Please help me. Im scared and confused.

[donskjr]

K

[spacebebe01]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

Hi don, I dont know what you should do, I have no medical knowledge so cant advise you. You didnt say what your original plan was, how much you where drinking and if your still drinking now. I would think that this is all obviously due to too much bac, I would go back down, then start again, thats if you still want to do baclofen after this, with a plan for how you are going to do it and a titration schedule. I dont have problems sleeping on bac, Im on 100mg a day right now but I have read that this can be a problem and I reckon its all due to what you have done with the bac.

[Greg]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

The first time I had access to baclofen, I tried to use it as a direct alcohol substitute. In other words, I tried to get drunk/high on baclofen instead of alcohol. It has too many side effects to use it that way, severe insomnia being one of them. I have read drug forums and NOBODY uses baclofen as a high, for longer than a couple of days perhaps. It helps people only if spread out in several doses over the day and only if gradually increased in total daily dosage. That has been what I have read on this forum anyway.

[Greg]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

P.S. I think hallucinations mean too much. 350 mg would be about 4-5 times too much for me. It just doesn't work by taking huge amounts before slowly increasing from low doses. The more experienced members here have more experience than I do.

[COSGringo]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

donskjr;1326038 wrote: Im a big mess and im not very smart. I wanted to use baclofen to help me quiet drinking but I ended up abusing it. I didn't realize what a powerful of a drug it is. I can barely type this or think and I dont want to go to the e.r. so I was hoping someone could help me please. I been varying my dosages differently from day to day. A couple days ago I did maybe 350mg. Then yesterday I didn't do any until late in the afternoon because I wanted to start getting off it but then thats when I think I realize im physically addicted so I did 80mg thats when I think I started hallucinating. Well I guess what I want to know is hallucinating a sign of withdrawal or to much baclofen? I want to stabilize my dosages and figure out whats going on with me. Should I start taking less? Ahh its pretty scary. I haven't slept in 2 day either. Does anyone know whats going on with me? I have no idea what to do. I want to be kinda normal again tho. Ive only been using bac for 2 weeks. Thank you. Oh and why am I not sleeping either? Thank you Donald

How long did you take to get to 350 and how long were you at that much? How quick did you drop to 80?
You are on a rollercoaster straight into big trouble. You can't goof around with Bac.
You need to stablize what you are taking. Don't just stop taking it whatever you do. If you are at 80 how long have you been there? Maybe stay there?
Do you have any xanax or benzos? That might help a bit with any panic attacks. Do you have a lot of supply of bac?
An E.R. might not help you here. They don't know much about bac most of them. They would probably shoot you up with some ativan and maybe check you in to get you stabilized.
Take off from work, try to relax, stabilize your dose, stay at it, figure out what your plan is.
Stay off the roads and drink lots of water, too.

[Kacey64]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

Hello,
I started to take Campral today does it really work?? I used to be very skinny and gain alot of weight from drinking vocka does drinking make you gain weight??

[COSGringo]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

I had no luck with Campral. Really none at all but I think it depends on what is going on with you and how much you drink and why.
I believe Campral helps with the whole GABA uptake but I forget the science behind it.
Can you gain weight from drinking? Absolutely. It's empty calories.
Depending how long you've been drinking you may not shed the pounds very quickly. I actually gained weight. Probably because your system is just so screwed up from years of abuse it takes time to get it on track.
Plus I was really lazy when I was going up on my baclofen.

You might want to look at Naltrexone if Campral does not help. It's covered by most insurance and you can get generic I believe. It helped me a bit but not enought. Some do very well with it.

I think it depends how long and how bad of a drinker you are and any underlying issues you might have.

Good luck!

[donskjr]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

M

[spacebebe01]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

I cant see an answer to this krs but didnt want to just leave it and not post back to you. The only thing I can think of that you can try to do between now and monday is try to cut down on the drink if you can, but dont go giving yourself withdrawals from that as well, and cut down on the bac a bit as well, by a bit I mean around 20mg, just so your not going to court totally wrecked. Try and rest as much as possible and avoid stress whenever you can, but dont just take more bac because your feeling stressed because you are back to abusing it then. drink plenty of fluids and try to eat some food.

I an sending you my best wishes

[StuckinLA]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

Also sending you best wishes!

Really quick, on the withdrawal front, and bear in mind that I am NOT an expert, either, but I do remember reading about baclofen withdrawal and have what might be some helpful info.

Baclofen withdrawal takes a few days to set in. So if you drop suddenly you'll start to go into withdrawal after maybe 3-5 days. It's easy to counteract, as you just increase your baclofen intake up to, or close to, what you had been taking before the withdrawal. This also takes a few days, so you'll come out of the withdrawal but not for maybe another 3 days or so. Also: the physical addiction and withdrawal from baclofen takes about a month or so of continuous use to set in, from what I've heard.

The main point of this is that if I can offer an opinion--and NOT a medical opinion--I would say the anxiety is mostly in your head. This is coming from someone who's also dealing with a lot of anxiety right now--so I'm not making light by saying "it's in your head." I know just how real that is.

But I think you're focusing on the baclofen doses and that's creating the anxiety. So maybe try to avoid the roller coaster of huge swings in dosage. What I've been doing is taking long walks late at night, because I have that anxiety where as soon as I lie down to sleep I feel like I'm going to stop breathing. But getting dressed and going for a walk and smoking lots of cigarettes helps. And I take my phone with me in case I feel like I need to call for an ambulance. I also drink late at night sometimes--not sure if that helps or makes it worse.

As far as court goes--jeez, that's rough. I recently went through that for my 2nd DUI and it was tough. If you do have to go to jail that's going to suck. They, in all honesty, probably won't do anything for you regarding baclofen. But they do have to take care of you for alcohol withdrawal for the first 3-5 days before sending you into normal jail. If they're nice about it you'll get valium but if they're evil about it you'll probably just get vitamin B supplements and maybe some librium.

Best of luck, man.

[donskjr]

Please.

T

[donskjr]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

Actually I

[RedThread12]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

Oh boy, oh boy, donskjr, I've seen a lot of stories go by on this forum. Yours is certainly an "eye catcher." The bad news is that you really set yourself up by not being fully informed when you set out on your baclofen adventure. The good news is that you didn't let them put you in the hospital. The ONLY remedy for baclofen withdrawal is baclofen.

StuckinLA has some good stuff to say. Keep it in mind AND understand that the only way to decrease your baclofen dosage is slowly, over time. Like 10-20 mg every 3-5 days. How much are you taking now, per 12 -24 hour period? I really encourage you to keep track of this. It will save you a raft of discomfort and possibly huge amounts of time and money at the hospital.

And you have to be clear and in-charge about how much you are taking and how much you need when you go to a doctor, an emergency room, or, god-forbid, jail. Baclofen withdrawal is well-documented, and valium or other benzos, which professionals who do not understand it will try to give you, does NOT WORK.

So while you're feeling kind of mellow, try to take a look at the big picture, and factor in a downward titration from 350 mg/day as I suggested above. And, bummer, kind of . . . drinking a little alcohol will also offset baclofen withdrawal symptoms. But that's only gonna' happen if you're not in jail. Surely you'll find, or come across in the "institutional system," a doc who understands that you can't just "quit" baclofen. Carry your copy of Ameisen's book with you, wherever you go, and . . . . well . . . pray, I guess.

Glad you feeling better. Truly, the only remedy for baclofen withdrawal is baclofen . . . or alcohol. And I'm not certain about the alcohol. But everything you describe is exactly in line with bac withdrawal. Crazy, huh, that it's not physically addictive, but it is certainly nothing to be taken lightly. Good luck!! Keep us posted.

[Greg]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

donskjr;1327275 wrote: Does any one know if I can replace baclofen with phenibut? Supposedly it works with the same receptors.

In theory you should be able to replace baclofen with phenibut, as both are GABA-B agonists. There is a big dosage difference of course, and you would have to experiment to find out how much phenibut was needed to stop the withdrawals. I think phenibut is about 80 times weaker than baclofen, but there is no exact figure available on this. Most say that phenibut is psychologically addictive however, so I'd only suggest using it as a last resort if unable to get baclofen.

[spacebebe01]

Please help me. Im scared and confused.

Hi Don, just a quick line to ask how are you feeling today? Did you sleep well, let us know if you can it may help you feel better if you can say whats happening. Why did you decide to leave the hospital, did you panic or do you think you went in because you where panicking, will you be able to go back if you need to.