Baclofen Potency

[knobert]

Oh tk

I tried sending you a pm but it said your box is full. You probably know but just in case---

Anyway, thanks again. I could discuss this part of baclofen for a long time. I have so many questions.

Take care

Knob

[nicnak68]

I have used a few different brands of Baclofen and had a bad experience with Pacifen,have lots of the pills left but am loath to used the pills again.Have ordered bacloforf from river pharmacy but am worried that it will be the same

[Mom21961]

Recommendations on a good Baclofen with less side effects?

I'm currently on Beclfen from River, and I think it's potent, i.e., it's working on my cravings, but the SEs are very difficult. I'm currently taking the 25mg pills and am at 225 mg/day. I feel like I'm getting close to the switch, but am afraid to titrate up. I've tried staying on each new dose for an extended period of time, and going up only a few mgs at a time. I won't go into my litany of side effects here, but the two that I have been unable to mitigate are the swelling of extremities and the shortness of breath. I'd like to try and switch to another brand to see if a different formulation might work better for me. Does anyone have any recommendations on a brand that they feel works well, but doesn't cause major SEs? Price right now is not my main concern.



Thanks!



Edit: This is interesting. I just went over to River to price Lioresal, and found out that they no longer are offering Beclfen. The alternative to Lioresal is now Bacloford.

[terryk]

Hi Mom2JTx3, if you are talking about shortness of breath meaning depressed respiration especially when you're sitting down resting or trying to fall asleep, I'm afraid that that and peripheral edema (swelling of the extremities) are common side effects (edema a bit less so) that you'll find with any brand of baclofen. I had them both: the edema presented and disappeared randomly in two episodes about 10 days long each, and the depressed respiration lasted for my entire titration and disappeared over the course of a month or two after reaching my switch dose. Hope this helps. -tk

[nicnak68]

I've not used river pharmacy before but I have s batch from them that has just come and the 10mg is bacloford and the 25mg is fexobac but my order history said I had ordered Beclfen,which is a bit worrying if you had actually wanted Beclfen

[Mentium]

I have a doctor who prescribes but I have been increasing the dose for about 20 days now and I suspect he will say 'no more' in due course, so I would like a reliable alternative source. Went to Goldpharma and they do not appear to stock baclofen as far as I can see (also searched for Lioresal). There's a post elsewhere on the forum about online pharmacies pulling their prescription drugs. Are you sure this is still available at Goldpharma?

I received my shipment of the Lioresal brand from Goldpharma recently, so I will be making the switch (gradually, as Terry K wisely suggested). I am hopeful about the prospect of more efficacy with lesser side effects. I just titrated up again today and these side effects are torturous! I keep dropping things, and my skin is tingling like crazy.



P.S. For anyone wanting to use the Lioresal brand I highly recommend Goldpharma, the shipment arrived 10 days after placing my order!

[nicnak68]

I used Goldpharma in September but they are now not supplying prescription drugs anymore

[Mentium]

Thanks Nicnak. I used Inhouse in September. They supply baclofen under the name Pacifen. I didn't save the web site but I have found it again. I'll order from them as a backup I think.

Unless anyone knows different!

I've just taken the first as a substitute for my prescription one. Hopefully it won't make me ill!

Keen to see what news you bring back from Prof Chick!

[knobert]

Bac quality

Hi Nic and Mom and Ment

If my posts to terryk got anyone alarmed, I sincerely apologize. I should have worded them differently. As terryk says, things are regulated.
I have been very interested in the separate R and S isomers of baclofen since reading Abstract 4 in Dr. A's book on page 291.

The different brands are more likely to be all the same as they contain the baclofen molecule and that is regulated. Chances are they use the same or very similar "chemical" recipe in their baclofen production and the pills purity is also likely to be similar as these pharmacies are regulated.
I was curious about these other baclofen bulk suppliers because someone must be buying their product.

Terryk states he has used baclofen from 5 different countries. India, Germany, Israel, Croatia, and the U.S. (albeit the last three were obtained through a U.S. FDA regulated pharmacy).

During my baclofen escalation, I used 2 different brands. Lioresal(25 mg tabs manufactured by Novartis in India), from River Pharmacy and Baclofen(20 mg tabs made by Zenith), with my Dr.'s prescription which I purchased at Walgreens. I do not know what country it was made in as there are many "Zenith" med suppliers in various countries. I will ask my pharmacist.
When I wanted to purchase more on line, I saw Lioresal had gone way up in price. That is why I started my thread "cheapest baclofen?" (See first post).

I did not want to cause any undue alarm. Most of us are forced to order on-line because our Dr.s won't prescribe any bac or not nearly enough. I fear it may be detrimental for us to start doubting the baclofen we obtain through our pharmacy suppliers.

Take care and let's not lose faith.
Knob :thumbsup:

[Ne/Neva Eva]

I'm currently on Beclfen from River, and I think it's potent, i.e., it's working on my cravings, but the SEs are very difficult. I'm currently taking the 25mg pills and am at 225 mg/day. I feel like I'm getting close to the switch, but am afraid to titrate up. I've tried staying on each new dose for an extended period of time, and going up only a few mgs at a time. I won't go into my litany of side effects here, but the two that I have been unable to mitigate are the swelling of extremities and the shortness of breath. I'd like to try and switch to another brand to see if a different formulation might work better for me. Does anyone have any recommendations on a brand that they feel works well, but doesn't cause major SEs?

I sent you a PM with a longer answer, but wanted to quote a part of it here:

I don't think there's a lot of harm in going down a little bit in order to go up a bit. I had to do that more than once, and I never regretted it at all. Not once. Actually, I think I will write that online, because it's important that people don't see it as failure. I know I felt that way, but it wasn't the case at all. I just had to be able to get past the SEs I was dealing with, and sometimes, the only way to do that was to step back a little bit.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

The different brands are more likely to be all the same as they contain the baclofen molecule and that is regulated. Chances are they use the same or very similar "chemical" recipe in their baclofen production and the pills purity is also likely to be similar as these pharmacies are regulated.



...

I fear it may be detrimental for us to start doubting the baclofen we obtain through our pharmacy suppliers.



Take care and let's not lose faith.

Knob :thumbsup:

I totally agree, Knob. I've been taking baclofen for 5 years this month. (Longer really, but 5 years consistently.) I've ordered several different brands online. (Always through River, but mostly because I'm too lazy to look up anything else.) I've taken pacifen, lioresal, beclfen, baclofen, teva brand, some other brand with oblong pills I hate because they're hard to swallow, and who knows what else.



(My husband and I have a prescription for 220mg, and supplement with online ordering. I just looked in our medicine cabinets. At the moment we are taking fexobac, lioresal, and Rx baclofen manufactured by Qualites which are the horse pills I hate.)



I say all this to bring a measure of comfort, but I understand your concern completely. When I first started, the thought of taking the pills from an online source filled me with panic. It was when our beloved Dr. Levin was still practicing, so I was able to get a legit prescription from him. Because of some things I'd read here about side effects and/or effectiveness, I absolutely insisted that the pharmacies I used ONLY filled my Rx with Teva brand baclofen. I wouldn't take anything else.



I don't blame myself now for being so overly concerned, considering how sick (and scared) I was. But I know that it was not a worthwhile concern. Baclofen is baclofen is baclofen. It's generic, so no one is getting super-rich from it anymore and the pharmacies that are manufacturing it for us must have standards because it's not just us ordering from them, you know? It's a worldwide market and they stake A LOT of money on getting people the right things. Because baclofen may be cheap, but these pharmaceutical companies are making crazy $$$$$$$$$$$$.



Much love.

[Otter]

bump

[knobert]

Thanks Ne I appreciate that

[knobert]

Hi Ne



I just reread your post and wanted to add one more thing.



Considering all of the many successes with baclofen, they coud not have all been taking the same brand.



Knobert

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Good point!