Baclofen and adderall

[bostonguy92]

I will be starting to take Baclofen soon for phenibut withdrawls and am curious if it will have any interactions with my ADD medicine, adderall? I have heard that Baclofen decreases dopamine production while adderall increases it. Any advice?

[redhead77]

Baclofen and adderall

Bostonguy,

I take both. There are no important listed interactions between the two (maybe no interactions at all). I know that Adderall increases dopamine, but I didn't know bac decreases it. I think I've read something somewhere... but I can't be sure. I honestly don't know how bac affects our neurotransmitters. Nobody has really said around here. I just know it breaks addiction via GABA B...somehow.

I just did a quick look. It looks like alcohol causes a large release of dopamine when consumed (I recognize you aren't here for alcohol, but for phenibut), but just sayin'. I'm wondering if bac maybe slows the release. So maybe it doesn't decrease it exactly? I'm just reaching here because I have no idea! :H

So, to answer your question, it doesn't interact in the traditional sense. I don't know what the two do together as far as dopamine goes.

[terryk]

Baclofen and adderall

bostonguy92;1216909 wrote: I will be starting to take Baclofen soon for phenibut withdrawls and am curious if it will have any interactions with my ADD medicine, adderall? I have heard that Baclofen decreases dopamine production while adderall increases it. Any advice?

Baclofen blocks the development of sensitiza... [Behav Pharmacol. 2005] - PubMed - NCBI

Behav Pharmacol. 2005 Nov;16(7):553-8. Baclofen blocks the development of sensitization to the locomotor stimulant effect of amphetamine.

Bartoletti M, Gubellini C, Ricci F, Gaiardi M. Department of Pharmacology, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 48, I-40126 Bologna, Italy. maria.bartoletti@unibo.it

Abstract The GABAB agonist baclofen (BCF) has recently been reported to block the expression of sensitization to the locomotor effect of amphetamine (AMPH), and to reverse it after repeated administration. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether baclofen could also prevent the development of sensitization to the psychostimulant. Chronic AMPH treatment (1.5 mg/kg i.p. for 10 days) led to an increased locomotor response to AMPH (1.5 mg/kg) when the animals were challenged 3 and 30 days after the end of repeated treatment. Chronic co-administration of BCF (2 mg/kg, i.p.) and AMPH blocked the development of sensitization to the stimulant effect of AMPH. An ancillary experiment excluded that a 'state-dependency' hypothesis could account for the effect of baclofen. Furthermore, a previous repeated treatment with baclofen alone had no influence either on the acute AMPH effect or on the subsequent development of sensitization to AMPH. In conclusion, the results confirm that GABAB receptors play an important role in the acquisition of AMPH behavioural sensitization and further support a potential use of GABAB agonists in the treatment of psychostimulant addiction.

PMID: 16170232 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Whoops, not really relevant to safety, just ran into it while flipping around.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen and adderall

terryk;1217057 wrote:
Abstract The GABAB agonist baclofen (BCF) has recently been reported to block the expression of sensitization to the locomotor effect of amphetamine (AMPH), and to reverse it after repeated administration.

This is EXACTLY what I experienced. More later.

[redhead77]

Baclofen and adderall

So, my understanding of this study is that baclofen blocks the development of sensitization (or tolerance it might be labeled) in rats. Is that correct, tk?

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen and adderall

Chronic co-administration of BCF (2 mg/kg, i.p.) and AMPH blocked the development of sensitization to the stimulant effect of AMPH.

I am not sure I get it, either, RedH. I think it means that they don't need increasing doses in order to get the same effect. But that is not my experience.

From wiki:

Drug sensitization occurs in drug addiction, and is defined as an increased effect of drug following repeated doses (the opposite of drug tolerance). Addiction may also be related to increased (sensitized) drug craving when environmental stimuli associated with drug taking, or drug cues, are encountered. ...[6] Such sensitization involves changes in brain mesolimbic dopamine transmission, as well as a molecule inside mesolimbic neurons called delta FosB.

All of which is moot, for the OP for the moment.

Hi, and :welcome:

I don't know that you'll have to worry about the adderall for the moment. It might be a good idea to think about getting rid of all but the most necessary medications so as not to confuse things. But right now, it's probably just about figuring out how and when and why to take the pills. Right?
(I'm not making light! Just sayin' there's a row to hoe...or something. again.)

If you don't need it, don't take it. If you feel like you need it, then include it in the list of things that has to be managed. Ya' know? ok. I'm out before I end up writing in ancient cliches alone!
Hope that was helpful at least a bit!

[terryk]

Baclofen and adderall

redhead77;1217478 wrote: So, my understanding of this study is that baclofen blocks the development of sensitization (or tolerance it might be labeled) in rats. Is that correct, tk?
Ne/Neva Eva;1217488 wrote:

Chronic co-administration of BCF (2 mg/kg, i.p.) and AMPH blocked the development of sensitization to the stimulant effect of AMPH.

I am not sure I get it, either, RedH. I think it means that they don't need increasing doses in order to get the same effect. But that is not my experience.

From wiki:

Drug sensitization occurs in drug addiction, and is defined8 as an increased effect of drug following repeated doses (the opposite of drug tolerance). Addiction may also be related to increased (sensitized) drug craving when environmental stimuli associated with drug taking, or drug cues, are encountered. ...[6] Such sensitization involves changes in brain mesolimbic dopamine transmission, as well as a molecule inside mesolimbic neurons called delta FosB.

I'm pretty sure it means that baclofen prevents, and even reverses, one of the feel good, addictive aspects of amphetamine, in this case increased locomotor activity, which means feeling peppy and zipping around in the rat race - a behavior that *develops* and is anticipated by the user with continued drug use. Similarly, I feel that, now (post switch), baclofen prevents me from feeling the gamut of euphoric effects I used to rely on when I was addicted to alcohol.

-tk

[bostonguy92]

Baclofen and adderall

Yes, I agree with that. It has been a week now on Baclofen and it seems to completely diminish the adderall affects. The strange thing is, Phenibut really seemed to amplify the adderall effects. Strange since they are so closely, chemically similar??

[Isolde]

Baclofen and adderall

bostonguy92;1221426 wrote: Yes, I agree with that. It has been a week now on Baclofen and it seems to completely diminish the adderall affects. The strange thing is, Phenibut really seemed to amplify the adderall effects. Strange since they are so closely, chemically similar??

Can you elaborate? I'm currently on bac and Adderall (just started a week ago). I never took Adderall by itself, so I don't know what I might be missing. What effects are diminished?

:thanks:

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen and adderall

Isolde;1221592 wrote: Can you elaborate? I'm currently on bac and Adderall (just started a week ago). I never took Adderall by itself, so I don't know what I might be missing. What effects are diminished?

:thanks:

My experience:
I took it infrequently for a while. Then more regularly over the last couple of months, culminating in a couple of weeks of almost daily use when I was cramming. 20mg/day spread out.
When I started out, 5mg made me zippy and speedy and uncomfortable. And I crashed hard.

It gradually stopped working. Not only was I not zippy, I wasn't staying focused, and I was napping right on schedule.
Last weekend I took 50mg! Slept normally, though it seemed as though my mind was a little tweaked. Definitely doesn't work like it used to.

But it never really did the right thing, for me. I'm not looking for a zippy thing to help me focus. The only way I can explain it is that bac works to fix what ails me in terms of booze. I don't notice it. It just makes my brain right. I want that for the ADD. I'm eager to hear about the new med.

[Greg]

Baclofen and adderall

bostonguy92;1221426 wrote: Yes, I agree with that. It has been a week now on Baclofen and it seems to completely diminish the adderall affects. The strange thing is, Phenibut really seemed to amplify the adderall effects. Strange since they are so closely, chemically similar??

While I don't have any personal experience with this, I can comment by saying that phenibut was said to increase dopamine levels in an article I once read. This would be a separate property to its GABA-B agonism I assume. In this way, at least, phenibut sounds different to baclofen despite them being almost identical in chemical structure. Baclofen sounds like a much "purer" GABA-B agonist, and I have never heard of it increasing dopamine levels, although I have often wondered why many people (myself included) have experienced insomnia rather than the expected severe sedation with high dose use close to bedtime.

I do not know if the phenibut article I read has any official status in Western medicine, since I think it was by a Russian author, from memory.