Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

[Persona]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

I am currently trying to taper down to zero from 180mg, and I think I made a mistake by reducing to 160mg over several days. I feel badly hungover, without drinking anything.

I didn't feel any side effects on the way up, but it looks like I will have to be a lot more careful on the way down...

[Persona]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

Realised I have been really sloppy about checking how many pills I have left as well. I only have 120 10mg pills.

[Persona]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

The more I think about this, the more I realise I have made a terrible mistake. My next order of Baclofen is scheduled to arrive between 21/02 and 28/02, so there is no way I am going to be able to safely reduce my doseage by 10mg a week.

[Greg]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

Persona, if you can't quickly get more baclofen from another source, you may have to tell a doctor or hospital about the level of baclofen you have been taking. I have known one or two people who have sought medical treatment for actual dependency on other unprescribed drugs and they weren't even asked about their sources, so you needn't feel too worried about having to tell a doctor where you were getting baclofen. I imagine hospitals and pharmacies would carry it, in most areas anyway (it's available even here in a smallish country town), so the doctor could just prescribe it if that was their method of treatment. Otherwise they could decide to use other medications to treat any withdrawal symptoms. I'm not a doctor but do suggest you see one if needed, even if you go to someone who you are sure wouldn't normally prescribe it. Also, I'm not one of the high-dose baclofen users here, so they may have better advice but I just wanted to give my own too.

[bleep]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

Greg's right, Persona, you need to speak to someone. How long have you been on baclofen for, and how long at 160mg's?

Although take a look at my previous post - I was able to drop drastically with no SE's. Although you seem to be more sensitive to the med, perhaps you can still drop more safely. Rather have a few unpleasant SE's, than suddenly run out?

Where abouts in the world are you?

[Persona]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

Thanks for your replies. I have only been taking Baclofen for 7 weeks. I have been on 160mg for about a week.

I took Greg's advice and told my GP what I have been doing. His response was to tell me to go to the NHS Drug and Alcohol centre with a note from him describing my 'Addiction to Baclofen'. I kind of knew it was going to be a waste of time, but I went to the Drug and Alcohol Centre and they told me that they do not do appointments, they only do a drop-in service, they only see two people a day, and I would have to turn up at 12:00pm in the hope that I could get an appointment between 13:00 and 16:00, but it's first come first served so there is no guarantee I will even get an appointment.

Based on what you guys have said, I am going to attempt to reduce my doseage at a faster rate than planned, and I am going to tell my doctor on Monday that I have stopped taking it completely, so that he doesn't have to worry about covering his arse.

I live in the London area of England by the way.

[bleep]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

Jesus, what a caring bunch you are surrounded by. You'd get more help at a meeting of Psychopaths Anonymous.

Based on what I've seen Lo0p post, who I gather has done an enormous amount of research on all things baclofen related, you might be okay, given the short time you have been on it. Maybe get in touch with the fellow, he might be able to point you to some studies that have been done.

You should be able to order some baclofen online that you can fedex to your door in a few days, someone with more experience in the whole mail-order system can probably fill you in.

Good luck.

[Persona]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

Thanks, bleep.

[Murphyx]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

Hi Persona

Some elements of the NHS are great and some utterly crap. It all depends on what priorities are set by central government and clearly alcohol and drug addiction aren't sexy enough to bring in the votes. The 2 occasions I've visited my GP in the last 10 years he hasn't even looked up from the desk during the whole (brief) time I was in his office. He just wrote out a prescription and said to come back if it gets worse. I think I'd get the same response even if my leg had been cut off or I had a knife sticking out of my chest. Needless to say, I've never bothered him with my alcohol problem. He's obviously far too busy to care about ill patients.

Bleep's suggestion about online ordering is a good one. Personally I've had good luck with 4rx. The last (expedited) order arrived in 3 days and the previous one in about 8. Plus I think they're relatively cheap.

If you need any help with the order just PM me.

Murph

[Persona]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

Thanks for your post, Murph.

My particular NHS doctor is usually good, and certainly nothing like your GP, but with this particular drug, his conclusion straight away was that what I was doing was seriously dangerous, and he wasn't going to listen to anything I had to say on the matter. I had brought along Dr Ameisen's book, and was ready to give a full explanation about the treatment, but I could see straight away that he wasn't interested because he didn't even glance at the book and was more worried about being struck off.

I can't really blame him. On reflection, it was stupid of me to expect that an NHS doctor would be willing to think outside of the established guidlines.

To update my tapering progress, I am reducing by 10mg a day, so today it's 120mg, and I am already starting to feel the nausea lifting away from me. The headaches I had have mostly gone as well, but I am starting to think that these headaches could have been caused by caffiene withdrawal, because I felt too sick to drink coffee over the last couple of days.

[Isolde]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

guardian;1055204 wrote: My bad blonde, I meant dependence(i.e., tolerance and withdrawal).

There is no risk of tolerance to the antispastic, and as we know the anticraving action of baclofen, but in my experience adaption to the anxiolytic effects takes place. If I don't continue increasing my dose, I turn into a mess. I was an anxious mess before baclofen, alcohol or not, so this could be individual to anxiety though. People who I have talked to that use it strictly as an anxiolytic describe the same tolerance and withdrawal, very similar to phenibut and GHB.

Edited

Alright Ian, now you've got me worried. So if I get down to a maintenance dose of bac and hang out there, the wonderful anti-anxiety and anti-depressant effects that I've experienced (on occasion, sometimes would disappear until I bumped up my dose again) might eventually peter out? That's not cool.

[Isolde]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

I was originally planning to drop my dose down the same way I titrated up - 20mg every week. But that was what I did the first time, and I ended up having to go back up again. It seems like everyone has dropped down much more quickly after hitting the switch and had success with it.

So I was thinking maybe 10mgs every 3 days (but that's really not much different than 20mgs per week!). Or maybe 10mgs every 2 days... I am stumped with how to do this.

And now wondering if should do something similar go guardian eventually so as not to lose the feel good aspect of bac.

And here I thought titrating up was the hard part!

[bleep]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

Titrating up is definitely easier from a goal point of view. Up up up, was my only thought. Down is kind of vague. I'm trying to find that sweet spot where the happiness kicks in, and will lurk there for a while, but for the time being I'm sticking to 180 / 190 for a bit just because I dropped quickly to that.

It's much harder to remember to take the pills now, the complete lack of any sides means there is no reminder.

[Chi]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

bump

Thanks Terri! Some good info here.

[bleep]

Safe, comfortable baclofen dosage reduction rate?

Thanks Chi, I had just come to bump this thread as well!

I'm particularly interested in Guardian's tactics here. I went from 270mg's to 0, but only for a day, but there were definite feelings of uneasiness. Whether they were real or not, I can't say. It is certainly worth some investigation, which I plan on doing over the next couple of months.

Persona, are you still around, and how did your story end regarding running out of pills?