Advice please on Baclofen and depression

[Wintyr]

Hi guys Im between a rock and a hard place at the moment trying to decide whether to stay on baclofen or taper off it. Basically I'm on 65mg of baclofen which allows me to enjoy a drink when I feel like one but not crave it which I like, only problem is I became immensely depressed, my thoughts become pretty horrible all the time and even no I'm acutely aware that I am depressed i can't seem to budge I remember thinking at a very low point how much of an effort it was just to breath. I do suffer from depression like a lot of us do, it comes and goes but I'm confident this has something to do with the bac as I tapered down to half and immediately my thoughts became sunnier! but also so did my cravings for alcohol argh!
So my question is, has anyone experienced this kind of thing as a TEMPORARY side effect and if so does upping your dose help, obviously lowing my dose is useless?
PLEASE PLEASE give your experiences and advice if any regarding anything similar as this stuff is god sent but if being extremely depressed is a side effect it makes it kind of useless!

Thanks guys.

[terryk]

Advice please on Baclofen and depression

Hi Wintyr,

I experienced some euphoria, then mania, then the most crushing depression I've ever felt as a side-effect of baclofen early in my titration. In retrospect, I'm chalking it up to uneven dosing/scheduling of dosing (i.e. 20/40/60mg at 8a/12p/4p instead of 40/40/40mg at 8a/4p/12a) and concurrent alcohol use, although I really can't be sure. It went away (around the time I started even dosing/scheduling) as I went up (to reach my switch @ 280) and it never returned. It was a very tough experience and I wish you the best of luck getting through it. -tk

[bleep]

Advice please on Baclofen and depression

Hi Wintyr,

I also ran through the entire gamut of emotions, from euphoria to despair. With me, it was extremely level-dependent. Due to that, before you try reducing your dosage, I would recommend titrating past 65mg's and seeing how that effects you.

You don't mention how long you have been on 65mg's? Did the depression hit at the same time you upped your dose?

[Wintyr]

Advice please on Baclofen and depression

Hi terry and bleep, I guess I am haphazard with my dosing I will try and watch out for that and be alot more conscience of how much and what spacing, it gives me hope that you both came through it. Bleep its been about a month a month at 65mg I was a little nervous to go any higher because the tiredness although that did seem to be improving so Im going back up to it now, I cant remember when the depression came on it crept up on me but I was mostly at this dose, so it may be that. Do either of you remember around what dose you where on when it was at its worse?
I must say theres been a few views but very few comments, perhaps depression isn't a common side effect? Not that I don't appreciate the two I received, thanks guys

[Murphyx]

Advice please on Baclofen and depression

Hi Wintyr

I haven't noticed any change in depression as a result of my baclofen use, although a number of people have reported baclofen helping in that regard, so its interesting to hear your experience. It could well be the irregularity of dose as suggested by Terry and Bleep, and that would definitely be something you need to get straight, but could it also be that you always had an underlying depression but it was previously masked by alcohol?

[bleep]

Advice please on Baclofen and depression

Wintyr, I wasn't at any particular level for long enough to be able to discern the effects. It is definitely worse if dosing is erratic though. I would suggest increasing your dose, and being very religious in taking it, both in daily quantity, and time of dosing.

How are you taking your 65mg's, by the way? I don't think that would be responsible for depression, but large doses can be responsible for other SE's.

[Guest]

Advice please on Baclofen and depression

Wintyr;1115419 wrote: Hi terry and bleep, I guess I am haphazard with my dosing I will try and watch out for that and be alot more conscience of how much and what spacing, it gives me hope that you both came through it. Bleep its been about a month a month at 65mg I was a little nervous to go any higher because the tiredness although that did seem to be improving so Im going back up to it now, I cant remember when the depression came on it crept up on me but I was mostly at this dose, so it may be that. Do either of you remember around what dose you where on when it was at its worse?
I must say theres been a few views but very few comments, perhaps depression isn't a common side effect? Not that I don't appreciate the two I received, thanks guys

Wintyr

Sorry I haven't spotted this until now. Right I had a whole host of SEs on high dose baclofen that did include depression plus INCREDIBLY wierd thoughts. Some posters not having known me previously thought it was underlying, or just part of my personality sober or otherwise. It wasn't and now I'm not on high dose it has gone - just as a lot of other symptoms have too.

Basically my world slowed right down, I don't just mean the sleepiness and I became detached completely. I started thinking about death(not necessarily suicide but just death itself) and it started to take over my thoughts.I basically couldn't see any point in living, because it was all a waste of time and futile...........at times I also felt like an alien looking in.

For me this started at around 70 or 80mg I think and continued right up to my max dose of 180mg which I did hold for 4-5 weeks without let up (and I managed to hold myself AF for 3 of those, with only 2 drinking days in the 4 week).

I'm not saying it won't get better, but baclofen did do something funny to me. A few days I after tapered back down to around 25mg a day(mostly for sleeping or anxious moments) the depression started to lift. I do sometimes still have the occasional thought about death, or general wierdness but it's mostly gone.