Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

[johneire31]

I have been reading the stories on here about baclofen and its alcoholic benefits, to me at this stage it seems the text book drug for me, I have also read the book by the great French doctor which was very interesting.

ok so, I want to be sober permanently, and have had great spells in AA from months to years at times, my ambition is not to drink sociably, in fact sociable drinking repulses me.

anxiety is what makes me drink, then I drink until I can't anymore, then I detox by benzos, back to AA for months or years, and then the anxiety builds until..... I drink, until I can't, benzos, AA, Drink, Benzos, AA.... fimilar??

How do I approach a doctor about baclofen, I live in Ireland, at present here it is only used for MS or spasticity as far a I make out. If I ask my doctor to prescribe it will he or can he? can a doctor in Ireland prescribe 'off label'

I don't want to sound to my doctor like Im looking for a cure for alcoholism, and also I don't want to have to do a big presentation to him about all the research and shit going on at the moment.

My plan was to ask my doctor to give me bac for anxiety and see how it goes

any advice? in particular about what Irish doctors can or are allowed to do

buying this drug online to me is a non runner, Irish customs will seize it.

thanks for any advice

[bleep]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

Hi John, and welcome.

Getting a doctor to prescribe, at this point, seems to depend very much on the individuality of the doctor concerned. There is useful information to be found here, https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...ead-50513.html which you can print off and give to the doctor for him to go through either before or after your visit. Another thing that helps is to have him read the book, but it's very anecdotal and not much use in that regard.

The problem you'll face, if you get over the first hurdle and get it prescribed, is the dose you'll probably need to go to. Doctors baulk at high dose baclofen. It's why the majority of people go the internet route.

To the best of my knowledge, there isn't yet a prescribing physician in Ireland that we are aware of. Maybe you can convince one.

Best of luck.

[johneire31]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

thanks for that, hence the reason I was more anxious to approach the doc about anxiety, pardon the pun,,,, and possibly using it on that level and possibly using it for neuropaty. Im hopeful I can talk to this guy, make him see my sense! I have free meds if I get them precribed, if I go online I have to pay, and also pretty likely Irish customs will get them too.

thanks for links, I will indeed print them off for him,

My thinking is this guy has asked me to go on benzo, cymbalta, lexipro for anxiety and I have refused, so suggesting to him bac as an alternative in my logic is better then all of them. its more tried and trusted and its none addictive also.

'on label' dosage for bac is maxed at 75mg, Im sure he would not shite himself at this level, I could save up a few scripts first to allow me to go over to reach the level and then hopefully somewhere around the 70 might work for me, I know, this is mad talk, i haven't quite polished my presentation yet.

I don't think I will have any success with asking for it cos I am an alco, so the anxiety direction is what Im hoping for, did anybody know of anyone who was successful going this route?

again, thanks for you instant reply and information

John

[eight days a week]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

Is Baclofen prescribed for anxiety?

(I don't know, it may well be, but I thought not, and know that when I tried that tack with my GP* in England I didn't get anywhere).

I can only give you the advice I would have given myself though - at least try!

My prescribing psychiatrist reckons the Bac I'm on stops me going crazy on drink due to anxiety releif, but it doesn't feel like that to me. At my moderate levels of Bac it doesn't change my anxiety one iota. It feels like it works in a much-more-subtle, and very different way. My anxiety appears to be just the same. But he's the expert, and it's working, so who am I to argue (???)

* Admittedly, my GP is rubbish. After six month's pain-free abstinence (after detox) he said to me 'well you've done so very well - you used to be an alcoholic but you aren't anymore' :H

[johneire31]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

Yes indeed, better to have tried and failed rather than....... I don't know if it is scripted for anxiety, but it is a muscle relaxant and it does this be interfering with nerve signals. I have always argued with my doctor that to treat 'my' anxiety that it would have to be treated from a physical point of view first. I have always put the case to him that I had a compromised nervous system unable to deal with normal brain activity in the normal way. So I would always rule myself out of the benzos or other anxiety treatments.

I always stressed that I wanted a drug that worked on the nerves first and foremost without elevating my mood, or giving me a high or euphoric feeling, In the past he gave me betablockers for anxiety to combat stagefrieght, im a musician so I need my head to be clear, not all mixed up. So now, enter bac, non addictive, muscle relaxant, tried and tested for over 50 years, if I was a doctor I would give it to me!

I want to stress to the doc that my reason for it is the anxiety and that the 'rumours' of it being beneficial for alcoholism are a welcome bonus if they are true. anyways, I will make a call tomorrow and make an appointment and may the best man win

john

[bleep]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

John, a route I know has been tried successfully in the past is Restless Leg Syndrome, for which you can get baclofen prescribed. Make sure to keep your foot going the whole interview though!

Best of luck, let us know how it turns out.

[Godwhacker]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

Probably best just to ask him directly- he will probably know about your addiction already, so just go ahead and tell him. Faking symptoms isn't going to work, and even if it does you're unlikely to get prescribed enough to make a real difference. It's likely he'll have heard about it being used for addiction.

[johneire31]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

Thanks all,
Ya some ideas to consider. My doctor does indeed know about my addiction, it was solely through my addiction that we meet in the first place and I like him cos he was easy going when I wanted to do diy detoxes with the aid of librium, lets put it this way, I always had plenty leftover when I had finished detoxing.

Restless Leg Syndrome - I like this,, In fact I have Restless LEGS Syndrome, once the notion of drink enters my head, my legs get restless until I find a speak-easy!!

I think in general I will be honest with the doc, however, I did do alot of damage from my drinking, peripheral neuropathy is a cross I have to carry which is very painful and causes a lot of nerve and muscle problems. I have constant tingling and pins and needles which makes me extremely nervous as my nerves feel as if they are on fire all the time. Until the physical symptoms are brought under check my mental anxiety levels will remain out of control and hence, a drink will always look attractive.

any ways all advice is appreciated

john

[bleep]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

The best advice so far is Godwhacker's - just tell him the truth. If he comes on board, fantastic. Even if he believes you with the restless leg, he's not going to go very high. He might though, if he knows the full story. Rehearse what you're going to say, so you have a plan, and let him in to your confidence.

Good luck John.

[AllyB]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

John, Irish doctors are allowed to prescribe off-label if they see fit. They are self-employed and have a degree of professional discretion that NHS doctors, for example, don't. If you do get a prescription the one thing that you may find is that many independent pharmacies don't carry baclofen and won't order it for you, I don't know why. However the Boots chain does provide it but they may need to order it for you which can take a day or two.

Also because it's so uncommon here it's likely you will be given the branded baclofen; Lioresal which costs about €60-70pm for 200mg a day. Or 50c a month if you have a medical card.

[johneire31]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

Thank allyB, you seem to have some good Irish experience on this, don't have a medical card but ffs what a price difference!! My insurance operates very good to my benefit on this at this time so the price is not an issue, at least not at the present.

Do you get this of an irish doc? if so what approach did you use? did you need to threaten to burn his clinic, run over his kids? Maybe I could tell the truth!!! no, guess not, Im an alcoholic after all

[AllyB]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

johneire31;1152465 wrote: Do you get this of an irish doc? if so what approach did you use? did you need to threaten to burn his clinic, run over his kids? Maybe I could tell the truth!!! no, guess not, Im an alcoholic after all

My husband is the one who takes baclofen but I went with him when we went to our GP. Hilariously we prepared meticulously, printed off lots of relevant information, brought up the book, had a list of websites for him to look at. We went in, my husband said he wanted baclofen, the doctor said fine he was happy to do that and wrote a prescription. It was amazing, we'd been incredibly stressed about it and prepared for a battle but the doctor was ok with it as soon as we asked. He was aware of my husband's problem and had been trying to treat him for it previously. (He was also quite approving when he quit AA a couple of months before.)

Then I went to the pharmacy where I was very snottily told that they didn't have it and not only couldn't order it but they couldn't recommend anyone who could as everyone in the area used the same supplier. It was awful, I wasn't sure what we were going to do, we'd gotten a prescription but no-one would fill it. So tried Boots thinking a chain that big might have their own supplier and thankfully they did. Sometimes they can fill it straight always and sometimes they need to order it but they always fill it, though sometimes they call the doctor to double check it's the right dose.

[kansasgirl]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

hi john, how is it going with the doctor... any cooperation. I find it really hard to bring up these sort of ideas to irish doctors. It takes a rare humble doctor to listen to the patient and try something untried. I feel it would be worth going to england to a doctor that is confident with using baclofen, and experienced but money may be a problem. so it would be interesting to hear how it went for you. thanks

[johneire31]

Baclofen, getting a prescription in Ireland

I asked my doctor and he was fairly up on it but didn't seem to want to go down that road. He sent me to a srink and he also knew about it but wasn't going there either. I don't think they will script it off label even though they can. In the UK I believe that doctors don't have the same level of freedom to script off label as they do in Ireland so that might be another consideration along with the financial factors.

I can say that my doctor did put me on meds which have reduced my anxiety fairly well, it called lyrica and its seems to be doing something but its only a short term thing for about 3 months or so. Hope this helps you somewhat.