Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

[loki485]

I'll try to make this as short as possible, but enough information to get some help hopefully.

I'm alcohol free for 5 years. I do have a lot of anxiety and depression issue for which I take Wellbutrin. Recently my wife and I have found out that our child has a disease and it's caused some extreme fear and anxiety, and as a result I have been taking Xanax (which I prefer not to take, but it was needed).

Anyway, about a month ago, I was having some terrible stress headaches. My wife has epilepsy and it's accompanied by terrible headaches for which she was, at one point, prescribed Baclofen. She took it once, it didn't work. So back to my stress headache. It was extremely bad and she recommended I try the Baclofen. I had never heard of it, but after very brief reading, I tried it. And it worked.

So, with all of the stress going on in our lives, the headaches were fairly regular, so I would take 10-20mg from time to time over the next few weeks.

Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago. The situation with our daughter had worsened, and I was having a lot of issues with wanting to drink. I happened across this forum, or another, not sure, and started reading about what Baclofen might be able to do.

So, on my own (I know, stupid way to go - but I have no insurance and my Psychiatrist is highly against it) - I started taking it as others on this forum have. I found almost immediately that my desire to drink was gone. Never even crossed my mind. And my side effects were minimal if at all. I got up to 80-90mg a day during that 2 week period. The past 5 or 6 days I was taking an average of 60mg.

Well, now I'm out. And of course, though I'd read everything about the benefits, it seemed very benign. I knew nothing about the withdrawal. I haven't take any since last night around 9:30. I do feel mild withdrawal - feels like a mix between opiate withdrawal and benzo withdrawal. BUT, it could very well be in my head for the most part as I started reading about the withdrawals last night and almost had a fear meltdown.

As I said, I have no insurance. And with the new issues with my daughter, we have very little money - none really - to spend on a doctor or ER visit.

I guess my first and foremost question is - after this amount of use for this period of time, will it really be that bad. I've done cold turkey withdrawal from Herion, Dilaudid, Oxycontin, Xanax, and Klonopin. So I'm not one to get easily freaked out by withdrawals. I've been through my "hells" many times a long time ago - including 2 cold turkeys in jail. But the stuff I'm reading about Baclofen is scaring the crap out of me.

I'd love to hear any info anyone has to share.

Also, I know nobody on this board would ever give medical advice - but I do have large amounts of Neurontin at my disposal (which I thought was similar because of acting on GabaB, but from what I'm reading now it's very different). I have not interest in starting on a new medication. I'm just asking if anyone has any experience easing withdrawals with that. I know if worse comes to worse I can take larger doses of Xanax, but that goes against my beliefs (I will however do it if it means avoiding hallucinations, convulsions, etc.).

So, anyway. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Wish I'd never gotten into this mess in the first place, but here I am. If I can find a doctor at some point that will prescribe Baclofen properly I may give it a go. But right now this is about getting through this withdrawal I didn't even know existed until last night.

Any help would be very, very, gratefully appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help! I need it and I don't really know where else to go. So glad I found this place - and I'm so glad this medication is working out so well for all of you!

[StuckinLA]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

First this link:

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...fen-88526.html

Fucking A, I'm on my phone and this is difficult to paste. Hopefully it worked. Second, a couple weeks *probably* isn't enough time to develop physical dependence on baclofen but no point in messing around.

[loki485]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

I guess the "Fucking A" was about how long my post was? Sorry. Thought the most info possible would help.

I had read the post you linked to and it had helped. But I keep reading conflicting reports about how long and how much will cause withdrawal. Some say any dose every day for 2 weeks.

I guess I (maybe selfishly) was hoping to hear from some people who had withdrawn from a similar dose for a similar time and what it was like.

Just very scared and looking for help.

Of course, I was also looking for any info/experiences of people easing w/d's with Neurontin (gabapentin).

Can't imagine I'm the first person to find myself in the situation so hopefully, if anyone out there has any info, it will help someone else too.

[loki485]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

Nevermind my comment about the F'n A. I understand what you meant now.

I'll add that one thing I have done on this first day cold turkey off of Baclofen is d/c my Wellbutrin for a few days (not a recommendation to others - my DR has told me this is ok from time to time as it raises my anxiety, despite working best for my depression). I knew that would decrease any anxiety/agitation some and definitely help the seizure issue as Wellbutrin lowers the seizure threshold.

[spiritwolf333]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

Hi Loki4 -Don't worry about the other poster's comment. I am quite certain the XXXing comment had nothing to do with your post. Very sorry to hear about your family troubles. I am sure this has to be quite stressful.

I have not withdrawn from baclofen -yet. Once others read your post, you should get a boatload of responses. The weekends on MWO are sometimes slow.

Peace to you and your family.

[loki485]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

spiritwolf333;1656839 wrote: Hi Loki4 -Don't worry about the other poster's comment. I am quite certain the XXXing comment had nothing to do with your post. Very sorry to hear about your family troubles. I am sure this has to be quite stressful.

I have not withdrawn from baclofen -yet. Once others read your post, you should get a boatload of responses. The weekends on MWO are sometimes slow.

Peace to you and your family.

Thank you!

[loki485]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

Just to update, it's now been roughly 16 hours since last dose. Definitely don't feel "right". Anxiety is markedly increased, but it's in a very fluctuating way. Sometimes for minutes at a time I'm very anxious, then minutes of zero anxiety. Some peripheral tingling, but minimal. In general, just feel slightly dissociated. Reminds me of the old, old days and LSD - but with none of the desirable effects. Just the undesirable ones.

I realize this may not be of any use to most of you as this may be a more unique situation and less common that what all of you deal with. But I feel like if I keep updated as I go through it will help anyone else that may find themselves in this situation.

Again though, any help would be great. Pretty sure I'll have at least moderate w/d's as I've noticed the past 4 or 5 days I've started waking up with mild hyperthermia (extremely hot and sweating, almost burning) that doesn't go away until I take a Baclofen. Also, as I'm sure is the case for most of us current and former Alcoholics, my body seems to bind quickly and very lovingly to any chemical that provides a positive response. If I even take pain meds after surgery for 3-4 days, I go through horrendous withdrawals.

Sorry in advance for all the typing. I'm sure it will keep some from reading all of this, but it's helping me and hopefully will help someone else out one day.

[Samandkatharine]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

Sorry the responses have been slow for you. There have been some of MWO that have titrated down to a maintainable dose that does not have SEs, but few need to go off completely. I know one person who ran out but got some pills from a sweet and generous member who lived nearby.

We don't like to give advise like doctors, because we aren't. The best course is to go down 10mg every week or two. Anxiety will get worse. It did for me when I went down 20mg so I had to go back up. There is the risk of seizure, plus your going off Wellbutrin complicates things.

Sorry you are in a bad situation. Don't be afraid to ask for help!

Sam

[bkyogagurl]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

StuckinLA;1656814 wrote: First this link:

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...fen-88526.html

Fucking A, I'm on my phone and this is difficult to paste. Hopefully it worked. Second, a couple weeks *probably* isn't enough time to develop physical dependence on baclofen but no point in messing around.

Loki... I think what stuck meant was he was frustrated with his phone not pasting the link he wanted to share with you... Nothing personal meant. Sometimes things don't come across very well when we write things down on threads and there is no voice attached because you can't feel the emotion meant and the comment could be misinterpreted.

I hope you are feeling ok.

[loki485]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

bkyogagurl;1656867 wrote: Loki... I think what stuck meant was he was frustrated with his phone not pasting the link he wanted to share with you... Nothing personal meant. Sometimes things don't come across very well when we write things down on threads and there is no voice attached because you can't feel the emotion meant and the comment could be misinterpreted.

I hope you are feeling ok.

I figured out what he meant. Pasting the link. Sorry for the confusion.

Wishing there was someone out there that's been through cold turkey w/d after 2-4 weeks use. The fear of the unknown is what's killing me. I keep reading that it can take 1-4 days for w/d to appear which seems so weird to me since it's so short acting.

[Xadrian]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

Going down 15 mgs every 3rd day is considered to be relatively safe.
I wouldn't risk going from 60 to 0 at once.

Can't you get an emergency prescription for just 1 box (30 pills)?
That would be just enough for a "safe" phase out.

[loki485]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

Wouldn't really know how. The prescription we have has a refill but it's written as 10mg 3x a day, 90 pills, and it was last filled 12 days ago. Doubt they would refill that, right?

[Samandkatharine]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

No, they wouldnt. Too early. Where do you live? Maybe someone on the boards lives local to you?

Sam

[loki485]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

South of Birmingham, Al. US

[loki485]

Baclofen W/D Help (Urgent)

Anyone else out there with experience with this. Getting pretty anxious and would really appreciate any input from anyone who's been through something similar. Thanks!