Starting over

[onemoretime]

I started taking Baclofen about 6 months ago and it immediately worked wonders even at very low doses (5mg). I eventually worked my way up to 60 mg per day (20mg x 3) and thought that I had found my miracle cure. The only side effect was that it disturbed my sleep some and I felt a little lethargic. Because of the lethargic feeling I thought that it wouldn't hurt to start back on my Adderall which was like a switch that turned on the cravings in a big way after only one 20mg Adderall. I of course drank that day, stopped the Adderall (never again) but the Baclofen doesn?t' seem to work at all anymore. I started right back with the 60 mg but it just didn't work anymore. The cravings were back just like before. I wish I could go back and erase that stupid day.

Any suggestions? I haven't taken it in about a month now. I am just sick about doing such a stupid thing.

I want to start again but should I start at 60 mg and go up from there until it works again? I don't think I need to start at 5 mg a day again.

Any help/advise would be really appreciated. I am desperate and so disgusted with myself right now. I have been drinking every day for at least the past month.


Thx, OMT

[Dosage0]

Starting over

onemoretime;1261102 wrote: I started taking Baclofen about 6 months ago and it immediately worked wonders even at very low doses (5mg). I eventually worked my way up to 60 mg per day (20mg x 3) and thought that I had found my miracle cure. The only side effect was that it disturbed my sleep some and I felt a little lethargic. Because of the lethargic feeling I thought that it wouldn't hurt to start back on my Adderall which was like a switch that turned on the cravings in a big way after only one 20mg Adderall. I of course drank that day, stopped the Adderall (never again) but the Baclofen doesn?t' seem to work at all anymore. I started right back with the 60 mg but it just didn't work anymore. The cravings were back just like before. I wish I could go back and erase that stupid day.

Any suggestions? I haven't taken it in about a month now. I am just sick about doing such a stupid thing.

I want to start again but should I start at 60 mg and go up from there until it works again? I don't think I need to start at 5 mg a day again.

Any help/advise would be really appreciated. I am desperate and so disgusted with myself right now. I have been drinking every day for at least the past month.


Thx, OMT

I would call Dr. L or talk to a doctor. Going from 60 to zero to 60 quickly might have some side effects? I am not really qualified to comment, so I would direct you to someone who can -- a doctor.

[RedThread12]

Starting over

I would either do what Dose suggests, or start again, with whatever your original dosage was, or perhaps a bit more. I started way back in '09, and the recommended titration was to start at 10 mg 3x/day. Worked for me.

Maybe 5 mg 3x/day, since your body is somewhat accustomed to the bac? Don't know your tolerance and side effects, so can't make any credible suggestion . . . just an idea. I seem to recall in "the book" that when Dr. A decided to go "High Dosage," he dropped down from some amount he had been taking regularly, to titrate up at regular intervals.

Many, many MWO folks have had a similar event. Seems as if the second (even third and fourth) times, everyone had to go a bit higher to find the "ease," again. So don't worry, you haven't screwed it all up.

Interesting about the Adderall. I've been taking ritalin here and there - first time in my life, and not necessarily baclofen-related. Doesn't seem to do a thing to me regarding cravings. We are each and every one so uniquely weird!!

Good luck. Hang in there. It will work AGAIN.

[onemoretime]

Starting over

Thanks for the advice

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I'm so glad to hear that others have had this experience and that there is still hope. I'm starting today with 10 mg x 3 and have taken it once so far and am not getting any side effects yet. I think I'll try that for a few days and go up by 10mg. every 3 or 4 days unless I start getting intolerable side effects. Last time the only SE I ever got was a little sleepy when I would up my dose then that would go away after about 2 - 3 days.

Red, the Adderall always escalated my drinking because it totally increased the anxiety. I thought that the Baclofen would prevent that and I could still get the benefit of the energy and focus but evidently not.

If anyone can point me to someone's story that had the bac stop working and then was eventually successful I would love to talk to them.

Thx again, OMT

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Starting over

I stopped and started at least three times for completely unrelated reasons. But there's one for you!
I'd stick to the same routine you used before if it worked. Rushing it can end in disaster, and going too slow is ...toooooo slow! right?

onemoretime;1261169 wrote:
Red, the Adderall always escalated my drinking because it totally increased the anxiety. I thought that the Baclofen would prevent that and I could still get the benefit of the energy and focus but evidently not.

I took adderall for a while to deal with the lethargy and my ADD. I was taking about 150mg of baclofen at the time, and had been on that dose or higher for several months.
I had similar experiences in terms of craving if I took too much. (I didn't crave alcohol anymore, but one day after work and having taken a total of maybe 20mg of adderall that day, I felt wired and anxious and thought a glass of wine would surely take the edge off!)

Then after about a month of regular use (~10 to 20mg of adderall a day) adderall stopped working. As in kaput. No response. Except my heart would race and I felt physically uneasy. Weird, huh? Someone found some research about the fact that baclofen nullifies the effect of amphetamines. Guess so. At least for me!

Hang in there. You'll be indifferent again in no time.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Starting over

Oh, and what do you mean stopped working? Wouldn't it just be that you needed to go up a little bit higher to manage your anxiety/chemical imbalance/whatever you want to call it, after unbalancing it?

[onemoretime]

Starting over

Thanks Ne, I'll use the schedule that Dr. L gave me when I first started, only start with week 2 since the bac is not totally foreign to my body. I'll at least try that and then go up 20 mg's a week until my chemical imbalance is back in wack.

Good point... I guess it didn't stop working but the Adderall got everything out of balance and it may take a higher dose to get it balanced again. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Starting over


and thanks for sharing that. I had a really strange go of it with the whole adderall thing. I kept coming back to the fact that it works...sort of. It never "fixed" what was wrong the way baclofen does for what it does. Does that make sense? Adderall was more of a bandaid, I guess. And who wouldn't concentrate more, right?
And I didn't want to post about the warning flashes I got when I took it, because I didn't really understand them. It was something like that it was stimulating a part of my mind that thought that booze sounded a-okay to take the edge off...A good way to the end the day? Something. See why I didn't post about it?

I'm looking forward to hearing about how it all goes for you!