Baclofen and abdominal distension?

[GettingSerious]

Sorry for the indelicate nature of this post - I'm a little embarassed - but I am desperately uncomfortable and really hoping someone's got answers. For the past few days, I've had some abdominal distension. Today, it became unbearable.

It's definitely "upper" GI - it's my stomach that feels like it's about to burst through my skin - not lower. I've taken some baking soda and had a few burps, so I don't think it's excess air. I was a little nauseated earlier, but I had some ginger ale and that resolved. So, I'm really at a loss. It's obviously not food (haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon), it's not air (burped it up), and I fixed the nausea.

Please tell me someone experienced this and found a way to fix it - I can take the dullness, the tiredness, the weird "boinging" in my ears when I breathe lying down (like a cartoon character on a pogo stick - yes, really), but I can't take this. I just want to poke a needle through my belly and let whatever's in there out. Today was the first day since I started that I seriously considered putting this thing off until a later date - just to get a breather.

[bleep]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

This is the first I've heard of it Serious, sorry to say.

Obvious solution seems to be a visit to the doctors. Hope you manage to sort it out, doesn't sound very pleasant.

[Guest]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

GettingSerious;1117291 wrote: Sorry for the indelicate nature of this post - I'm a little embarassed - but I am desperately uncomfortable and really hoping someone's got answers. For the past few days, I've had some abdominal distension. Today, it became unbearable.

It's definitely "upper" GI - it's my stomach that feels like it's about to burst through my skin - not lower. I've taken some baking soda and had a few burps, so I don't think it's excess air. I was a little nauseated earlier, but I had some ginger ale and that resolved. So, I'm really at a loss. It's obviously not food (haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon), it's not air (burped it up), and I fixed the nausea.

Please tell me someone experienced this and found a way to fix it - I can take the dullness, the tiredness, the weird "boinging" in my ears when I breathe lying down (like a cartoon character on a pogo stick - yes, really), but I can't take this. I just want to poke a needle through my belly and let whatever's in there out. Today was the first day since I started that I seriously considered putting this thing off until a later date - just to get a breather.

Hey

I experienced exactly this most of the time whilst on Baclofen, that 'falling out feeling'. I asked a nurse about it, she said it would simply be the muscle relaxant effects of Baclofen - basically it's relaxing all your abdominal (internal as well as external) muscles and hence the feeling you are having. My sides used to actually hurt as well.

I don't know how to fix it, at the time I did start doing some doing some gym training again including ab work - but it didn't improve. Only went away when I ceased high-dose. Hopefully for you this, like the other SEs will improve with time as most high-dose users find. Unfortunately none of my SEs never let up for me, even after several weeks AF at the same dose.

Obviously do go and get it checked out if you are worried!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

Hiya, GS.
Are you having b.m.s? Constipation is a SE, for sure. I have new sympathy for people who suffer from it, now.
My solution was a ton of dark leafy greens etc... There have been other methods suggested, including cleanses and otc meds.

If that's not it, then I'm not understanding the nature of the problem.

I hope you find some relief from it today! I can't imagine how uncomfortable it must be if it's bad enough that you are considering tabling the meds. (I'm not making light, not by any stretch. I have definitely had SEs that were terrible enough to have me desperately searching for answers, that threatened the goal, and they often don't sound quite so excruciating in writing.)

Hang in there, let us know whether you find a solution. Keep in mind it's for posterity, will you? Your issues now will help someone in the future.

Ne

[Guest]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

Good point NE, I wasn't suffering from that particular SE when I felt as Getting Serious describes.

[Arura]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

I have had this! It is so uncomfortable. I went through all the medical stuff last month because I was so alarmed, first high powered good bacteria, then upper GI, colonoscopy, CT scan, ultrasound, had pictures taken and showed them to the doctors, now they are all mad and made me an appointment with a psychiatrist because everything was normal. The one thing I actually had was C Diff shown by a stool sample and it hasn't been as bad since being treated with vancomycin (the alternate treatment was flagyl and if you mix that with alcohol you become violently ill so I told them I was allergic to flagyl). I still have it though not as bad and am about to start Colonix that I learned about online, I will let you know if it works!

[beatle]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

I don't like to plant seeds of fear, but I have had that bloating in the upper abdomen, with some pain in the left half right under my breast. If you get pain, it could be pancreatitis, which is often caused by excessive alcohol intake. I have been to the hospital 3 times (emergency room) because of this. If you suspect it could be this, it may not have to be so dramatic. I have learned ways to cope with it that don't involve ERs. Please PM me and I will give you appropriate advice. If you feel no pain at all, it could still be pancreatitis, but probably will go away (especially if you lay off al).

[redhead77]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

I had abdominal bloating. I thought it was related to the L glut I started. It's hard to say, because I was on high doses of baclofen at the time. The other thing that happened was I developed this small lump on the right side of my umbilicus. Crap. I think it might be a hernia. It's still there. I might have had a small underlying hernia from all the babies I've had, and the muscle relaxant effects of baclofen may have officially allowed it to blossom (I know interesting word choice). This is bad news, because it usually requires surgery to repair. One also shouldn't do abdominal exercises while having one, as it may make it worse. But do you think I stopped that? No. I've finally gotten my groove back, and don't want to give it up. Back to the doctor for me.

[GettingSerious]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

Thanks for your input guys. I'm glad at least a couple of other people on bac have experienced this - arura - sorry you got sent to a psych. It's always YOUR problem when the docs can't figure out what's wrong with you, isn't it? God forbid they may just not be getting it right....anyway, i digress.

It is a little bit better today - but only a little. The intense pressure is gone - thank god, that was what had me tearing my hair out. I am still bloated, still having that "spilling out" feeling that ukblonde described. It feels (to me) like I developed a beer gut + muffin tops virtually overnight. I keep asking my BF if it looks like a beer gut, pregnancy, a 13lb tumor, etc. HE's no help. you know that panicked look they get when you ask a variant of the "do I look fat" question.

It's not good, but if it stays like this i can handle it. Suck it in, suck it up, right? Gotta pull my fat jeans out of storage - my regular jeans fit, but it's too uncomfortable to have them snug around my waist.

Anyway, grateful for the replies, was having a dark moment of the soul last night. Flip side of it all is that I drank about half to one-third of my usual al intake the last three days due to the wretched bloat. As others have commented, the other side effects (tiredness, fogginess, general dull-wittedness) really decreased. I am grateful for that break, at least. onward and upward.

[Evey]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

I have abdominal swelling too. I have gained about 10lbs of weight, but I think the way my stomach is bloating has little to do with the weight gain. I fixed it once when I took a pill that has diuretic qualites and my stomach was back to normal. I have broken out the body shapers a few times to try to help camoflauge the problem. Yesterday, I took a water pill with zero results.

Does anyone know if this is water weight, gas, or something else? Is it just the muscle relexant effect of baclofen like ukblonde suggested or maybe a combination?

[RudyB]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

Hi Serious,
I've had some GI issues, even missed a day of work from them (extreme nausea, threw up w a little blood (!), and much diaharreah for a day), at a low dose of 50 mg. I've noticed my usually pretty cooperative and fairly flat frontside is a bit rounder than usual, but nothing extreme. I've wondered how much my belly grumblings (enough to make a soundtrack) have to do w drinking (which I still do, though somewhat less than before), and how much to do with the bac. Probably a combination. I hope the situation improves for you. Also, you needn't apologize for that 'indelicate nature' of your post. Woman, that's what we're here for!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

What's news?

How's the belly?

[moglor]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

I've always had a lot of gut problems. For me, it's definitely related to the wheat/carbs/alcohol in beer, but I think the bloating has more to do with alcohol intake and dehydration causing water retention. When I stop drinking beer and start drinking water, the gut issues and bloating resolve in a few days, and 5 of the 10 pounds I gained on bac disappears in a torrent of pee.

[SassyLassy]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

Water pills

What water pills do people take? I was at Target over the weekend, and there were lots of things like HydroxyCut, and most of them just contained caffeine. Is that what I want, or should I talk to Dr L about a RX?

[spuddleduck]

Baclofen and abdominal distension?

just seen this thread after i posted a thread called 'aspartame'. i havent taken bac, but i have noticed since decreasing my al intake that i have an awful bloated belly.... very uncomfortable. ive been looking stuff up today online and found info about artificial sweetners causing all sorts of problems..... particularly bloating and ibs. if like me you have replaced al with sugar free drinks it may be something to do with it. just a thought.