generation and have some hope. Perhaps because we did not figure Your Way Out like the very kind and misguided AAers that were trying to you find your way out?

I am willing to take on the devil I don't know because I absolutely hate and abhor the devil I do know. I do not ask that of others or recommend it.

Meanwhile, I will search for My Way Out and know that I am doing the right thing for myself and so very much hope it will work out to be the right thing for others to follow.

controll, I am sorry you are having so much difficulty withdrawing from Baclofen. I have not experienced that even though I have gone down drastically. I have experienced severe SEs from titrating up too fast. I hope you can get off of Baclofen safely and securely if that is what you need. I cannot imagine an ER just telling you to go home with some Xanax. That is crazy. As Sunny said, "the ER personnel could have looked it up." It must be too hard for them with all the medical PDRs and other references at hand on the computers. This is a ridiculous story.

I also did not mean to hijack your thread and hope that others who come on can actually answer your original question and give you some help. You sound very desperate and I can understand that. We are working outside the "norm" and that is a very scary place to be.

Cindi

[beatle]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

Baclofen may be scary to withdraw from, but I've had much worse experiences withdrawing from alcohol, also ending in the ER twice (not to mention numerous home detoxes with delirium, hallucinations, and attempted suicides.)

Baclofen can be withdrawn from safely through slow incremental reductions, and unlike alcohol, this is possible because baclofen is in fact not addictive, which means your body does not crave more while you withdraw. If alcohol could be withdrawn from by a slow decrease of doses, this would be far preferable to cold turkey. Unfortunately almost no alcoholic is able to do this, as the body craves and demands more all the time.

I'm guessing the reason Controll had such a severe reaction to tapering down by even minute increments is that he/she went cold turkey first. His/her body was then suddenly completely depleted of baclofen, and 30mg/day for one week was not enough to get it back to where it was previous to cold turkey. Therefore, even small increments made a large impact.

My advice to Controll is fairly obvious: Stay at 30mg for another week, and then take it even slower. Can you reduce by even less than 2.5mg per day (I don't know if pills can be split that small).? Or perhaps 2.5mg every other day. Or every third day.

Those who try to use one person's misguided experience to taint a substance, a substance that is helping millions of people to cure a disease that is killing and maiming millions of people, are clearly doing great harm to humanity, and I find it unethical and inhumane to continue to purposely spread misinformation that may prevent people from saving their lives.

Think about it. There are millions of drugs in the world that are not addictive, but if taken at high levels, MUST be tapered down slowly or else severe withdrawal will occur. Almost all medicines that work on the brain fall into this category. All antidepressants, all anxiety pills, most anti-seizure medicines, all benzos -- the list is indeed very long. Are we to also start a war on all of these medicines, many of which have saved people's lives, but which also will result in severe withdrawal along the lines of baclofen if stopped cold turkey? All of these medicines also incur side effects, sometimes mild, sometimes severe (SSRIs cause many people to hallucinate and in some cases commit suicide -- when taken as directed, not in withdrawal, which can be even worse).

OTW, your zealous attempts to portray baclofen as dangerous every time somebody reports a negative experience regarding baclofen, and to use these experiences to spread misinformation about baclofen (based on either ignorance or some sort of misguided mission) is much more dangerous than any possible side effects of a drug that has indeed been proven safe through a half century of use, even at high doses.

Your efforts would be far more appropriate aimed at SSRIs and benzos, which have far greater potential to do harm, and indeed are documented to do far greater harm to patients than baclofen ever has. Yet doctors prescribe them by the millions, probably billions, and believe the potential benefits outweigh the potential harm.

Look at the facts. And do your best to be rational and ethical.

[beatle]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

... and by the way, baclofen mimics a substance present in all mammals. Much like levothyroxine, which is used to treat hypothyroidism by mimicing a hormone that the thyroid has stopped or reduced producing.

All the other drugs I mentioned (above) do not exist naturally in mammals-- they are chemical substances which introduce mechanism to gain a desired effect. For example, SSRI stands for Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. It artificially causes your brain to not recycle serotonin but keep it in the brain to supposedly make a person feel better because there is more serotonin "captured".

[azuldog]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

the good, the bad, the ugly withdrawal

I was on 160 mg Bac and had serious SEs all the way up. Increased by 10mg every 3days. Male, 170lb, 64yr old, 4 shots of vodka and two-three glasses of wine/da.
I went to Wikipedia 'Baclofen' and read the section on Withdrawal Syndrome. 80% of the symptoms there, are exactly what I experienced on the was UP. I was tired of hallucinations, cognitive dumbness, fatigue and so on. The capper was impotence. So I started back down and it was fairly easy. Now I am trying to get off Effexor which is bad. There is a whole book written:]How to get off Effexor safely" My mother was on Effexor for many years. Two weeks before she died the dr. dropped her cold turkey. All she would repeat was: Help me, Help me! What's wrong Ma? I dont know, help me (louder). The drs. had no clue.
I still drink heavily but do now pass out, have hangovers, or mind other people's business.
I thought Bac would #1 cure my GAD and basic outlook on life.....it didnt, but then maybe I missed something in Dr. A's book, and #2 affect my drinking which it did a bit.
I've been AF 9 yrs in the past and the rest including now drinking everyday. While I was AF I was a 'dry drunk' which is for me an angry, depressed person. Most days when I drink I am not angry or depressed. All this may seem confusing, I just know Bac is not worth it for me.
And AD's seem to be worse. Read the piece in Wikipedia on Bac, it will make you sober.

[craving]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

controll,

the very first thing I would do not in your shoes would be to stay on the dose that you feel comfortable with. Once you are in balance again - i.e. in 1-2 months I would try the withdrawal very slowly reducing 2.5mg every week.

How long have you been on Balcofen and why do you want to stop on it?

[controll]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

Have you heard of this before?

Have you ever heard of someone having such a hard time tapering off baclofen, in such small amounts before. Ive, been on baclofen for only two months. The reason i want to get off it , because I want to see if my cravings for alcohol, are the same as before baclofen..

[craving]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

I reduced Baclofen and had serious problems with anxiety. Feeling like everything I do is wrong, getting this fear attacks, where I think I do not earn enough - i will end up in social help or something. there is absolutely no reason to think that, so that was worrying.
Also Baclofen has caused me Psychosis on reducing the dose, which is gone now totally with the increase I have done.

I think for some people Baclofen should be taken for live.

[Sunnyvalenting]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

My doc advised me to plan to be on bac for at least 6 months before tapering. This is to allow the brain enough time for the rewiring for abstinence. Also advised that when tapering to taper no more than 10 mg/d each week.
Good luck and keep us posted

[controll]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

Thank you for your response Sunnyvalenting, i wonder if its possible to taper off extremely slowly if you have not been on bac, that long. Ive been on bac only 2 months? Reason i want to taper off is because im having some health issues and want to rule out bac....

[craving]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

controll;890284 wrote: Thank you for your response Sunnyvalenting, i wonder if its possible to taper off extremely slowly if you have not been on bac, that long. Ive been on bac only 2 months? Reason i want to taper off is because im having some health issues and want to rule out bac....

what health issues do you have if i may ask?

[craving]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

found a summary of withdrawals on Baclofen

Delirium Associated With Baclofen Withdrawal: A Review of Common Presentations and Management Strategies -- Leo and Baer 46 (6): 503 -- Psychosomatics

withdrawal symptoms emerged within 2 days of interruption of baclofen therapy ..... up to 4 days postcessation
The literature suggests that readministration of baclofen leads to rapid resolution of delirium induced by baclofen withdrawal. If discontinuation of baclofen is deemed necessary, it may be accomplished by means of gradual taper over the ensuing weeks.

If you still have problems with your withdrawal - see a shrink. He may prescribe you additional supporting medicamentation!

[controll]

baclofen withdrawl syndrome

Thanks Craving, really good info, my health issues are mental, sever panic attacs, intense pressure on side of head. Started having them a week after stopping cold turkey, then went back on my usual dose of bac,was fine for 3 days but then got severe dehydration,(dont think it was caused by bac). Fixed dehydration, but been having really bad panic attacks evry other day.. You are right about shrink , already set appt. Im starting to believe bac is not to blame directly , but not sure thats why i want to taper off, so i can rule it out.