Baclofen reduction 100 - 50 mg (and pregabalin), experiences?

[supesharisuto]

Hi all,

Question is in the last paragraph, but just a bit of background. I have posted here before about my experiences with baclofen, which were positive to say the least. I had a question now about baclofen reduction and pregabalin and am a little nervous hence I thought I might ask for someone elses experiences. Long story short, I went up with baclofen to 200 mg at my peak and it had all the effectiveness I had wished for - I stopped drinking and felt a lot better, it was really amazing.

I reduced from that and have now been on a stable maintanence dose of 100 mg for around a year, drank the odd few beers but never went back to daily drinking and have no compulstions to do so. The doctor I consult with has prescribed the following: instead of taking 100 mg Lioresal, take 50 mg and take 300 mg Lyrica (pregabalin) instead - but do this from one day to the next. The idea would be to phase out baclofen and use pregabalin instead. The reason I drank in the first place was anxiety and panic attacks. Recently I don't sleep, so the pregabalin is also to be taken in the evening to help with sleep, but it will eventually be taken during the day too. The doctor I consult with is an expert in alcoholism and prescribing drugs for it so I trust him a lot. On the other hand I am exceedingly nervous about doing this. On top of this, I am a physicist and working on some hairy theoretical stuff at the moment, I am worried about the "zombie" effect that some describe about pregabalin and not being able to concentrate.

The question I had is whether anyone else has had experience with taking Lioresal (baclofen) and Lyrica (pregabalin) at the same time and whether anyone has experience in reducing from 100 mg to 50 mg of baclofen in one day ? ?

Any experiences or thoughts on this would be very, very appreciated. I am going to do it, at least to try it, but I just wanted to know what to expect.

[thomas m]

Baclofen reduction 100 - 50 mg (and pregabalin), experiences?

A 50mg jump down after a year is a big jump. You'd probably be better titrating. I've never taken meds both at the same time but have experience with both. I'd personally rather take Baclofen than Pregabalin.

Pregabalin can be addictive. I found it so. Its a widely abuse med. Not that I'm saying your going to abuse it. If your not having any trouble with Baclofen I'd stick with that. I'm not sure why your doctor wants to try and fix something that isn't broke.

[supesharisuto]

Baclofen reduction 100 - 50 mg (and pregabalin), experiences?

Thanks Thomas,
He didn't go into why in detail, but I think it is because lately I have not been able to sleep (3-4 hours per night) and am anxious during the day which hasn't been the case in the last year (particular circumstance, something pretty bad happened recently). So, he wants me to take the pregabalin in the evening before bedtime so that I drift off to sleep I think.

Perhaps pregabalin, as an anticonvulsant and similar to baclofen offsets some of the side effects of the baclofen reduction - I can only guess. Is 300 mg of pregabalin at once, with no titration up, a lot compared to your experience ? I am worried about mental acuity reduction, is the talk of being "spaced" and having bad memory etc. accurate in your case ?Did you gain weight ? Did you have any bad effects when you came off pregabalin ? I've heard some horror stories, even in the case where it is reduced slowly, but have not read that many similar accounts for baclofen if it is reduced correctly. The doc puts the risk of becoming addicted at very low. He is an addiction specialist afterall, but the point for me is that (as in your case) it IS possible.

I think I will give it a try for one evening just to see, but will probably not take it regularly as he prescribes - I will tell him at the next meeting and probably just continue the baclofen. Sorry for throwing so many questions at you, just really interested to know what I may be letting myself in for before taking the plunge (or not).

[supesharisuto]

Baclofen reduction 100 - 50 mg (and pregabalin), experiences?

Hi Palladium,
I only saw your post after I wrote my response to Thomas, sorry. Yes, as you see from my last post, I had the same thoughts, that one might offset the other. Don't worry, I am not taking the experiences here over the advice of my doc, it's just that I want to get an impression of personal experiences too. From my own previous experience of following his advice, while it is clinically sound and certainly puts me in no danger, it has been quite harsh to deal with some times. He is also not one for going into everything in detail either. So I think the rule for me is, follow the advice, but know what to expect from other sources, and base my personal assessment of benefit vs. disadvantage by reading between the lines or filling in the missing parts in a reasoned manner.

It is good to know that you had no ill-effects from taking them both together for example. And your experience of being a little impaired but not zombie like is also kind of what I anticipated, but was afraid of the possibility of the latter extreme. It kind of need my wits about me at the moment though. Also, yes, I am expecting it not to be the most pleasant experience, but anticipate that one buffers the other - the complete extreme of seizures I don't expect, but thought it can be nonetheless otherwise quite horrible.

I'll give it a try as I say, and I'll update after that! Thanks for the thoughts.

[Jazi's Mum]

Baclofen reduction 100 - 50 mg (and pregabalin), experiences?

Hi supesharisuto. I'm learning a lot from reading the Q&A that happens here - thanks.

For what it's worth...you are paying your doctor right? And you say "He is also not one for going into everything in detail either." I know we can't doctor shop because of lots of different reason, but gee if my doctor was going to prescribe mind-altering drugs to me I'd insist he 'go into' it in as much detail as I wanted him too.

Of course you can trust him as he's an 'expert', but you might tell him you want him to be more detailed so you are satisfied in your own mind. Isn't that what he's there for?

JMum

[SlipperyPete]

Baclofen reduction 100 - 50 mg (and pregabalin), experiences?

I don't have any experience with pregabalin, but from my experiences in tapering with baclofen, I'd be too scared to go from 100-50, even with the pregabalin (whatever it is). I've had panic attacks from tapering too fast with baclofen, and found that going down ten mg's every 4-7 days to be the best for me. Of course, everyone is different, and I've seen people on here that have dropped down faster with no anxiety, but it all depends on the person.

At the very least, I'd ask for a Rx for a benzo like Valium or Klonopin, just in case you do have a panic attack. Granted, those can make you feel like a zombie (or at least Xanax has made me feel retarded), but it's better to have them on hand to be safe.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen reduction 100 - 50 mg (and pregabalin), experiences?

Hi there.
I think I'd probably go with listening to the suggestions of the person with the MD, if that person has experience with high-dose-bac. Ya' know?

If you're concerned, just give the guy a call and see why he suggested that you go down that much. (I would also be very wary of halving my dose. But perhaps he knows something we don't. Which wouldn't surprise me at all!) I think it's probably a pretty good idea to let him know if you decide to change it up, maybe even before you decide to do it.

Let us know what you decide and how it works out. I'm curious. Good luck.