Baclofen and opiate cravings

[neophyte]

When i first discovered baclofen what really attracted me to it was that i could tackle my alcohol addiction of 5 years (350ml of scotch a night) and potentially my codeine addiction of 9 years (400mg daily). I have managed to stop drinking at 240mg of baclofen but i am thinking of going higher to try and kill off the desire for opiates. Alcohol was by far the most destructive force in my life, so i can be happy with that alone but I would love it if i could reduce my cravings for opiates also. Both these addictions stem from my anxiety so naturally Baclofen seemed like the perfect fit. I could relate to so much in Dr A's book in terms of my own self medication with alcohol and opiates.

I spoke with Loop about opiates and baclofen and directed me to Sylvie on the french forum. I spoke with her, there is at least one case of a man reducing his desire for opiates, what was also interesting is that she said that the cravings for opiates usually drops off BEFORE the desire for alcohol.

This got me thinking because sometimes i still think about wanting a drink but i know now that drinking on baclofen is just aweful particularly for anxiety. so perhaps my switch is more that im afraid of the side effects of drinking more than a true indifference (though i do feel indifferent most of the time). This made me think that perhaps i still do need to go higher up in dose.

I was wondering if anyone else knew of cases of baclofen causing a switch for opiate use similar to alcohol or had anything of interest to add to the topic.

[bleep]

Baclofen and opiate cravings

Send a PM to Revolting Rich, although I'm not sure his email is connected any more. If you want I can out you in touch with him. He used baclofen for heroin addiction, although in the end it wasn't his preferred choice. He said it definitely helped though. He has a thread in here somewhere.

[RedThread12]

Baclofen and opiate cravings

Hi Neophyte: I am highly interested in this possibility. I have spoken to one man who used baclofen - under his dr's direction - to titrate down from the suboxone we was using in order to get off heroin. He told me that it was relatively painless and highly successful. That was some time ago, too, though. But I think it's a strong possibility that deserves attention. If you give it a go, I would love to know, and will help if I can.

[neophyte]

Baclofen and opiate cravings

Thanks Red and Bleep, i keep detailed logs of my usage of alcohol, opiates, baclofen and anything else stupid i might do. Which i will post up at some stage. I decided to go higher in baclofen and see where that takes me. Coming off codeine shouldn't be too much of a problem, at 400mg only 10% is converted to morphine in the body so it is a very weak opiate. All i really have to do is white knuckle 5 days of a bit of pain and i would come out clean.

This i have done a few times but the cravings have always brought me back. The short relief i get from my anxiety the repetitive thought loops and the brief but crappy high is why i continue to use it.

I've been trying to taper off usage but last week i had a stressful few days with a software release at work and a paranoid manager who was driving me up the walls, so i screwed up there and it set me back.

I notice that my anxiety in the mornings is particularly bad. I think it may have been due to the baclofen running out of my system. I would normally take my last dose of bac at 6pm and not dose again until 5am. I would wake up at 4 am everyday and try and stay in bed until at least 5am, all the while withering in anxiety. I went through some bad life changes recently and i constantly think about it over and over when im anxious, particularly in the morning so i dose codeine at 5am for some relief but i also take my bac. so it dawned on me that perhaps my body is going into a withdrawal of sorts between long stretches when i haven't had bac.

I've decided to go from 3 doses of baclofen at 5am 11am 6pm to 5am 11am 6pm and 11pm (right before i sleep). Last night was the second time doing this and i woke up anxiety free for the second time at 7am. So i think 4 doses for me might be the ticket. If i can wake up without anxiety i can perform a taper off the opiates more easily.

I'm really looking forward to being opiate/alcohol free. This stuff is expensive at my height of my addiction i was spending $200 AUD on codeine and alcohol. My life revolved around visiting pharmacies to avoid being seen as an abuser. I keep a spreadsheet of the pharmacies i go to and only visit one, once a month. Sad i know. looking to move on from this and save that hard earned cash. I also keep detailed logs of my spending and its depressing to see the percentage of money that last year went to those two drugs that add nothing to my life but short term relief and long term misery.

well i keep logs of everything including my day to day thoughts, so hopefully when i come out the other side i can post all this up into something coherent and it can serve as useful guide for those with poly drug addictions and mental health problems. Reading the study "Suppression of Alcohol Dependence Using Baclofen A 2-Year Observational Study of 100 Patients" indicated those with mental health problems and poly drug addictions often require much higher doses of baclofen. so i think the 270 i am on now is not enough. I upped the dose to 295 and will continue to 350 to reevaluate.

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen and opiate cravings

Hi Neo,

It sounds like you're on to something with the different dosing schedule.
Do keep us updated. I would like to find out how it all goes for you.
Good luck!