dosing schedule to beat insomnia?

[its a trip]

Not great this morning sadly. 3am here. I know I shouldn't be on the tablet but I've been rolling about since waking 2 hours ago and its putting my head away. Stayed up to 10.30 last night which I thought wasn't bad and got off to sleep quick as usual but alas woke wirh a jolt just after 1 and that was that.

I need to sort something out this would drive you insane lol. My sisters back from uni for 2 days. She comes home to work for a night and get washing done. She gets off work at 2am and spends the rest of the night on the phone! I'm ready for going in and f**king strangling her! She spends £25 on the return train journey to come up here and work for £40? Then travels back the next morning and is back again on Friday!

Sorry I needed to rant.

[its a trip]

I would second what Ne said about the seroquel. I had already been on it, thanks to years of suffering the kind of insomnia you describe, prior to starting baclofen. So I never experienced the dreaded bac insomnia. I've also tried trazodone, mirtazapine, ambien, etc. etc. ad nauseum, and nothing else worked. I completely understand the madness that lack of sleep brings on, so please don't apologize. It's not a stretch at all to say that it might be causing all your problems. Sleep is very important. I've been sent home from work for lack of sleep on more than one occasion. Luckily, I wasn't fired. My boss was very understanding as I was at least able to explain where my bizarre behavior was coming from and to assure him that I was seeing a doctor for it.

That said, drinking makes everything worse. You said that you've gotten good sleep after two to three weeks alcohol and drug free? I found that seroquel improved my sleep somewhat (I got a good four or five or so hours a night, instead of two) when I was still drinking. It was only when I went AF on seroquel that I finally started to get a good night sleep for the first time in years. I've unfortunately been drinking again recently, and my god does it show in my sleep patterns - or lack thereof! I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you. I wish you the best. I know how painful it is. Keep posting about how you're doing.

Insomnia is the worst lost. I've been lucky with SEs but I'd gladly take any over this. I'll likely roll about for another few hours and maybe get up at 6. 3 hours to go!

[neophyte]

In my experience nothing helped for the baclofen insomnia side effect. I tried anti histamines, melatonin and benzos. Once I stabalised on baclofen after about a month or two and keeping AF. My sleep returned to pre alcoholic ways, which would involve about 1-2 hours of time waiting in bed to fall asleep, which was one of the reasons for my alcoholism to start with.

I looked at medications again and tried out mirtazapine, it knocks me out 15-30 mins after taking it and I sleep for 7-8 hours a night. A big improvement from the 3-4 hours I would sleep and waking up as an anxious wreck. I actually started to sleep through my alarm and wanted to sleep in like a "normal" person.

Mirtazapine also did wonders for my GAD. my psychiatrist has since added in effexor to help with my social anxiety, but im not sure if its helping.

[its a trip]

I'm gonna drop down to 250 and look at the various sleep meds available. I've tried mostly all of them but something might be worth a try.

Before bac my sleep was never great. I always had trouble getting to sleep with 2 hours of rolling about before nodding off not uncommon. But I'd sleep u broken for at least 7 hours.

Funnily enough, when I was starting off on bac at around 50-75 I was getting to sleep as soon as I got into beds, like within 10 minutes.

Funny Drug indead

[Ne/Neva Eva]

I'm glad that you're making a change, Trip. I have a philosophy that it doesn't actually make sense to stay at a dose of baclofen (or anything!) that makes you completely miserable.

I have read about several people who found mirtazapine really helpful in a variety of ways. That was not my experience. When I started taking it I was amazed that I slept so well, and so soundly. But I hadn't been on it a week before I started to feel like life wasn't worth living. I've never felt so hopeless and helpless before. I stopped taking it because I couldn't be bothered to try to feel better and within two days my outlook changed. I have never read or heard of anyone else who had this experience, so I think it's quite rare. I wanted to share it anyway.

Hope you get some good sleep soon!

[TimberTim]

Hey Trip,
I can totally empathize with your predicament. Have been there, and don't want to go back. I reached indifference at 300mg, so you may not be too far off. On the other hand, I was ready to quit bac when I was at 240mg/day. Like you, I would toss and turn all night and, maybe, get two hours of sleep.

I did go off of the bac for about 6 month, and you can predict what the outcome was (I went on a bender). I'm back on bac, but I'm not going above 200mg/day. Most days I stay around 140-160mg. The strange thing is, I have two poor nights of sleep, followed by two GREAT nights of sleep. Only to repeat.

I don't get it either, but at least I'm getting some sleep. I typically take some melatonin, but once and a while I bum a half a Xanax from my wife. And sometimes that doesn't even work. So, I go with the flow.

I definitely would recommend backing down to below 200mg. It's just not worth it, in my opinion. Sleep is important to our health!
Take care, dude!

[Lostinspace]

Hey Tim. It's good to see you again - haven't seen you update your thread in a while. I'm about to go over 200 mg, so your advice kinda scares me

[TimberTim]

All I can say, Lost, is that this strange drug affects everyone differently. But it does work! What Trip and I went through may not necessarily be the same for you.

When I was really struggling at 240mg/day, I wanted to quit. I got a call from Neva/Eva who told me to hang in there, which I did. At that time I decided to make the big step and go up to 300mg/day. I was prepared to have a rough ride, but, as I recall, it was a little easier than at 240mg, for some reason. I think I stayed at 300mg for about 5 days, and then started to titrate down ( I couldn't wait!!!).

I'm glad I went through it and reached indifference. I don't have that anymore, but I believe that the bac level that I am at (140-160mg) allows me to work and get some sleep and helps to control the "white hot need" that we all know and hate.:cuss:

[Lostinspace]

Hey Tim. Thanks for the input. 300 mg is quite a lot, but it's interesting how it was easier for you than 240. I've heard that a number of times from people here - that sometimes the side effects get easier as you go up in dose - so weird! I'm glad you found a dose that works for you, although I'm sorry you had to stop short of indifference this time. Hopefully, it eases your struggle enough. It is kind of a miracle, though, even at lower doses. Sometimes I forget, now that I'm over four months in, just what a struggle it used to be as compared to now.

[Catherinei]

Hi, I find the insomnia is related to baclofen withdrawal in the night. i find having a low dose of bac when you wake up solves the problem