Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

[ignominous]

Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

Hey Phoenix. How you doing.

You seem to have had your fare share of SEs. Other people have talked about intense calm, feeling "pastorial" peace. Do you ever get the highs nowadays?

Did you really hit the switch and are you AF?

[PhoenixRising]

Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

Yes, I hit the switch at 245 and I now moderate. I no longer feel the crushing cravings I had before. Once I started titrating down, all the good feelings and SE's went away. I am pretty much normal now.

[Isolde]

Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

ignominous;967288 wrote: Yeah, I'm probably double thinking everything which is my habit. If someone had enjoyed this aspect of Baclofen; they probably would have piped up by now.
Thanks for all the the input.

Sorry I'm late to the discussion here. Consider this me piping up. I've been one of those that has enjoyed more euphoria than somnolence from Baclofen. And I must say, it does pair nicely with alcohol. And I need fewer drinks to feel the way I want. I've seen your posts here and there on this subject, and I definitely identified with liking the way bac makes me feel and liking the way it makes alcohol feel. I've tried not to question it too much. I don't want to think that eventually I might come to misuse bac the way I've done with alcohol and various other things over the years. I can understand why Seethepony said that it would be a weird drug to take recreationally. I tend to enjoy anything that makes me feel "different", so long as different doesn't include bad.

There have been times as I've been titrating up (I'm currently on my 2nd day of 80mg) that I was feeling just fine from the bac - not anxious at all, relaxed - and then I thought, wouldn't a beer make this even nicer? And unfortunately, it did. Although, I have found I'm much pickier now with my alcohol. I'm going more for the taste of it than the feeling. I actually have poured out a few full drinks that I thought I wanted but just wasn't enjoying the taste of, which NEVER happened before. Of course, I eventually did find something that I wanted to drink in those cases.

I'm figuring it's just my desire to get a high from something that's causing me to treat baclofen in this way right now. Considering that pretty much everyone who's been able to tolerate the side effects has experienced their alcohol cravings go away, I'm holding on to my conviction that eventually one day baclofen will be enough on its own.

And by the way, I never forget to take it. I think that's more my desire to titrate up and hit my switch and so be free of the cravings than it is to experience the mellow euphoria (though that's nice too).

I wouldn't say I think it's addictive though. I think it's just me. :H

[ignominous]

Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

I'm also trying not to question it too much but question it I must. History of my faith being misplaced and abused I guess.

My hope: due to the drastic reduction of my chronic, (day in, day out, ever present) dysphoria (opposite of euphoria) _ it makes me an ideal candidate for bac. Keep titrating up.

Phoenix, what is your goal? AF or moderation?

[Sunnyvalenting]

Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

This is an interesting question.
During withdrawal there is a lot of anxiety and stress.
The way bac works is by alieving much of this without the high of alcohol (or benzos).
It gives a helping hand to the thoughtful judgment of the cerebral cortex which is telling us to STOP in balancing the GO message of the primitive addictive/reward seeking brain . Addiction occurs when there is a highly reinforcing experience that is sought more and more frequently and at higher and higher doses. This does not seem to be the case with baclofen. This is why it is not a controlled substance even at high doses.
Maybe this helps?
Hope so
Sunny

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

Bump.

[Juan BH]

Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

Incredible. Thank you.

[Otter]

Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

I just want to say that baclofen is definitely not addictive because people "forget" to take their doses quite frequently, which they would not do if it was addictive. And, you can come off it fairly quickly by reducing the size and frequency of the doses, only taking it when the anxiety returns and only in an amount that stops the withdrawal anxiety. I did it from a high dose to zero in a few days and had no "desire" to keep taking it, quite the reverse.

We are packing up to move home now. We should be out of here in a couple of weeks. We are going to drive across Europe and then take a ferry to Cyprus from Turkey so we can get our dog there and have a car when we arrive. We went over and sorted out a house and schooling and came back to sell the house. We could not have done any of this without baclofen because the stress of it is massive.

[bleep]

Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

Does it matter?

Not your moving Otter, but whether or not baclofen is addictive. Let's take the reverse, factually incorrect view that it is addictive. I would take an addiction to baclofen over an addiction to alcohol any day of the year.

Of course, the whole argument is irrelevant anyway, because it's not addictive.

[Xadrian]

Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

Do you need food for staying alive? Yes
Does that reason makes it addictive? No.

Does a diabetic need insuline? Yes
Does that reason makes insuline an addictive substance? No

Addictive substances change brain chemistry by flooding the brain's so-called "reward circuit" with dopamine, a chemical that regulates pleasure, attention, cognition and other functions. They do this in one of two ways: imitating brain chemicals or causing the brain to release larger amounts of naturally occurring chemicals.

Does baclofen do this? No. It just does the opposite. It mimics gamma-aminobutyric acid, which suppresses the dopamine levels.
You could say, baclofen couteracts the addictive capability of alcohol and cocaine.

[spiritwolf333]

Does anyone think Baclofen is addictive

The therapeutic utility of baclofen is not limited by its liability to development of tolerance, BACLOFEN -Scientifically/Medically Proven NOT TO REQUIRE INCREASED DOSAGE TO SUSTAIN ITs EFFECTIVENESS. (A key ingredient to addiction)