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    #1

    Getting prescribed baclofen

    Right now I am taking 8-10 grams a day of phenibut, but am worried about it taxing my kidneys and liver. According to wikipedia, they are nearly identical in pharmacology and both act on the GABA-B receptors. I'm a recovering alcoholic and take phenibut primarily for anxiety but also get muscle spasms.

    Anyways, do you think my doctor would prescribe baclofen for anxiety if I explained to him that I am taking phenibut (which works) and would like to switch over to baclofen? If not what's the best way to get baclofen? I could just tell him about the muscle spasms and say flexeril and skelaxin don't work and baclofen sounds promising.
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    #2
    Getting prescribed baclofen

    I would approach it both ways...the worst they can say is no, right?

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      #3
      Getting prescribed baclofen

      hiimbob - no way I would tell your doc you are taking phenibut. I am pretty sure most GP's would look at this unfavorably.

      It sets you up to look like perhaps you are experimenting with meds and such. First, be careful with Phenibut. You should never use that more than 2-3x per week. How do I know that? I am on other forums where people talk about that med a lot. It has a lot of risks so please be careful. My understanding is tolerance builds quick hence keeping it under 3x per week. Also, you should not just stop that med (like baclofen) if you have been taking it regularly.

      I don't think a GP is going to prescribe baclofen for anxiety. I highly doubt it. Most GP's use their "guides" and their drug reps as their reference on prescribing. I am pretty sure that baclofen is not in their "books" as an anti anxiety med.

      That being said, sure it is helpful for that. I don't think you can approach a doctor asking for baclofen for anxiety. You might have more luck asking for it as an off label use for alcohol cravings. I really think you might have better luck. You probably won't get high doses prescribed by a normal doc. Maybe up to 80 mg.

      Bring some "ammo" with you and approach it from the anti drinking approach in my opinion. BTW, baclofen taxes your kidneys also. I am not sure phenibut touches your liver. Baclofen does not but again your kidneys dissipate it.

      Go in telling him/her you have anxiety you will probably leave with a benzo, buspar, or an antidepressant.

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        #4
        Getting prescribed baclofen

        hiimbob,

        I agree with COSGringo about the drs only prescribing up to 80 mgs of bac. I'd go in and either say that I had muscle spasms and would like bac or I'd say that you're a recovering alcoholic and many using bac for alcohol cravings have noticed a reduction in anxiety. After the first full day of taking bac I felt like an entirely different person. I didn't know I had anxiety until it was gone!

        Good luck.

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          #5
          Getting prescribed baclofen

          Oh to live in a world where you could be honest with the people you entrust your health to. Seems we are far from that here.

          I'd agree with the other posters - take Amiesen's book, and there are several studies in the "Consolidated Baclofen Information" thread that you can print off. In my experience though, doctors never read the damn things, they think they know better. It depends very much on the individual doctor.

          Good luck.

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            #6
            Getting prescribed baclofen

            Well, the muscle spasm approach sounds like the best one. I have been prescribed skelaxin, robaxin, and flexeril, neither of which did anything for muscle spasms, so I will suggest baclofen. Is baclofen a pretty commonly prescribed muscle relaxer like skelaxin or flexeril?

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              #7
              Getting prescribed baclofen

              https://www.google.com/search?q=baclofen+muscle+spasms&aq=0&oq=baclofen+m uscle&aqs=chrome.1.57j0l3j62l2.14694j0&sourceid=ch rome&ie=UTF-8

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                #8
                Getting prescribed baclofen

                Colin;1494952 wrote: https://www.google.com/search?q=baclofen+muscle+spasms&aq=0&oq=baclofen+m uscle&aqs=chrome.1.57j0l3j62l2.14694j0&sourceid=ch rome&ie=UTF-8
                No shit it is a muscle relaxant, I am asking if it is commonly prescribed.

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                  #9
                  Getting prescribed baclofen

                  Yes, it is commonly prescribed for spasm--up to 80 mgs. People with MS are frequently scripted it for spasm. When my dr wrote my script it was specifically for spasm (even though he and I knew it wasn't). I hope this helps.

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                    #10
                    Getting prescribed baclofen

                    My shrink would not prescribe it because he had no experience in using it as a treatment for alcoholism, but he didn't shut the door on it either. He says he will read up on Ameisen between now and my next appointment. He put me on Campral, which has been helpful, but Campral is effing expensive and I have a crappy prescription drug plan. I'm going to press him about baclofen again since it is available as a cheap generic. But from a cursory google search he did express concern about the potentially high doses necessary for its use in alcoholism treatment.
                    In the middle of my life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood, as I had lost the straight path. It is a difficult thing to speak about, how wild, harsh and impenetrable that wood is. Just thinking about it recreates the fear. It is scarcely less bitter than death, but in order to tell of the good that I found there, I must tell of the other things I saw there. --Dante, paraphrased

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                      #11
                      Getting prescribed baclofen

                      I would say it's not a very common muscle relaxant scrip but I do know at least a couple folks that have been scripted it for muscle pain.

                      You could say you are having muscular pain and you've heard good things about baclofen. Perhaps you know a friend that it really helped him/her out. Probably would be my approach.

                      80mg would be the cut off.

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                        #12
                        Getting prescribed baclofen

                        I'm hoping that because I'm actually seeing a psychiatrist, he will be more sympathetic than a GP would be toward using baclofen in this way, but wasn't Amiesen medicating himself at almost 300mg a day at his peak?
                        In the middle of my life's journey, I found myself in a dark wood, as I had lost the straight path. It is a difficult thing to speak about, how wild, harsh and impenetrable that wood is. Just thinking about it recreates the fear. It is scarcely less bitter than death, but in order to tell of the good that I found there, I must tell of the other things I saw there. --Dante, paraphrased

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                          #13
                          Getting prescribed baclofen

                          People have gone higher than 300 if necessary, and for some people it is. Other's have reached indifference almost immediately. There is no way of telling ahead of time which one you will be, unfortunately. That said, it seems safe to go high, and the SE's can be as equivalent at 30 as they are at 500, for some very strange reason.

                          hiimbob, I think the point of Colin's post, which obviously escaped you, is that something that pops up so often in Google is probably fairly well known.

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                            #14
                            Getting prescribed baclofen

                            Okay, well I went in and told him about muscle spasms and how I thought baclofen would help because it also reduces alcohol cravings (which he was aware of) and he gave me a prescription, but it is for 60 10mg tabs to take as needed. I only have 4 refils over the next 12 months. Any suggestions on how to get the dosage upped and it changed from as needed to 3x a day ?

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                              #15
                              Getting prescribed baclofen

                              Bac Newbie

                              :new:

                              Hello, to you all. I've received 400 x 10mg of Baclofen in the post today. I don't have a plan and would be grateful for some help.
                              My aim is abstinence. I'm totally sick of being on and off it. I'm not a person who can moderate, don't even want to. I just want it not to be a part of my life. My drinking causes mayhem for my family and my mental health.
                              I won't go into a long story about myself here and now, just would like to ask for some advice please.

                              I have read through lots of threads. Just hard to find specxifics.

                              Thanks
                              Today, I will live one day at a time and do one thing at a time

                              It was obvious from a very early age that my mind and I were not going to get on. Kay Redfield Jameson

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