Need to make contact with others using baclofen

[Stevo]

Hi there,

I used to be active on My Way Out way back 6 or 7 years ago. I am back on baclofen for my drinking and have come across something very strange.

Please if this forum is still active and people are contributing, I need to connect with you.

I am a staunch believer in the abilities of baclofen yet had a very strange experience about a month ago. I had a migraine without the head pain and have not been able to return to my normal clear headed self. I am currently titrating back down with the guidance of my doctor to try to discount that baclofen was the cause. I need to know if anyone out there has had a similar experience or knows of this happening to others.

I was on 210mg a day when this happened and had seen a huge reduction in my drinking as expected. I don't want to stop with the baclofen but have to to eliminate the possibility that what happened was caused by baclofen.

Cheers Stevo.

[Guitarista]

Welcome back Stevo.

Some experienced Bac users have recently frequented this forum, so i'm sure your post will garner a response soon mate. Good to see you. Take care of yourself

[Mom21961]

Hi Stevo, I am not a doctor, so take this with a grain of salt, but I had what I thought was every side effect from Baclofen as I titrated up. Migraines was not one of them. I would suggest staying the course and seeing if it resolves. I wish you the best.

[Mom21961]

PS, I went up to 320 before reaching success.

[georgesmiley]

Hello @Stevo ,

And welcome back. I'm not a doctor, but...

People often experience something at the same time as they take a medication, and link the two erroneously. I don't want to make light of your situation (but am British, and so make light of every situation), but it's for this reason I love reading the reviews on drugs.com. Mostly they're pretty sober, but every fifth one is along the lines of, 'After two days on this blood pressure medication taken by millions for fifty years, I was paralysed on my left side. This is poison.'

A 'migraine without a headache' does exist in the medical literature; but it's unclear what you mean. 'Silent' (painless) migraine exists, but it's associated typically with visual disturbances/aura. Do you have those?

Finally, with regard to 'feeling shitty in the head'... we're all drunks who've been assaulting our brains with poison for years and years. So... just gotta take that into account.

Ultimately, you're working with a doctor - and s/he'll be able to guide you.

Good luck,

George Smiley

[Baclofenman]

Hi there,

I used to be active on My Way Out way back 6 or 7 years ago. I am back on baclofen for my drinking and have come across something very strange.

Please if this forum is still active and people are contributing, I need to connect with you.

I am a staunch believer in the abilities of baclofen yet had a very strange experience about a month ago. I had a migraine without the head pain and have not been able to return to my normal clear headed self. I am currently titrating back down with the guidance of my doctor to try to discount that baclofen was the cause. I need to know if anyone out there has had a similar experience or knows of this happening to others.

I was on 210mg a day when this happened and had seen a huge reduction in my drinking as expected. I don't want to stop with the baclofen but have to to eliminate the possibility that what happened was caused by baclofen.

Cheers Stevo.

Hey Steveo,

Having never had a migraine I am not sure of your symptoms or issues but there are loads of side effects with Baclofen. However if you HAVE been on Baclofen for a prolonged period of time, I doubt this is the reason for your issues.

I would expect you have been on Baclofen for some time so this will be an odd situation. To suddenly get issues would suggest to me this has nothing to do with Baclofen. You may have covid, a cold or some other virus. A doctors blood test should sort this out.

Regards,

Bacman

[Stevo]

Hi guys and thank you all for your responses.

I need to elaborate and be completely transparent. I actually copy and pasted the original post from the "end of my addiction" forum which I had posted approximately a month or so before I decided to check back in here. I have had no response from anyone on there and just thought I'd ask the same question here. So it has been about two months now since the strange incident happened. Strangely I just tried to check if there had been any response on the other forum and it appears to be closed down.
@georgesmiley The closest thing I can find to what I experienced is what is known as a silent migraine, I wound up in the local ED and the triage nurse told me they had never heard of one and treated me as if I was crazy. I had all the visual and aural symptoms associated with a migraine without the headache. I knew the nurse was a fool when he finished by saying that a silent migraine could only be diagnosed after years of said symptoms. I was like "what, you just said you have never heard of one five minutes ago." He was arrogant and saw me as a layman who could not possibly know something he didn't. That being said my doctor knew all about them which was good, but he was concerned that I may have had an adverse reaction to baclofen. I am the first person he has ever encountered who has taken this approach, he is supportive and knows that it has worked for me before yet wanted to make sure I was not overdosing. This is why I had to start titrating down, along with the possibility of further testing requiring us to be transparent with the medications I am taking.

I myself have never thought this was a side effect of baclofen but had to tow the doctors line. I posted here looking for any possible chance of someone else knowing of a situation like this due to baclofen.

I am glad to say that I have almost returned to what I would consider normal although certain audible issues continue. I had never had a migraine in my life and when it took almost two months to rectify itself I was getting pretty worried, I thought I was living in a new normal or at the very worst I'd had a small stroke or something.

I appreciate all of the responses and thank everyone for their replies. I am back titrating up and have had a battery of blood tests, I received a call the other day saying I need to go back to see my doctor, I am going on Friday.

I hope I haven't missed anything I was hoping to say. I will say this though, it is because of information provided by people on here years ago that my doctor believes baclofen is a viable solution coupled with my first recovery which he watched in awe. He has been my doctor for many years now and is approaching retirement, I have spoken to him about possibly helping other people with baclofen to which he responded, "I would if it came along Steve, but most of my patients are old ladies with purple hair these days." He is happy for me to be titrating back up and has pretty much given me the reins to do so as I please, as he did last time. I am very lucky, all I have to do to get a new script is call and tell him. Hopefully more doctors will understand the benefits of baclofen for AUD in time.

I'm so glad people responded and I have found this forum again, I will continue to titrate up and check in with updates and to see what others are doing.

Every person that replied to this post is a name that I remember from all those years ago, thank you again for your responses and still being here.

Cheers Steve.

[Stevo]

Quick update and check in,

I am back up to 180mg a day, I am still drinking but strangely not as much as I thought I would be as I began titrating down. I seem to have lost the drive to drink obscene amounts of beer like I was before starting baclofen again. My weird experience has definitely subsided yet I still have issues with certain sounds, it seems to be certain pitches and sounds that take me by surprise like a car horn randomly going off or a dog barking. That being said, I am very glad to be back on track towards indifference and the outcome of the strange event is minimal.

As I am the only person I know immediately that is on baclofen for AUD I'd love to remain in contact with the people on here for support and communication.

Are there many people still active here who are doing the same thing?

Cheers Steve.

[georgesmiley]

Hi @Stevo ,

I'm just a couple of months ahead of you, so I'm doing the same.

I fuck up all the time, forget to take it, blah blah. On the one hand, I have ADHD, so half my life is spent looking for my phone/wallet/keys/daughter/car/tickets. Nice excuse.

On the other hand, I'm obsessed with drinking, and never ever ever forgot to have booze in the house. It's up and down. But even when I drink, I drink a fraction of what I used to drink.

I went cold turkey Sept-Jan, then became more 'moderation management' - and I have good days and bad. But even on the bad days, I'm not drinking anything like what I was.

Stay safe, Stevo.

Georgesmiley

[Stevo]

@georgesmiley Thank you for the response, I was starting to think there was no one else out there who was willing to communicate on this topic.

I am back on 210mg a day now so for me it is a dose that is interesting as that is where I was when the still unidentified situation occurred. I doubt it will happen again as the indicators seem point to a silent migraine.

As I said in the previous post, I'd love to be able to bounce off someone else or as many others as possible who are on the baclofen path, or have been. It can seem like a lonely road when I know no others who are doing it.

Thanks again for your reply.

Cheers Steve.

P.S. I live with certain mental health issues, you would never have to apologise to me about your ADHD manifestations.