Baclofen and insomnia - my story

[suneelca]

Baclofen and insomnia - my story

I was on a galaxy of meds for what had been a diagnosis of bipolar, including, at one point, 100 mg of Seroquel. One of my docs, the MD psychopharmacologist, had a fasting blood sugar at some point and my triglycerides and bad cholesterol were through the roof. We tuned it back to 50 mg, and things popped back to normal. Had been trying to phase off of it but my MD and I elected not to precisely to combat Bac-induced insomnia. Tried one night completely off of it, and a dark night of the soul ensued. I had reached a nice equilibrium prior to that and that attempt to go off Seroquel triggered three weeks of chaos from which I'm still recovering, and that has often resulted in my feeling like a zombie. Which is good if one likes one of the new strain of zombie films, TV shows, and books. I do, but only in moderation!

[techie]

Baclofen and insomnia - my story

Has anyone taken melatonin with Bac for the insomnia?

[Cinders]

Baclofen and insomnia - my story

I take Seroquel off-label for sleep. My doctor considers it much safer than benzos for an alcoholic. They also used Seroquel or Trazodone in rehab for sleep.

I do not take it daily, though, since I can't take HDB so my insomnia is not too bad. Typically, I go to bed early, wake up about midnight, watch some tv, wake up about 2:00 a.m., watch some tv, go back to sleep and sleep until 5 or 6. I think that works okay for me.

However, if I am wired and can't get to sleep before 11 or so, I take a Seroquel, 50 mgs.

Unfortunately, I get the morning fog from it that you say you do not. But, a cup of coffee later, I am fine.

Cindi

[Doggygirl]

Baclofen and insomnia - my story

This is a very interesting thread. I like learning as much as I can about the wide array of medications that can be helpful to recovery. Interesting about Seroquel - I didn't know about this off label use.

I have a question for those using Xanax or other benzos. How do you manage the tolerance issue? If avoiding nightly use to keep tolerance at bay, how do you sleep the nights you are not taking Xanax (or other benzo)?

Thanks,
DG

[Greg]

Baclofen and insomnia - my story

Doggygirl;1233549 wrote: I have a question for those using Xanax or other benzos. How do you manage the tolerance issue? If avoiding nightly use to keep tolerance at bay, how do you sleep the nights you are not taking Xanax (or other benzo)?

Thanks,
DG

The only way I know of is to rotate differently-acting sleep drugs. One example is trazodone, doxylamine, gabapentin, high-dose tryptophan, and alprazolam (Xanax), each used one or two nights only. Tolerance definitely happened when I was using alprazolam every night, to the extent that 1 mg no longer helped me get to sleep.