Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

[InBigTrouble]

In early May I decided enough was enough and I wanted to quit drinking. I have basically been a weekend alcoholic since the age of 12, I am now 33. Like everything in my life I tried to find a shortcut somehow and I ended up ordering some Baclofen after reading only a minimum of information on it. BIG MISTAKE, as I'm sure anyone reading this is probably doing quite the facepalm right now. Anyway, I would take the pill off and on for a few weeks in mid May, then I stopped taking it for four days. I felt a little depressed when this happened, so I want back on it again. Hard---probably 50 mg-100 mg. a day for a week, then I stopped. Abruptly. HOLY $#17 !!! I took 100 mg. last Friday. Then 10 mg. on Saturday. Then 20 mg. on Sunday, then 10 on Monday, then 20 on Tuesday. Nothing yesterday, shooting for nothing today maybe? Anyway, basically I have been sleepless since Saturday, the only thing that puts me out is epic amounts of Nyquil and alcohol, which is ironic, because I originally intended to use this to quit but sadly I had 1.) No information and 2.) No plan. I know, I'm an idiot. This time I've really screwed myself. I have constant headaches, I feel dizzy, super clumsy, I had to take beta blockers for the past couple of days because of INTENSE panic attacks. I have 22 10 mg. pills left, more on the way (hopefully they arrive), and I don't know what to do. To make matters worse I am poor and uninsured. If I survive this thing I think it's finally time to come clean to my wife and everyone about my condition because I think that, finally, I really have hit rock bottom.

[RedThread12]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

Hi Trouble: Glad you finally posted! I'll save my rant about people who do not do their homework diligently enough to understand FULLY what they are taking on when they choose to take baclofen until I give you the information that is posted over an over and over in the "meds thread."

You are NOT in Big Trouble if you follow the necessary protocol for reducing your baclofen consumption. That protocol is to TITRATE DOWN SLOWLY from your maximum dosage. I suggest you find a consistent dosage at which you are comfortable. From what you have written, it appears that may be as little as 50-60mg/day. Find a place where you are comfortable for a couple of days, then reduce your dose by 10 mg, every 2-3, or 3-4 days. You should stay at each reduced level long enough to know that you are comfortable there. THEN, and only then, reduce 10 mg more for a few days. In this way, you can stay comfortable as you titrate down to zero mg baclofen. It's not rocket-science, but it's the way baclofen works and THIS part does not vary from person to person.

If you know when you will get your new supply, or already have it, you can factor that in. If you are at 22 pills and don't know when you'll have more, take 40 mg for 2 days, 30 mg for 2 days 20 mg for 2 days, and 10 mg for 1 day. And hey! You'll have one pill left!!!

If you get your new supply and want me to help you with a titration schedule that includes those amounts, either post or pm me.

Hopefully you'll get more and you can go more slowly, but that's the basic protocol.

You don't need to be chastised just now. And you do need to know that you CAN do this with as little baclofen as what you have on hand. If you get your new supply and want me to help you with a titration schedule working with whatever amount that might be, post in Meds, or pm me.

You really should, even now, and especially if you want to re-investigate using baclofen to undo alcoholism, read the bountiful information about in the "Meds" section. I have just bumped (put at the top of the page) "Consolidated Baclofen Information." That thread has incredible information, including most of the research done on bac. That, Dr. Amerisen's book, and a long, thorough look through the entire section for everything posted about baclofen. I consider these things a "must" to read for anyone and everyone either considering bac, or already taking it, if they've not been read.

Good luck. Really, you can do this without much discomfort at all. Keep us posted - and do move over to the Meds Section - that's where you'll find more bac'sters and all the information.

[InBigTrouble]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

I can't thank you enough. Might I add that reading this forum has been amazing. This is an incredible community and, if I ever get through this, I hope to post here some more. You are truly courageous people and I feel like an idiot for choosing this coward's way out. As usual I just didn't commit to getting better. Thank you so much.

[InBigTrouble]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

Took 40 mg today. God I hope this gets better. My balance is off, my stomach is in knots, I can't sleep, my toes are twitching, my focus is long gone. I am quite the mess at the moment and I have big commitments to keep this weekend. I really am at wit's end and I don't know what to do.

[Greg]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

These other folks advising you are the experienced baclofen users around here, not myself, but I'm just wondering if you also suddenly reduced or quit drinking after daily heavy use at the time this happened? I ask because my sleep pattern has been hell when quitting alcohol, and that was even while using Valium as prescribed for withdrawals. I would go for night after night with constant waking or just an inability to sleep, plus heaps of intense dreaming in between numerous awakenings.

I was also foolish with baclofen when I first received some, taking it without looking up any proper protocol and trying to do my own thing with it. Nobody that I have ever heard of has had any success that way, and I certainly didn't. These days I take low-medium doses to reduce cravings (with Antabuse) and I always titrate carefully, both upwards and downwards, as others have advised.

Don't beat yourself up about it, or think it is something that you will somehow never get out of. Just treat it as a learning experience. Maybe try baclofen again the proper way once you get stabilized, as it does really work for many people when done right. Good luck.

[krill]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

Have never posted before. Male 53 yo, 170 lbs. Tried Topamax. Got up to 150 mg/day but titrated down because of suspected hair loss. Top. reduced amount I drank but not desire to drink at same time each day. Started on baclofen 6/11/2012 after much lurking/reading here and elsewhere. Totally bummed so far (25-30 mg/day). I don't want to burst anyone's bubble here, but did anyone out there ever take GHB back in the day? From the very first 10 mg dose I thought, "Oh, oh...this is GHB..." Same feelings en toto. I was, to put it mildly, stunned. I tend to be of the scientific bent so... re-read Dr. A's article on the possibility of alcoholism being a GHB deficiency, etc. Read various studies on the GABAb similarities between GHB and bac. I am left profoundly suspicious and disappointed; similarities striking. Already been the GHB route. Now I understand (unfortunately) what everyone (inc. Dr. A.) has been saying about "... followed by somnolence." Has anyone out there done GHB? I mean, you know that "somnolence," right? Even felt a shadow of the GHB high. Clearly, bac. isn't exactly GHB-- mainly the high isn't as good, but the overpowering urge to sleep, the quasi-hypoglycemic feeling three hours into a dose is exactly the same.

I ask the bac. takers: from whence does this purported bac ascribed urge not to drink come? My experience with GHB and bac. so far are that they do nothing to reduce the urge to drink. Sure, if I took bac. three hours ago, I feel that all too familiar GHB somnolence, but it only says to me, "Dude, you're already on your way, it'll take fewer beers tonight." Also, maybe I'm just super-sensitive to bac/GHB, but I feel like it would take me many months/years to get up to any of the doses people are talking about (let's say 70-200 mg). 15-20 mgs of gives me a slight GHB-like buzz, then knocks me on my sleeping ass big-time. I don't always sleep, either because I am not in a situation where I can, or because I know ( as all previous GHB uses do, that if I can wait it out, the "somnolence" will abate).

I'll continue trying to take bac. each day (apx. 5mg, 10, 10mg.), but I feel like I've done little more than to find a way to purchase the long illegal GHB (inferior buzz of course). The past few evenings when I've started to drink my beers to get my high, I've been scared because I well-know GHB's ability to knock one on one's ass extremely quickly. Is that what stops people from imbibing-- fear of a devastating high and/or hangover intensified by bac.? Is there really some other effect? I never noticed that GHB reduced my desire to drink, only my confidence to do so. It simply made me afraid to drink too much. GHB somnolence is so intense (and bac. too) that the idea of too much alcohol gives me pause. When I got off GHB (courtesy of a U.S. Postal Department home raid: one of the scariest, most embarrassing incidents of my life), I thought I was, mercifully, free of GHB forever. Are the bac/GHB familiar users out there sure that bac isn't just a GHB analog, and that they are really just taking high doses of GHB to replace alcohol? I never dreamed that I would take GHB the rest of my life to replace alcohol. Damn!

[InBigTrouble]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

Greg---I was doing well when I hit 100 mg/day. Before I quit taking baclofen, like the #$%@^ moron that I am, I had a week where I only had 4 beers. 4 beers! How is that even possible? Ultimately I don't think this drug is for me, but man. 4 beers. I can't remember the last time I only had 4 drinks in a week. Insane! Felt great until I hit a snag...

Eva---I was drinking very little until I got off the bac (4 BEERS!) then I started mixing everything in the apartment that would put me into an over the counter drug coma---vodka and nyquil, ugh. Even then I only slept 3-4 hours a night! NOT GOOD. NOT HAPPY.

I took 40 mg today and my symptoms have reduced considerably but I'm still not "there". *EDIT* Last pill kicked in as of this writing, marked improvement* Still feeling rough but a little more sedated. Really hope I sleep tonight, that's been tough lately. Plus, do you remember the Matrix? I feel like I have the head jack in my spine, for real.

I know Kung Fu. And facts about baclofen titration.

[InBigTrouble]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

I slept 6 hours last night. First time in almost a week, since last Saturday when I kicked. I AM A NEW MAN!!!!!! Save for the fact that it took 40 mg bac, 4 tbsp nyquil, and a half a fifth of vodka. Remember the hyperspace sleep chambers in Aliens and what happens when you wake up from them? Kind of feels like that right now. *EDIT* Not happy about the alcohol---any tips for sleeping?

[krill]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

Thank you for your response.

--Krill

[Greg]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

InBigTrouble;1334836 wrote: Greg---I was doing well when I hit 100 mg/day. Before I quit taking baclofen, like the #$%@^ moron that I am, I had a week where I only had 4 beers. 4 beers! How is that even possible? Ultimately I don't think this drug is for me, but man. 4 beers. I can't remember the last time I only had 4 drinks in a week. Insane! Felt great until I hit a snag...

This makes it sound to me that baclofen is for you! Yes bac does have unwanted side effects until a person gets used to it, but the ability to have only 4 beers in a week is something most severe alcoholics would give anything for. From what others here have said over the past 2-3 years, the biggest hassles come from sudden changes (up or down) in baclofen dosage, and I myself had no success at all with it while just taking random amounts or using a random schedule. It's like medications for other illnesses, it has to be taken regularly (several times a day) at a stable dose in order to work.

[LibraryGirl]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

Ne you do make bac sound like a miracle drug. I have been drinking every night for way too long also. I drank at least half of a 1.75 liter a day. Sometimes more. Sometimes less, but it always seemed miraculous if I managed less. I don't know how much that seems to everyone else, and I convinced myself that it wasn't that bad, but I know it was.

I don't want to take a medication that I have to stick with for life in order to quit drinking happily. Yes I say happily because I have quit drinking. I quit on Feb. 23 of this year. Since then I have had no more than 3 drinks at a time, and not on consecutive nights. I went 39 days the first time I quit, then drank on 3-4 occasions "normally" and quit again now for 33 days. The trouble is, I am afraid of my desire to drink. Most of the time now I have a lot of resolve, but there are times like today that I almost gave in. I hate the mind games and I wish like hell I didn't have to play them with myself. How can I just not WANT AL? Does bac really do that, and if I decided to take it would it be a life sentence? What about when the side effects of bac become more researched and it's found out to be even worse for you than AL, lol. Not saying that it is, but it's a possibility.

Anyway, just rambling along here late at night when I should be asleep. I probably will wake up tomorrow wondering why I even said anything.

Lg

[LibraryGirl]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

Thank you, Neva for that very well researched and thoughtful reply. You are a wealth of knowledge about baclofen. I hope I spelled it correctly, lol, but I'm too lazy to check.

I won't say that I crave AL against my will. I will say that I thought of activities that I wanted to do yesterday (go to the beach for a night, or go camping with BF) that I associate with AL, and it seemed "appropriate" if not mandatory (in my mind) to have the two together. It worked out that I didn't do the activities, had a terrible fight with BF all day long because I was resisting making a decision (I see that now). I told him, the only way I can think of camping as fun (he actually wants to sleep in a tent on the ground) is if there is a keg of beer close by. He said, well I actually thought we might drink some beers (he does not drink unless I do and then hardly ever, and has absolutely no cravings), but that doesn't mean you can go back to drinking every night.:H:H Hopefully it wouldn't lead to that, but I was fearful. I still might have a few drinks this weekend, I don't know.

Thanks again for your wonderful post. I have a lot to think about, and thanks for your encouragement and belief in me. I have a way of projecting a stronger person that I really am, but like they say, fake it till you make it!

Lg

[YouKayBee]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

I don't think this is Baclofen withdrawl either. Having come off HD myself, I'd say the doses aren't consistent enough to create withdrawl. Plus he's titred off it too.

Yes I tried GHB as a party drug a long time ago, and yes you could say it does feel rather similar.

LG I was quite different in my cravings, to me I just wanted to be with the alcohol, under the influence. Anything else, any other activities would get in the way of it. Basically when I drank I didn't want to do anything else, and usually couldn't because I'd drink so quick I'd soon be rendered useless. End result was I only enjoyed things IF I could stay sober, but if the cravings took over I'd cancel everything and disappear off into blotto land.

[spacebebe01]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

IBT, its good that you are now getting it together and know what to do with the baclofen ie. taking it to reduce off it.

Apart from taking meds to help you sleep I have a drink of hot milk at bedtime, I know it may sound daft but it really seems to work, it seems to tell my body now its time to sleep, but I guess thats because its part of my routine, you need to get a bedtime routine going and that will really help. You could try reducing the amount of vodka you are drinking each night, Ive no idea how much half a fifth is but you could just cut it down by a drink a night, or you could just stop if its not too much.

Im wondering if you feel rough from all the ups and downs with meds and drink, now you are at least settled with the baclofen you should start feeling better in a few days. Good Luck

Krill Ive never taken GHB and dont know anything about it, but at first did feel a bit stoned when I took baclofen. Try reducing the dose, 5mg x 3 a day worked for me to start on.

Good luck

this post seems a bit late now, I didnt notice there was a page 2 on the thread

[COSGringo]

Horrible Baclofen Withdrawal

@InBigTrouble
There are many other options for insmonia besides NyQuil.
There are better meds, some are considered addiction some are not. I find the GABA A meds not addictive when you are on baclofen.
There are forums on insomnia. You can look at pharmacyreviewer.com in the forums. There is a whole section on insomnia.
Some that are used include diazepam. nitrazepam, seroquel, temazepam, versed, and countless others.
Some find melatonin and valerian works.
Let me know if you need some specific info that would only be based on my experience. Lately the baclofen makes me pretty tired so that by then end of the day when the caffeine, energy drinks, ephedrine wears off I fall asleep. Sometimes diazepam helps the process along.