Lexapro and High Dose Bac

[Yourfriend6116]

Anyone take Lexapro with their Baclofen? My dr gave me a script for it. He knows I'm taking HDB for alcoholism but had never heard of it used for that. Thanks in advance!

[neophyte]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

Not a doctor but Lexapro is an SSRI and should be fine to take with baclofen, i take zoloft and a large portion of the members on MWO take SSRIs and SSNRIs

[Yourfriend6116]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

Thanks, Neo! I figured, but just wanted to consult w my MWO "panel". How are you doing?

[neophyte]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

im doing well i have some lingering GAD issues which i want to mix up my medications. i was wondering how the Lexapro works for you? I read that its primarily prescribed for GAD.

how is your tritation going?

[Yourfriend6116]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

My dr gave it to me for GAD. I'm starting tonight. 10 mg/night for a week, then up to 20. I'll keep you posted. I'm doing very well on the Bac. Tomorrow will be 30 days AF!!! (Which is pretty much a miracle for me coming from almost 2 bottles of wine a night and cravings I couldn't beat). I'm on 100 mg. do you think I should keep going up even though I've been AF?

[neophyte]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

interesting, well i know that baclofen was rough for me from about 150mg on and up. and starting SSRIs can be problamatic as well. you are already on baclofen so i would stay steady on baclofen until you feel adjusted on the SSRIs, they take time to work and in the short run they can make you feel worse.

if you are happy AF then maybe you dont need to go up higher. Maybe this isnt the best advice but a good test is to try and drink, if you find you want to keep drinking after a glass or two of wine then youre not indifferent yet. if the wine tastes rancid and you dont enjoy the feeling of being drunk coming on then you are indifferent. thats just my opinion though, probably not the best idea so ill let others chime in on that one. for me that was how i definitely knew.

On the way up to 295mg i had a 30day stint AF but in reality i just ended up abusing opiates and benzos and on day 30 i gave in to the cravings and drunk 1/2 a bottle of scotch, the tollerance was so low of course, so i puked up nachoes all over the toilet and felt sorry for myself for the next few days. After that experience i was discouraged since my dose was already 170mg, but i persisted through horrible SE.

[terryk]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor/medical professional.

There's at least one report here of an SSRI purportedly negating baclofen's anti-craving mechanism (but also many other people reporting success with hdb with concurrent SSRI use):

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...sal-43035.html

Celexa (citalopram) is the SSRI mentioned here - Lexapro is Escitalopram,, actually S-Citalopram (the more refined version of Celexa).

Also:

New onset alcohol dependence linked to treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

This isn't advice to go against your doctor's orders, just something to be aware of.

-tk

[Accel7]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

Hi yourfriend6116 ... I've been on 20mg of lex for several years (Zoloft before that) for depression and so far I notice no probs with also being on HDB (I'm now up to 200mg). No issues with sudden depression, other than a few not unexpected low points when I was battling bac SEs and coming to terms with my lousy finances. Purely anecdotal evidence, of course, but in my case no worries.
Congats on your AF-free month!!! (I was drinking at least the same amount of wine every night).
And thank you for the kind responses in my thread. : )
Accel7

[neophyte]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

now that Terry posted that message, i remember now that when i increased my dose to 100mg from 50mg of zoloft i experienced increased cravings.

I have wanted to increase my dose for a while but i have been worried about the link between drinking and increased seretonin.

I want to look at alternative medications that do not have this problem, one that got my interest is Mirtazapine.

[Yourfriend6116]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

Thank you all for the great tips!! Terry-you rock! :wd::wd:The thread was just what I was looking for. After reading through it and chatting with my husband, I've decided to put the Lex on hold. The purpose of this whole journey was to stop drinking and stop my obsessive thought about alcohol. The Baclofen, so far, has provided this. I think I'll be doing myself and the Baclofen a disservice if I introduce another drug while changing my doses of Bac every 5 days. It'll be too hard to determine which SE's are from what. Plus, if there is even the smallest possibility the Lex would negate my Baclofen this whole experience would be for naught and I might miss my Baclofen "indifference". Thank you all so much for your insight. This group is priceless!! :thanks:

[neophyte]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

another reason to put it on hold, especially when it comes to GAD. Many long term alcoholics suffer from GAD, infact mine got so bad that it led to me coming to ridiculous conclusions about what people thought about me and indecisveness. it kind of lead me to do something about it last year. Now that i've stopped drinking its much better however i still have lingering anxiety

[Samandkatharine]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

Hi Friend!

I think your decision is great. The fact that you include your husband in this is awesome. If starting a new med causes you to have an increase in SEs you won't know which med to blame. Have you ever had a real bout of depression? You'd know it if you did.
Doctors are quick to write out Rx's, so it's buyer beware.

Sam
:l

[Yourfriend6116]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

Yeah he wrote my the scrip so fast! Even though I told him my main issues was alcoholism and that Bac had kept me sober for a month...
Anyhoooo---30 days todayyyyy!!!! :happy::happy:

[Yourfriend6116]

Lexapro and High Dose Bac

Palladium--thanks for your input! I don't think I even have depression--it's more anxiety. I feel like I made a good call on this with everyone's help!