Hi all, I have been hanging around these boards for a while now and have greatly enjoyed reading many of your posts. My reasons for taking Baclofen now are slightly different from many of yours, but not by much. Sorry this is kinda long, but first let me give you a few details. I am an addict and an alcoholic who also experiences considerable social anxiety that has severely impaired my life. I am also extremely med intolerant and lets just say that because of that, I am a doctors worst nightmare. After much research, I came across Baclofen and suggested it to an old p-doc. He actually quickly prescribed it to me but I quit taking it shortly afterwards because I thought it was depressing me.
Fast forward about eight years after a really difficult internship (I’m actually going to school to be a substance abuse counselor) I got desperate. I may have been prescribed Baclofen for alcohol cravings at one time, but to be honest after many severe benders where I made an absolute fool of myself, I have since formed a natural aversion to alcohol on my own. My real nemesis however, that has driven me back to other things (such as opiates) has been the social anxiety.
Just recently, I had a relapse with opiates because I so badly wanted to control my anxiety. I knew I had to quit the opiates however, and remembered how I had read that Baclofen was also good for opiate withdrawals and cravings as well so I had it prescribed again. I started back on Baclofen just for the opiate withdrawal and long story short, after three weeks at only 30 mg (10 mg 3 times a day) suddenly realized that my anxiety was just gone, simply gone. It was like an absolute miracle for me, as I feel like I was set free! It didn’t depress me this time, but what it did do was give me some super wicked hallucinations so I decided I should taper off of it, but found my anxiety returning so went back up for a couple days only to find that the hallucinations and nightmares had quit.
The only thing that I am now very worried about considering my past experiences with medication, is that when I do decide to come off of it (as I really don’t want to stay on it for the rest of my life) that I might not be able to tolerate the withdrawal. I have tried many other meds and with each had really, really severe withdrawal symptoms while tapering .So I’m stuck in a dilemma. I have a naturopath that says I MUST get off of it ASAP, and I also had another doctor tell me to be careful with it as it is not used for anxiety.I have also thought about trying to temporarily taper off of it just to see how I respond to the taper, and if it is relatively smooth will get back on it just for when I begin a new job that is coming up in the next few months. I really love not having anxiety but also know that the longer that I take it, the harder coming off of it is going to be.
I guess my questions are, have any of the sensitive folks came off of Baclofen with manageable withdrawal? My other question, and I know that this is a long shot, but I’ve heard how after coming off of Baclofen that alcohol cravings are still somehow suppressed... do you think there is ANY way possible that this might work for anxiety as well?
I just don’t want to give up on something and freak out if there have really been people who have taken it for a time when they needed it and managed the withdrawals relatively successfully. Thanks any help is appreciated. I know there is no easy answer as everyone is different, but maybe hearing some experiences and opinions from many on this board who have taken Baclofen might help me in figuring out what the best thing to do is. Thanks so much!
Fast forward about eight years after a really difficult internship (I’m actually going to school to be a substance abuse counselor) I got desperate. I may have been prescribed Baclofen for alcohol cravings at one time, but to be honest after many severe benders where I made an absolute fool of myself, I have since formed a natural aversion to alcohol on my own. My real nemesis however, that has driven me back to other things (such as opiates) has been the social anxiety.
Just recently, I had a relapse with opiates because I so badly wanted to control my anxiety. I knew I had to quit the opiates however, and remembered how I had read that Baclofen was also good for opiate withdrawals and cravings as well so I had it prescribed again. I started back on Baclofen just for the opiate withdrawal and long story short, after three weeks at only 30 mg (10 mg 3 times a day) suddenly realized that my anxiety was just gone, simply gone. It was like an absolute miracle for me, as I feel like I was set free! It didn’t depress me this time, but what it did do was give me some super wicked hallucinations so I decided I should taper off of it, but found my anxiety returning so went back up for a couple days only to find that the hallucinations and nightmares had quit.
The only thing that I am now very worried about considering my past experiences with medication, is that when I do decide to come off of it (as I really don’t want to stay on it for the rest of my life) that I might not be able to tolerate the withdrawal. I have tried many other meds and with each had really, really severe withdrawal symptoms while tapering .So I’m stuck in a dilemma. I have a naturopath that says I MUST get off of it ASAP, and I also had another doctor tell me to be careful with it as it is not used for anxiety.I have also thought about trying to temporarily taper off of it just to see how I respond to the taper, and if it is relatively smooth will get back on it just for when I begin a new job that is coming up in the next few months. I really love not having anxiety but also know that the longer that I take it, the harder coming off of it is going to be.
I guess my questions are, have any of the sensitive folks came off of Baclofen with manageable withdrawal? My other question, and I know that this is a long shot, but I’ve heard how after coming off of Baclofen that alcohol cravings are still somehow suppressed... do you think there is ANY way possible that this might work for anxiety as well?
I just don’t want to give up on something and freak out if there have really been people who have taken it for a time when they needed it and managed the withdrawals relatively successfully. Thanks any help is appreciated. I know there is no easy answer as everyone is different, but maybe hearing some experiences and opinions from many on this board who have taken Baclofen might help me in figuring out what the best thing to do is. Thanks so much!
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