TooCurious' Baclofen Progress

[TooCurious]

Thanks Palladium and Stuck. It's reassuring to read that several people are taking baclofen and gabapentin concurrently. Last night I took my first dose of gabapentin, and it made me feel pretty drowsy and lethargic. I'm sure some of that had to do with the fact that I'm also taking baclofen. I was so sleepy last night that I ended up only taking 15 mg of baclofen before bed instead of the 25mg I was supposed to take. Today I'm taking 80mg of baclofen (20/20/20/20), and I plan on staying at 80mg until I finish titrating up on gabapentin. Otherwise I think I'd just be too sleepy all day. It definitely has an effect on me, but I've always been pretty sensitive to medication. I have noticed some strange mood swings since I started both, but I'm hoping that will fade with time/tolerance. I'm definitely still optimistic, and hopefully this new addition will end up working well for me! I'll keep you all posted on how it goes...

[TooCurious]

Hello,

So I've been taking my baclofen/gabapentin combo for a few days now, and I'm definitely getting mixed results. Gabapentin seems to be making my short-term memory worse than when I was on baclofen alone, which is frustrating because I'm trying to study for a makeup final exam that I have to take sometime next month. Tomorrow I will be at 1,800mg gabapentin along with 80mg baclofen per day, but I'm a bit wary about it. If anything I think my cravings have gotten worse using this combo, which makes me nervous. I didn't realize how well baclofen was working for me until I started having some bad mood swings and a couple intense drinking urges the last two days. My next psychiatrist appointment is Dec. 4, at which point I'm going to bring up my concerns with return of cravings/memory problems. I'm not sure if I should just stop the gabapentin right now, or keep going for a few more days and see if it starts to work for me at the dose suggested by my doctor. I was tolerating baclofen really well and not having many side effects, so I kind of want to just return to that method, but I also want to give gabapentin a fair chance. Sorry for the rambling post, and any advice/input is greatly appreciated!

And yes, I understand we're not doctors, just people struggling with similar things helping each other out through our shared experiences :happy2:

[SHADES_of_IDAHO]

There's a very interesting video on you tube about Baclofen.

http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/content/42/2/158.full

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3540966/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXxxcElL7Cs

Hope this helps.,
Their us a science to relapse included in the above sites.

Also my way out has many who have used baclofen with good success. Some use two drugs together. Do a site search on Baclofen. There r many to share their experiences with the anti craving drug Baclofen.

Good Luck

[Lostinspace]

TooCurious - you also cut back on baclofen from 110 to 80 mg recently. Is it possible that the return of your cravings is just a result of that, and not the gabapentin/bac combo? I would try to stick it out until your next appointment. It might just be a temporary side effect that will get better with time.

[StuckInCA]

1800mg is on the 'high' end of normal gabapentin doses, though it is safe to go much higher. I talked with a pdoc once who wanted to put me on something like 2600mg/day. Not sure what to say about the memory - though moving around bac doses, up or down, kind of stirs up the pot of side effects for a few days or a week. Or it always seemed to me.

[TooCurious]

Thanks, yeah it could very well be the fact that I dropped my bac dose and not the gabapentin. I just figured that since I didn't drop down too much it might not have any negative consequences. Today I'm going back up to 90mg of bac for a few days, and staying on the gabapentin. Hopefully it will all balance out over time. The most important part is that I'm still sober! The holidays are kind of stressful now that I'm back home for a couple days, but I'll get through it. I'm just going to continue to read/study for my exam even though I don't feel like I'm retaining a lot of info, and when I take the test whatever happens happens. Without my sobriety I can kiss school and everything else I care about goodbye, so I need to just make due and stay on my medications. Everyone here on MWO has been a great help, and I'm really thankful that you are all here to help out new members like myself :thanks:

I'll give another status update in a few days :-)

[TooCurious]

Well I haven't posted in a while...figure I'll give a brief status update for anyone who cares :-) After meeting with my psychiatrist again a couple weeks ago and discussing the fact that my cravings may in fact be getting worse, he still suggested that I stay on gabapentin. I also mentioned my inability to focus, so he prescribed me Wellbutrin SR for a slight energy boost. I have stayed at 1,800mg Gabapentin, 100mg baclofen, and 300mg Wellbutrin for over a week now. It's definitely helped a lot with increasing my energy and helping me focus while reading/studying, but the last few days I've started to feel really weird around 6pm up until about 9:30pm...I don't really know what it is but it's quite annoying and I don't like it! I think I'm gonna cut down the gabapentin because I'm just on quite a cocktail of meds and the one thing I love about sobriety is the clarity of mind, and I don't have that in the evenings.

With all that said, I'm still sober! It'll be three months AF on Dec. 20! :victorious: But I am starting to feel like I need to get off of the gabapentin because things were going far better before I started on it. However having been on these meds at the same dose for quite a while now, I'm not experiencing any side effects at all other than this bizarre feeling in the evenings. I'm still having cravings occasionally, but so far it's been easy to recall how horrible alcohol is for me and say "no thanks." It's like part of my brain still wants alcohol, but the rational part of my brain is able to kick in and regulate my decision-making! Which is good

Happy Friday!

[Spiritfree]

With all that said, I'm still sober! It'll be three months AF on Dec. 20! :victorious: But I am starting to feel like I need to get off of the gabapentin because things were going far better before I started on it. However having been on these meds at the same dose for quite a while now, I'm not experiencing any side effects at all other than this bizarre feeling in the evenings. I'm still having cravings occasionally, but so far it's been easy to recall how horrible alcohol is for me and say "no thanks." It's like part of my brain still wants alcohol, but the rational part of my brain is able to kick in and regulate my decision-making! Which is good

Hi TooC -Huge congrats to you on your ninety days!!!!

I am curious to know more about your 'bizarre' feelings at night.

And TooC, when you say that your 'rational' part of your brain is kicks in and allows you to decide not to drink, I think perhaps this is very similar to my experience with baclofen. After 90 days, the thought of alcohol certainly did remain (as well as the thought of the habit), but I much better able to decide and choose not to drink -unlike all the times before when I had quit drinking.

For me, post alcohol withdrawal syndrome (PAWS), remained a challenge for most of a year -even with Baclofen. And meds or no meds, evenings-days, etc can and will feel bizarre for awhile. For me, my brain would keep telling me that I could at least feel somewhat normal if I would drink. Obviously, I knew how I would feel and think if I started back drinking. Regardless of known consequences, my brain kept telling me that at least I would be in a 'safe' place if I would just have one drink.

Thanks for the update.

[TooCurious]

Well it's been about a month since I've posted, so figured I should stop by ;-) I am now at 140mg/day of baclofen, as well as 300mg wellbutrin. I've completely stopped the gabapentin and I'm glad I did because it just wasn't working for me. At 140mg I'm experiencing almost no cravings, and I think if I were to go a little higher I may reach "indifference," whatever that means. The only side effects I'm experiencing are muscle weakness and what I would call some occasional sexual dysfunction lol. Not tired, no headaches, sleeping great, etc. However, I was recently struck with the thought that I had not planned any way to taper off of baclofen. I'm afraid of developing a several physical dependence on baclofen, and finding it extremely difficult to get off of it. I have read stories of this on many MS forums and some news articles. I think I'm just getting scared that I'm basically experimenting on myself, and I think it's time for me to lower my dose.

I'm planning on dropping by 10mg every three days and sticking to maybe a 50mg maintenance dose. Obviously if cravings return at an unbearable level I'll ease off, but I think it will be better in the long run if I can maintain sobriety without high-dose baclofen. I might start up again sometime, who knows. I've been sober almost four months, and I credit it largely to baclofen. I think I'm going to get back on Antabuse to deter me from drinking.

I also quit smoking today, which is terrible And I start school in a few days, another reason I think it would be best to reduce my dose.

If anyone has experience with tapering off of baclofen, a taper schedule, what to expect etc., any advice would be appreciated!

[bleep]

Your plan of 10mg every 3 days looks fine to me. From my experience, there is nothing really to expect, you just go down in dose. Any lingering SE's you may still be feeling should disappear as you get lower.

Baclofen dependence, from what I've read, will be there regardless of dose, after about 2 months of use.

I have absolutely no issue with being on high-dose baclofen for the rest of my life, if that is what it takes, other than the daily schlep of having to take something of course. What is it about it that you don't like? Obviously life would be better if it wasn't required, but it seems this is hand we are dealt.

I agree that there are horror stories on the MS sites, but I think if you break down the numbers it is a very small percentage of people who experience this, much like any drug.

I do think that if you are going to entirely abstinent, you should be able to come off baclofen entirely (which makes my question above a bit redundant).

[smithsteven4005]

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[TooCurious]

Hey Bleep,

I want to come off of it for a few reasons. Although I don't notice any major side effects of baclofen hindering my cognitive abilities, I just want to feel fresh and alert for school. I also really enjoy working out, and it's making my muscles really weak, and I experience muscle fatigue easily. Lastly, baclofen seems to be making it difficult for me to reach orgasm lol. Sometimes that's a good thing, but at least one time it reached a somewhat embarrassing level. Oh yeah and due to the fact that my prescription is for a very low amount, taking baclofen for an extended period of time will get pricey.

However I'm at my second day on 110mg/day, and I am noticing some anxiety and just feeling a little strange. That could be because I've been sitting around watching football all day lol, but I'm assuming my reduction in dose is playing a role. So I'm really at a crossroads...I'm debating whether I should stay on baclofen at a reasonably high dose (~140mg/day) for my first year of sobriety, or try to taper down now. I'm just afraid that if I stay at that high dose for a year it will be incredibly hard to reduce my dose. I don't want to take baclofen for the rest of my life, unless I'm taking a low dose like 30-50mg/day.

So yeah, I'm not really sure what to do, but I definitely won't reduce my dose at the risk of losing my sobriety! Again, if anyone has experience with this I'd appreciate advice/opinions!

P.S. - I've been sober for four months! :yay:
P.P.S. - And I still haven't smoked! One week today!