Buying Baclofen in Spain

[SnowDog]

Hi all I'm in the UK and my GP has just refused point blank to prescribe Baclofen, either for anxiety or alcoholism,. She was adamant I wouldn't have success with any other GP in my area, as they are not allowed to prescribe for alcoholism, you have to self refer to the alcohol service - but apparently they won't prescribe it either! She wouldn't give a reason why.

So it looks like I have no choice but to try and get hold of it myself. It's so expensive online that as far as I can make out, that it might be more cost effective to book a cheap flight to Spain and stock up by visiting as many pharmacies as possible and getting as many from each as they'll let me.

My question is: Does anyone know the current situation with Baclofen in Spain? Is it still widely available OTC, and does it vary by area? Has anyone got recent experience of getting it? Any advice greatly appreciated!

[_serenity_]

Re: Buying Baclofen in Spain

Hi Snowdog,

I don't have any personal info about it, but there is an old thread from this forum that indicates that a prescription is needed:

https://www.mywayout.org/community/medication-research-and-support/87164-hola-amigos-buying-baclofen-spain-questions.html

[Anjicia]

Re: Buying Baclofen in Spain

wow why do that ? you are only taking a drug to get off a drug. Your gp has a reason not to give it to you. It was meant to treat alcoholism or anxiety i think it is for epilispy. I thought of taking similar to help with cravings but i was afriad for my liver plus the price and wasting money i had not not got. I'm not telling you what to do but taking a drug to get off a drug and going to a lot of trouble for it is dodgey and a lot of hassle plus expense and it does not work for everyone.

[georgesmiley]

Re: Buying Baclofen in Spain

wow why do that ? you are only taking a drug to get off a drug. Your gp has a reason not to give it to you. It was meant to treat alcoholism or anxiety i think it is for epilispy. I thought of taking similar to help with cravings but i was afriad for my liver plus the price and wasting money i had not not got. I'm not telling you what to do but taking a drug to get off a drug and going to a lot of trouble for it is dodgey and a lot of hassle plus expense and it does not work for everyone.

Because using a safe drug to get off a dangerous drug makes a lot of sense to people.

And baclofen seems to have other benefits, besides the fabled indifference.

Anjicia, it's clear you don't approve of people using baclofen - you've made that point. But you're making threads unusable by coming on here and whining about a technique that many thousands of people have found hugely helpful.

No treatment or technique works for everyone. But baclofen has worked for many thousands of people. Please stop undermining people's attempt to find out about, and experiment with, this technique.

[Baclofenman]

Re: Buying Baclofen in Spain

Hi all I'm in the UK and my GP has just refused point blank to prescribe Baclofen, either for anxiety or alcoholism,. She was adamant I wouldn't have success with any other GP in my area, as they are not allowed to prescribe for alcoholism, you have to self refer to the alcohol service - but apparently they won't prescribe it either! She wouldn't give a reason why.

So it looks like I have no choice but to try and get hold of it myself. It's so expensive online that as far as I can make out, that it might be more cost effective to book a cheap flight to Spain and stock up by visiting as many pharmacies as possible and getting as many from each as they'll let me.

My question is: Does anyone know the current situation with Baclofen in Spain? Is it still widely available OTC, and does it vary by area? Has anyone got recent experience of getting it? Any advice greatly appreciated!

Hey @SnowDog

i am sorry, I am not able to help regarding the availability of Baclofen without script in Spain. I assume you have read Chris Rivers' blog on the subject. Not knowing the guy, I would not be able to validate or deny his findings.

Buying Baclofen in Spain - Baclofen for Alcohol buy baclofen

However, I can comment with experience on your GP. General Practitioners have a duty of care to their patients. Now lets hold that one back for a moment*.

GP's can (certainly when I looked into this at length in 2006) prescribe, what is known as "off label". This means they are allowed by the General Medical Council (GMC) to script a medication that has been specifically associated with a certain condition to treat something that the medication is not specifically associated to be prescribed for.

However,

The GP needs to:

1) Be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence or experience of using the medicine to demonstrate its safety and efficacy

2) Take responsibility for prescribing the medicine and for overseeing the patient’s care, monitoring, and any follow up treatment, or ensure that arrangements are made for another suitable doctor to do so

3) Make a clear, accurate and legible record of all medicines prescribed and, where you are not following common practice, your reasons for prescribing an unlicensed medicine

Cite.

So as you can see, there is a lot for the GP to consider, and the cynic in me may suggest it is too much bother and effort for some.

I may have been lucky with my GP, a young lady with an ambitious attitude untarnished by years of bumbling around with age old GP's, of stubborn demeanour and "old school" attitudes.

I would suggest you read this post and the thread in full. To get a GP to off label you need to prove YOU know your subject. I was again lucky, the meds section was pretty good in "my day" lol, with the likes of tk posting all sorts of documentation to help me put a case to my GP. If you PM me an email address I will send you my letter to my GP, I cannot post it here as it is full of hyperlinks that wont publish correctly on this site.

Make sure;

You know how it works.
You know why it works.
You know what your responsibilities are and that you understand what your GP's responsibilities (to you) are*.
You understand the dangers that (Baclofen) can bring to you. You cannot just stop or run out. Stopping without tapering may cause some (serious) side effects.

It may be a benefit to start a course of Baclofen and then tell your GP what you are doing, this may give them the impression that they have to continue helping you along but giving them the added benefit of being able to keep an eye on your progress.

Oh, and read as may posts as you can from terryk or DonQuixote the latter of which runs his own German/Austrian/Swiss based Baclofen Forum.

Anyway, football is on the telly now so I'm offski.

Good luck, take care.

Regards,


Bacman

[georgesmiley]

Re: Buying Baclofen in Spain

Hi [MENTION=24551]SnowDog[/MENTION] - I hope you come back here.

If you look at my thread in "My Baclofen Journey" you can see I named two websites where you can reliably get baclofen at a (relatively) reasonable price. Do check there - it's been a wonder for me.