Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

[Greg]

I would like to ask a question of anyone who has been taking baclofen on a daily basis for a long time now, whether it is low or high dose use.

Does baclofen maintain its anxiety-reducing effects after daily long-term use? I ask because I am looking for an alternative to daily benzodiazepine use, but have not yet taken baclofen every day for long periods. I have found it helpful this way for the short periods I have taken it. I have told my doctor I now want to wean off benzodiazepines permanently, and he is unlikely to reinstate my prescribed Valium once I am off it. I would just stay on benzos like Valium or Xanax except that I am too worried about tolerance setting in, having to go up to higher doses, and then having to wean off those high doses.

Before I actually do stop all benzo use, I would like to know there is something else (medication wise) that can offer a long-term way of feeling calm and relaxed, without being limited by tolerance. Apart from baclofen, I have also considered a few of the anticonvulsants, and may try the antidepressant mirtazapine (Remeron) again. Unfortunately, the herbal/natural things I have tried have been ineffective at the doses normally sold, apart from L-tryptophan having some helpful effects.

Any experiences would be greatly appreciated. I know there is an anxiety thread already but am not sure how much of the information there is applicable to long-term daily use of baclofen as an anxiolytic.

[LadyLush]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

Greg,

I have continued on the Antabuse again as a "scare" tactic to myself. I am doing the liquid Bac at 40 to 60mg because of what you say. No anxiety, depression gone...
I do not want to give that up right now by titrating up. My anxiety and depression are nothing right now. I have been on many prescriptions before and nothing compares to Baclofen.
This is the most wonderful side effect of this drug for me.
Try going off of everything and try low-dose Bac. Just try!
Not a doctor as you know :-)

LL:l

[suneelca]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

Greg -- I have only about four months of Bac use under my belt, and have had a sustained reduction in my anxiety levels for about 90 percent of that time. That said, my psychopharmacologist and my non-MD therapist were both anxious (no pun intended) to get me off Ativan as long-term benzo use is allegedly not a great thing. I've been off Ativan for three months, and my anxiety levels are much better / lower than they ever were when I was on Ativan plus Gabapentin, etc. Now trying to get off Seroquel as well.

[Greg]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

Thanks folks for the input so far, it is reassuring. Let's hope these benefits continue over very long periods, i.e. many months, years.

LL, going off all the other drugs and just being on baclofen and Antabuse is where I'm heading right now too, although I may also stick with a few non-addictive short-acting sleep medicines. I figured that it's worth trying baclofen with as little other stuff as possible. I can still add other non-addictive drugs later on if I really need them.

Suneelca, it's reassuring to hear that you have managed to keep your anxiety under control via baclofen, especially after having stopped the Ativan. I'm close to getting off benzos, down to 3.75 mg Valium now (was on 1-2 mg Xanax a day). Good luck with getting off Seroquel too.

[Bruunhilde]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

Hi Greg,
I've been on baclofen at doses ranging from 80mg (when I was trying to do HDB) to 50mg/day now. I've been at the 40-60mg for 8 months, I think. I am still anxious and depressed. I find the baclofen side effects that keep me on it are:
-helps with sciatica
-helps me sleep
-helps me relax

I would not give up my valium RX if I were you, without having a sure thing tested for a longer term (tolerance). In fact, I'm trying to figure out how to get another refill on my RX for xanax because I cannot sleep without it, and it also helps take me down that essential notch when I'm having anxiety.

I do think if I were exercising, I'd do better with the anxiety. Right now, I'm very sedentary and going through spine therapy after which, I will be starting exercise. I'm hoping that will make the difference and I'll feel more like Lushy et al.

I take gabapentin for depression as needed, which these days is ALOT.

Also, I'm AF if that helps anyone evaluate my statements.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

Greg,
I think you won't know until you try baclofen, every day, with a commitment to trying it for the purpose of weaning yourself off of everything.

I would absolutely, under no circumstances, give up your prescription for a benzo. This (in my very limited experience) is a life saving tool. On bac or off of it.

Yes, it still reduces my anxiety. At least the kind of anxiety I think you are referring to. I started it in October '10 and am taking 200mg right now. I can now manage my daily anxiety, aka stress, with other reasonable approaches. But I am very glad that I've got .125 of xanax for the real humdinger days. (once a month, maybe?) And it can be a good tool if you get anxiety when you're titrating up. An invaluable tool. There is a side effect thread, and on the Ne Progress Thread, that I've written a bit about this.

[Greg]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

Thanks again for the advice on this one. Thankfully I did not give up my benzo script, just told my doctor I was going to see how I would go reducing and possibly eliminating it for a period. He is very skeptical of other drugs for anxiety treatment, so would probably not cancel my script for that reason alone.

He has listened patiently to things I have mentioned about baclofen, but then politely pointed out that there is almost no formal medical literature on it being useful for anxiety, or even having been used experimentally for that purpose (his words not mine). He does admit that there is some anecdotal evidence. Some of the anticonvulsants actually have more medical backup for use in anxiety it seems.

The hardest thing to work out is whether benzos are able to have sustained efficacy (i.e. years) against anxiety once a suitable dose has been reached. Some information says yes they do, with tolerance mainly happening to their other effects like sedation. In any case all I can do is persist with baclofen and see how it affects me personally after a year or two.

[Otter]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

I take baclofen for anxiety on prescription from my doctor. I have a rx for 60 mg a day. I have been taking it for a couple of years now. I find that it now keeps me calm and relaxed. I have no hand tremors or nervous leg twitching. It allows me to see things in a positive frame and deal with huge stresses. When I forget to take it I become very nervous and problems well up and seem insurmountable but once I have taken the Baclofen the problems seem more like challenges which I look forward to overcoming. If I am in a high stress situation then I take more and it can make me feel quite sleepy but when the external stress goes away I can reduce the dose and I feel a bit edgy which is a positive thing because the thoughts which made me anxious aren't there and I enjoy being a bit hyper and able to get on with things. I have not found the anxiety reducing symptoms wear off. The side effects do wear off and I am more able to concentrate. I was on diazapam several years ago and it was horrific. It took ages to get off it and I had problems for a year after stopping it, as though it had done something to my brain. There is no comparison. Bac after long term use for anxiety makes you feel completely normal.

[baclofan]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

Thanks Otter

Do you divide your 60 mg daily intake into three or four equal doses and how much more do you take in high stress situation?

[struggles]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

I am in Upstate New York, United States, so some of the things I read on here, I don't always understand.

I also take xanax.....dosage is .25mg as needed for anxiety. I do not have to take it daily, but I do find if I did take it daily, it kept my alcohol cravings at bay, made me calm and not as worrisome, but when I have my kids, it's all I can do to get energy.

I was prescribed Ativan a few years back to stop my drinking. Doctor said: "DO NOT DRINK." Take one ativan in mid morning/early afternoon and one before bed...unless it was less than six hours between the doses and DON'T DRINK...it could kill you."

Apparently that worked because I followed his orders. Went back to the follow up, he reduced the amount, but increased it to three times daily. Again, the follow up...reduced it down again to once a day. I never drank the entire time, barely a desire and I thought...OMG this is the answer. I went back, he weaned me off, I continued the counseling he had also recommended. He retired, I stopped and I am in the same situation again.

My new doc does give me the xanax, but I never thought of Baclofen. I have been on a few antidepressants, celexa, paxil, zoloft, but it never helped my cravings like the ativan did.

How is it that no matter how effin scared we get after drinking, it's never enough? So..I am know thinking I may try baclofen...I now taken only high blood pressure meds...which by the way, I denied that my drinking causes it...after all, it's a depressant, right???? How can my blood pressure be high on alcohol??

Thank you for this post.

Any other thoughts or insight will not go unappreciated. :h

[Otter]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

I take 20 mg every few hours during periods of high stress which has been a long time now but I try to take 10 mg if things are a bit less stressed. I am not sure about it yet because I want to reduce and am a bit worried that I am going to be on it for life. I hope not. I am not sure how to reduce and when. I actually take more than 60 mg a day sometimes and have gone up as far as about 160 mg a day. I don't take an extra large dose for periods of stress, I increase the frequency according to how I feel.

[Greg]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

I don't think you should worry too much Otter, unless you ever find benzo-style tolerance and other problems happening with baclofen. It doesn't sound to have benzo-style problems from the posts I've read on here, and drugs forums also seem to show that recreational drug users don't regularly take it. Phenibut (chemically baclofen without one chlorine atom) is said to be addictive, but I think it has properties that baclofen doesn't.

It's probably my best hope at present of keeping off alcohol and other substances, together with Antabuse as an added alcohol deterrent. I have just started on it again today, at 12.5 mg so far.

(Also, gradual tapering off baclofen could be done if problems did arise.)

[GingerDust]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

I have never been on a benzo so I am not able to offer a comparison. I suspect that benzos would be more effective for “my head is going to explode” moments. I am on the lowest dose of baclofen that I’ve been on since I started, 60 mg a day, sometimes 80, but the effects have not diminished over the four months I have been on it. This past weekend was really busy and I missed an entire day’s dose. The effect was incredible. My anxiety was off the wall, and I panicked, and almost cried, while shopping. I do not believe it was withdrawal because the state I was in used to be normal for me when I was under a stress, and I was under some stress at that moment. I used to drink for relief from that hell.

I wish I could say that anxious thoughts go away on baclofen but that is not true for me, at least not at this dose. They have considerably reduced, are less obsessive, and rarely get to the point of being the force that drives me. I am also working at recognizing and dismissing those kinds of thoughts but with limited success.

At higher doses on baclofen, those kinds of thoughts reduced even more, but the cost in energy, focus and feeling crappy was too much to make it a fair trade. Around the 200 mg level, my anxiety greatly increased. That seems to be a common experience and is one reason why I am dubious about anxiety being at the root of why baclofen works for cravings. Which is not to say that a lower dose of baclofen doesn’t help ease my anxiety. It does but it works subtly enough that I only grasped its impact when I went off it for a day.

I should add that I have quit smoking too and am using nicotine replacements. The head-exploding incident while shopping happened about ten days after my last cig, so I don’t believe nicotine was a factor. I should have been having those panic moments the first few days after quitting. I have tried to quit smoking dozens of times using every method that money can buy. This time, while on baclofen, quitting has been effortless in comparison to those past attempts. Another big difference is that I have not felt compelled to use anything as a substitute for the act of smoking, so I haven’t gotten even fatter than I already am! Again, I have an inkling that baclofen reduced my cravings for nicotine in some way unrelated to its impact on my anxiety. I hope that makes sense.

Your new plan with baclofen and antabuse sounds like a winner. Keeping the valium on hand for emergencies sounds like a good idea too. Good luck with it.

[Greg]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

Thanks GingerDust. Another thing I have found helpful is L-tryptophan, at the dose recommended on the bottle, 3 x 500 mg daily taken separately to meals and other amino acids. I take vitamin B3 and B6 at the same time. It seems to work best after taking it for a few days, and some tiredness can happen initially. Although it doesn't feel like either baclofen or a benzodiazepine, it does seem to reduce obsessive type thinking and anxiety for me, and produce a calmness in general. I have never heard of it producing tolerance or dependence. It should NOT be taken by anyone who also takes serotonin-increasing antidepressants, however, as the combination has a risk of producing serotonin syndrome. Tryptophan was used together with antidepressants in trials done years ago with no apparent problems, but I wouldn't risk it. Most of today's antidepressants are serotonin-increasing, by the way.

[GingerDust]

Does baclofen have long-term sustained anti-anxiety effects?

Greg, I have tried 5HTP and I think it is the same thing as L-tryptophan. My stomach throws tantrums at the slightest provocation, and the 5HTP made it mad. I have just about given up on all the supplements because of gut problems. As long as I can do a daily vit and the baclofen, it should be okay.