Best Way to take Baclofen

[Solo]

Hi

I'm a new member on here, but have been looking at this site quite a lot for the past 3/4 months and am finally taking the plunge and am about to order Baclofen from Goldpharma.

I have quite a few questions from experienced people, as despite reading loads of threads i cant find a definitive answer on the best way to start taking Baclofen.

Just briefly about me, I've been on a Valium detox from 60mg per day in late December last year to 10mg per day now. Actually I should be on 2mg, but I obtained more valiums last week because I could not handly the speed of the last few months of the detox. I've always had a borderline alcohol addiction which gets worse at stressfull periods in my life. And I can say that alcohol has caused me most of the worse situations in my life and is my greatest enemy. I started drinking very heavily about 4 months ago, as in spirits every day which I never used to do before except on social occasions. I was always a "too much wine" drinker. But it became so out of control last week (due to feelings of extreme anxiety) that I made the decision to up my valium intake to 10/12 mg which has helped enormously and the anxiety has gone and am drinking less. However I am very much aware of how addictive valium is and I dont want to go down that route again. Also it doesnt stop me drinking. And its bad for my already battered liver.

So what do you guys reccommend, especially since I'm still on Valium?

I was thinking of starting at 15mg a day then going up every 5 days by 10mg or should I take 5 every 4 hours for the first 3/4 days and go up quicker? I realy dont know what to do?

Also, does it matter which brand? I was going for this brand: Lioresal 10 100 tbl. Novartis Pharma GmbH 100 Tablets ? 39.10

But they have cheaper brands, is there any difference?

I'd appreciate your help and will share my experience either way of doing Baclofen - I liked Joe's diary, but it seemed a bit erratic at the start (no offence Jo :l ) and I want to do this safely. Have had enough drug problems in my life ;-)

Thanks a lot for anyone's help

[AverageJoe]

Best Way to take Baclofen

Welcome I (alongside all the members) can only give you there own personal routines and advice as there isnt anything definitive on the subject of dosages and whatnot yet.

Well.. from Goldpharma I get the Baclofen-neurax. It's the only one I've had from there and it works just fine for me! It's one of the cheaper ones too, which is handy. I actually started out with 100 x 10mg Pacifen from unitedpharmacies.co.uk before I went up to 25mg. It's ?20 inc. shipping! here

Secondly, I'd say don't get too bogged down on daily dosages. You should do the 5mg every 4 hours idea, then adjust and increase accordingly

Oh, I've just read the end of your post. Argh. Yeah I hit a hard place with the drink and family stuff. I thoroughly regret both doing it and posting all about it - but short of editing all my topic out (which I wouldnt do anyways, really false representation) it just kind of is what it is I guess

[bleep]

Best Way to take Baclofen

Hi Solo, and welcome.

That's a pretty good titration you've got there actually. Maybe a little slow for my taste, but it works. If you wanted to go up a bit quicker, I'd suggest 20mg jumps once you start going up. The trick for me, with baclofen though, is how you take it. Don't take it in 3 doses, take it in several. Obviously when you're on 15 and 30 mg's, there's not much choice, but once you get to 50, for example, take it in 5 doses of 10.

It should help with the valium withdrawal as well, I believe.

As to which brand - I'd go with the cheapest. From what I can tell, they all do the same thing.

Best of luck!

[Guest]

Best Way to take Baclofen

That is a very long time to be on valium based upon my experience. Usually a Valium or Librium detox lasts 7-10 days, and I've seen that applied to even heavily addicted people who have severe DTs. One reason being that valium is highly addictive, so not good in the long-term. I don't want to cause alarm, but perhaps that could be why you've found yourself carrying on with it?

I also think it's important you check out combining Valium with Baclofen since valium is a sedative, baclofen can also be sedatory albeit in a different way and I have a suspicion that both are known to affect breathing. Either way there might be additive effects, and you need to find some proper technical/medical advice.

Oh, just read you are drinking on the Valium. I'd proceed with extreme care, to me Baclofen + Valium + Alcohol appears to be a possible knock out combination.

[ignominious]

Best Way to take Baclofen

bleep;1151223 wrote:

As to which brand - I'd go with the cheapest. From what I can tell, they all do the same thing.

Best of luck!

I agree with the above. Ftr I'm using Lioresl and just take it until you take enough.

[Otter]

Best Way to take Baclofen

Whatever you take, take it in evenly divided doses over the day and, if possible, through the night. It is not the maximum daily dose that is so important but that you take it evenly to mimic brain chemicals and that you do not take so much in any individual dose to give you bad side effects or too little to have an effect. You should start with very small individual doses. Some people divide their pills into quarters and take it hourly. The total daily dose can be increased by 10mg every three days.

[Texie]

Best Way to take Baclofen

Wonder why they don't come up with an extended release form of Baclofen? That would solve the patient problem and then the motivation for research studies and the pain of having to take a pill so often. Don't get me wrong, taking a pill is a small price to pay if this stuff works, I'm just sayin..........

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Best Way to take Baclofen

Hiya! and :welcome:
I'd agree with the recommendations above. Can't begin to weigh in on the other meds, but you can check that out, at least superficially, on the thread located at the bottom of my signature. There's a list on that thread of contraindicated meds and how to find out more info.

I'd say that taking it regularly, increasing and decreasing on a schedule, is pretty key. Both in terms of avoiding SEs and in terms of getting to the goal as quickly as possible.
Don't run out!!! That bears repeating repeatedly!

and don't worry! It works!

Ne
Hiya, Tex! It'll be an improvement when doctors start looking at it! The Dutch study should help.

[ignominious]

Best Way to take Baclofen

Just thought I would mention my views on titrating up.

As Otter says and Bleep is so fond of saying, it can help reduce the SEs considerably by spreading out the dose as evenly as possible (so mimicking chemicals being released by the body).

On the other hand the SEs for a lot of people are either not so intense or are fairly pleasant. For me this was generally the case and coupled with my absent mindedness I found it easier, even at my highest dose of 250mg, to split the dose roughly 4 ways over a 24 hour day. The main thing for the efficacy is that you take the drug so that it consistently increasing in your system until you reach your personal switch.

As Bleep suggests, you can go faster if suits you, it doesn't seem to reduce its effectiveness. In fact one could argue the opposite that it can increase its efficacy: maybe by shocking alcoholism or bloody mindedness in to submission! What you must remember though is that the full effect of an increase in your dose may take 3-5 days to felt. The other thing is how long your brain and thinking patterns take to catch up with the chemical change that is happening in your brain.

Writing this makes me feel that someone will call me out as a fraud because I am presently drinking again. However I started drinking when I reduced my dose too low, 40mg. You are a few weeks/months away from that and as for the titration part the above is good advice.

[Solo]

Best Way to take Baclofen

Thanks all for the advice :thanks:

Am just waiting for the baclofen to come - ordered it friday, so will be a few days.

Will keep you posted how it goes...guess will start off taking 5mg 3/4 times daily or is that too much?

Thanks

[AverageJoe]

Best Way to take Baclofen

5mg any times daily should be fine take it the moment you wake up, then every 4 hours until you sleep! see how you get on

[bleep]

Best Way to take Baclofen

Sounds good to me.

[Solo]

Best Way to take Baclofen

So here I am, awaiting the Bac, and no valiums left, save one 5mg and a 2 mg which i'm saving for the very worse which will start tomorrow and Wednesday. So took 5 prometizine's and have downed 1 bottle wine, and a 1/2 bottle brandy. Sleep no-where in sight though :- ( Really want to take that valium, but I cant. Have done so well this valium detox up untill past few months when the speed of the detox just became relentless.

Felt so much rage earlier at so many things in my past and present, and then thought again that yes I have this pain inside, but its under the surface when I'm not drunk. Alcohol Does Not Make Me Feel good in the long run.. It ruins my life and my mind.

And yet it it stops that hurt.
Posted Avergage Joe's thread, should have put post here...

[Solo]

Best Way to take Baclofen

Posted this on the wrong thread, but its how I feel:

Thanks for your comments on my thread. I hope all is going Ok with the Baclofen and that we all of us here come out of this. I really responded to your (Average Joe) comment about family. Whoa, I know all too much about genes and GABA A and B and dopamine. I'm fully convinced that an inbalance in dopamine is to blame for addiction. Our brains are so finely tuned and little understood.

What's worse for me, and I guess everyone on this site, is that theres a big difference between a social drinker or user of drugs to an addict. When something becomes an addiction, its something that has taken over your soul and your mind, and you lose all power and control over that. Who understands that a substance can take away your willpower. That without it you can't fuction, and yet knowng it is killling you slowly. That's a terrible thing and I wouldn't wish on anybody. My problem BTW was from GBL (I was going out too much tooo clubs, but holding down a good job at the same time, when it hit). It was like heaven in a bottle, albeit one of chemical solvents ( LOL )

But what GBL mimics is is both diazepam and acohol combined. Hence the long detox with valiums and the use of alcohol, but way before that I always had an an alcolol problem. Looking back it's what caused all the grief in my life.

We all know it here..the loss of relationships, work, time, and over time the degeneration of you very soul. The dark depression after a binge, the guilt over what you have done. How we hurt those we love but don't remember a thing the next day.

I hope to beat it and I know we all will.

And also that we can push harder for our health services about why they won't consider Baclofen as a drug that has the potential to help so many people.

Solo
AKA Sarah

[Lo0p]

Best Way to take Baclofen

You're gonna be okay Sarah. :l