Addicted to Baclofen

[Xadrian]

Addicted to Baclofen

drb120;1464731 wrote: One problem, I found the Baclofen enhances my personality. It makes me kinder, more empathetic, and more social.

That's exactly what it did to me. Before baclofen I had a lot of anger and made huge problems about small things. Now I'm able to think it over and put things into perspective.

Two months ago, I stopped baclofen completely. Two weeks ago, I started taking only 10 mg before sleeping, because I had tensioned back muscles and also was a little nervous.

It relieves both and my pre-baclofen anger is still under control (as well as my drinking).

[Otter]

Addicted to Baclofen

drb120;1464731 wrote: Thank goodness. I apologize for the term "get high". I am not a recreational drug user. I am a minor public person. I was a severe but high functioning alcoholic. Privacy issues prevented me from the traditional routes of abstince. I found Baclofen and did a protocol similar to Dr. Amiesen. It worked like a miracle and continues to. One problem, I found the Baclofen enhances my personality. It makes me kinder, more empathetic, and more social. I dont abuse it like alcohol, but I occasionally bump the dose if I have an important public appearance. I feel I am building tolerance and attenuating the dose causes anxiety. I want to be pointed in the direction of a confisdential professional.

I came off it. I used baclofen as a tool to come off it. I would try to go as long as I could without it until I felt incredibly anxious then I would take the smallest amount I thought I could get away with to calm me down, and some at night to get to sleep. I just kept stretching out the times between doses and only taking it to calm down when I started to feel withdrawals and after a few days I was off it.

It is an anti anxiety medication but if you are not drinking then you should try to wean yourself off it if you are suffering severe side effects with it.

I am not a doctor. I don't know why anyone here would say it is not a treatment for anxiety. That is nonsense. I have also had dealings with Dr A and he hadn't relapsed.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Addicted to Baclofen

drb120;1464731 wrote: One problem, I found the Baclofen enhances my personality. It makes me kinder, more empathetic, and more social. I dont abuse it like alcohol, but I occasionally bump the dose if I have an important public appearance. I feel I am building tolerance and attenuating the dose causes anxiety. I want to be pointed in the direction of a confisdential professional.

I saw your post on the other thread and I realized I never posted. In addition, I relate well to what you posted on the other thread. (The hypomania, etc)

I definitely had similar responses to bac. There aren't many of us, but there are a few. It didn't last and it hasn't happened since.

I don't know what kind of answers you're looking for. The options seem fairly straight forward. It seems to me (not a professional, not a doc, I am not advising) that avoiding taking the extra dosage is a place to start. Or conversely, taking that as the daily amount and then tapering off of it. It might be the vast difference in amounts that is so disconcerting. It stands to reason that if you take a lot less on any given day, and then increase dramatically and suddenly, and then go back down again, you'll have a rebound. Perhaps the good feeling stems from the bad feeling?

I have noticed (time and time and time again) that people who take HDB erratically experience serious anxiety/depression and paranoia. That's not fact, just my observation.
Lo0p may have more insight. If you don't get a response from him, send him a private message. Hope you find a solution!

[drb120]

Addicted to Baclofen

Ne Neva Eva. Thank you so much for that reply. Now I don't feel alone at least. I think you are spot on. I am not going to mess around bumping my dose anymore I am going to slowly taper. I too miss the hypomania. My wife does not. And all the decisions made were not brilliant in hindsight. I'm hoping I didn't simply replace booze with a better drug. I still have no craving for alcohol, even with the anxiety, so I'm hopeful.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Addicted to Baclofen

drb120;1469847 wrote: My wife does not.

:H That's very funny. My husband does! The house was never more organized! I was so much fun! Of course, I decided to buy a house. Forgot to mention that, didn't I? But it all worked out...lol. Very funny in retrospect. Sort of.

It isn't replacing anything with anything. It's a curious SE, and not a safe one, exactly. But in the end? I'm okay. Never ended up in a trough deep enough that I couldn't see the light...And I was strong and sassy and had a house.

[bleep]

Addicted to Baclofen

This is the third time I've tried to reply to this! Bloody IE. Anyway, I've just sent you a PM, but thought I would put it here for the next guy who comes along with this...


I remember 'zoom' very well, and very fondly. I felt like I could rule the world, and I could have, but I got stuck in a lift. I went pretty high up, partly in an effort to see if it would return, but after it had faded, that was it. Even being erratic with dosing had no effect, on any SE, after a while. So if yours is gone, I'd be surprised if it came back with any consistency.


As to switching booze for a better drug, even if that were the case, which I don't believe, I'd still do it. Be mad not to, really. Perhaps I have been lucky, but I stopped taking baclofen ages ago, and I have the odd drink without that feeling that I have to continue.

[Lo0p]

Addicted to Baclofen

RedThread12 gave me a heads up to get into contact with you before you posted this. I spent 2 hours that night explaining everything that you're going through in a huge post (with pictures too) because I've been there before and know exactly what you are feeling. My computer crashed.
I am in the lab right now on my cell phone and in a major time crunch. Hopefully tomorrow

Here's a hint: You're getting high alright. But not on baclofen.

[drb120]

Addicted to Baclofen

lo0p I am also on an SSRI. That is known to cause hypomania. It never did prior to baclofen. My thought is the two combined to produce it. Certainly a higher dose of baclofen exacerbated the condition. I also drank copious energy drinks during my episodes. In any case I really am interested in hearing your thoughts before throwing in the towel and getting a Psychiatrist, xanax etc.

[Lo0p]

Addicted to Baclofen

Running out the door to go back home. My computer is still crashed back in my office but ask Neva, she's seen my office, I'm kind of a geek.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Addicted to Baclofen

This thread was confusing from the beginning and I'm a bit more confused now. Partly because I have no idea what Lo0p's office looks like. But I can imagine it! :H Very much looking forward to reading your thoughts, though, Lo0pster.

There is no question that I experienced some hypomania directly related to baclofen. I was scared to take anything other than benadryl, so we can rule out other meds and even supplements.

One thing I did do, which I really encourage people to avoid, is vary the doses dramatically. When I was drinking it was related to, well, being drunk. But afterwards, and even now, I am really awful about remembering to take the damn pills on time. (Alarms help a bit. I turn them off and forget to take the pills, still.)

Whenever I've seen people go off the charts with bac I have noted that they take bac erratically, or in large jumps. It may not be directly related, because who knows, but I think it is.

It was interesting to note that in the last research published there was one person (of the 100) that experienced hypomania. It is a very unusual side effect!

That doesn't mean that bac is addictive or that we develop tolerance to bac. Addiction, by definition is escalated use and all the other stuff. I didn't experience that. Partly because once the zoom is gone, it's gone. Bac is almost impossible to abuse. Tolerance implies that a drug stops working. It's been almost 25 months since I last drank alcoholically. I had a margarita last night with dinner. It wasn't very good and I only drank half of it. I woke up without a hangover and not wanting any more. Seems to me that baclofen is still working. And not only is there no tolerance in terms of the reasons why I take it, I'm taking half of what I was when I hit the switch and I'm on my way down.

The fact that I cannot, and never could, get high on it brings me a great deal of comfort.

It does mean (from my interpretation) that we need to be careful about how and when we take it. While (in 3 years here this month!) I've not witnessed many people getting super-happy, I've witnessed a lot of people descend into anxiety and depression. Most recently Golfmonster posted about his experience titrating down and off of bac very, very rapidly. He still suffers from the anxiety related to that. This side effect is not unique to baclofen. Almost every antidepressant and every anxiolytic needs to be slowly weaned from the system. Tolerance/addiction has nothing to do with it. Dependence does. Dependence can and does happen with almost every drug or supplement. (Chronic use of benadryl, or even aspirin, and there's a rebound effect if you suddenly stop. Chronic use might be as little as a week.)

I don't like, trust, or believe in SSRIs, D. But if I were taking baclofen and something (anything) else, I would not change anything until everything settled down. I would focus on taking the same amount of everything, at the same times, every day. I would focus on managing the rebound anxiety that is a result of taking bac/other meds erratically. I would focus on sleeping well, and eating well, and isolating stress.

I did those things because at that point I had a choice about how to manage things. When I was a drunk, there was no way I could do any of that.

One last thing: I have a huge fear of the dentist. (No surprise, since local anesthetics can work much less effectively on alcoholics. Which I didn't find out until after I was sober, unfortunately.) So now, when I go see the dentist for anything other than a routine cleaning, I take a valium the night before and one in the morning. This is because the fear/anxiety is so innate that I cannot manage it. I don't even recognize it until I'm in the chair and my heart starts bleating. Managing the anxiety preemptively is much more effective than just about anything else, right?

Hope that is somewhat helpful. Hang in there.

[drb120]

Addicted to Baclofen

Thanks! I am taking that exact advice. It is truly amazing the difference between the anxious desperate insomniac I am in the morning and who I am at 11am on 75mg of baclofen. I know that is the last thing anyone wants to hear, but that is how I feel. I will spread it out evenly and never go above anymore. I am on a minimal dose of Lexapro at 5mg. That wont change. I sure hope this works.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Addicted to Baclofen

You keep indicating that someone is going to be upset by you posting honestly about your experience. I have yet to see that happening. (In the beginning you did sound as though you were looking for information about using bac recreationally. It happens from time to time. Weird but true.)

It was very helpful for me to post stuff when I needed to. I hope you'll do the same. I think it's fair to say others will come along and chime in, and it won't just be me.

Think of it this way: You experimented a little bit. It didn't work. (To say the least!) And now you've got to figure out a way to manage the repercussions. It's a bit silly to think that you and bleep and Lo0p and I are the only ones that have taken too much (or too little). (There's Redthread's attempt at taking a couple of day's worth in one go. She's fine. I can easily think of many others, I'm just not going to call 'em all out by name! :H)

If you're experiencing withdrawal when you wake up, you could wake up and take it in the middle of the night for a while. Not advice, I'm just thinking out loud in writing.

[Lo0p]

Addicted to Baclofen

Well I was going to say that it also made me manic, or so I thought. I have a different description of it now that I'll share later.

You ran a half a marathon, I transformed my body literally in like 52 days: https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...nds-42543.html

And then 2 years later:


I'm sorry but that's not normal. I mean, I only weigh like 172 at 5'9" there, that's borderline overweight. People always thought I was vain. I just thought "when people look at me I want them to say: Wow! you can see that boy's heart beat through his skin!" And part of that was because I wanted to share my story and spread the word, while looking not only like I "walked the walk" but flew over a skyscraper.

I was fucking driven.

There were other things about my personality too that had changed (duh). Living with my nephew and watching with amazement for the last 2 years (the very first two years of his life) has made me realize how to characterize my feelings back then when I was cured. I was dead for 9 years I felt and reacted to things sometimes like my nephew or any little kid new to this world does: with awe, wonder, amazement and overwhelming joy.

Did I sometimes take baclofen because I thought it made me feel that way? Fuck yes!! I'm an addict right? Did it make me feel higher and better the more I took? Ummm... early on maybe sometimes, other times definitely not. Correlation does not equal causation. I've taken 800 mgs a few times before and wanted to die.

I take 360 a day now and have done so for years. But that is "just my dose". It took me time to learn that baclofen wasn't the source of my pleasure. My life was. I fucking tried to abuse it. But there was no point. :H

I'm missing things that I wanted to say but I've got to jam. I'll read what I wrote later and see if that was it.

I certainly haven't responded to some specific things you have said that stuck out a little bit to me yet. Also, I haven't even had tie to process what you've written! I'll see if I can reread it in my head while I'm driving.

[drb120]

Addicted to Baclofen

I have really low bodyfat and like to show off inappropriately sometimes too. Not that you are inappropriate. I did a Penguinn Plunge event and put my picture on facebook. We have similar physiques. You maybe even more ripped. Not sure how this relates to my anxiety problem though.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Addicted to Baclofen

I think you've made some important points Loop. I had a similar experience in that I LOvEd life! I can still tap into the zoom just because my life pretty much rocks. I am not talking in comparison to other people's lives. Just compare to what was and the fact that I never imagined I could be sober and happy. Which is also not to say that everyday is a great day. Lol. God knows, far from it. And you know what else? It helps that i worked hard to get here because for me taking baclofen was the hardest thing ive ever had to do.
I'm unplugging for the weekend. Hope you all have a good one. Xxoo
Sorry for typos. On phone and w husband for a long weekend away so must run