baclofen anyone? well I know many are on it, or have been hehe
Just wanted some to share side effects, how well worked for stiffness/spasticity etc... hugss and thanks for sharing, just newly on it for stiffness/spas. and feeling good result. just started though yesterday, so interested on others reactions. hugss,sarah

There is a withdrawal problem with this drug.

http://psy.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/.../full/46/6/503

If used carefully you may not experience this.
But I have seen posts at another place with alot of comments on the withdrawal problem.

This drug for me was not good. This drug caused me to lose vision (blurry and double). I only took for 4 months, and this side effect started within a month. After finally looking into my meds, and 3-4 days off i finally got my eyes back.
Since being off the cons of this med wish me wish i had never changed.
I also would not recommend just stopping.
wish you the best.

ouch are you sure the eye issues were due to the drug, or another sx if you have MS or similar just curious.

thanks all, hugss,sarah

Mrs D, I read that site you gave, thanks..seems that is more about abrupt withdrawal of the meds, and intrathecal type too more than oral medicine.

Either way my other question for you is, I know you are into natural things, do you have spasticity and if so what do you do for it, I do stretches too..but some days before this medicine was given, I was in tears just making it down the stairs in the mornings..hugss, thanks,sarah

I was on Baclofen not so long ago for the really bad Dystonia that I have in my left leg and right arm (the limbs that have RSD).

It didn't help me at all really and my Doctor said he thought it was making me too "floppy" but in the areas that he didn't want to go any floppier lol - I couldn't even sit up straight because my posture was so bad! Eventually my doctor decided that it wasn't really helping for me and thought it was best that I came off it. I didn't have any severe withdrawal symptoms coming off it like I did some of the other drugs but I did get really angry and frustrated and would flip over anything and everything!!!!

My nanan had Progressive MS though and she found Baclofen VERY helpful! The Baclofen stopped her limbs from going into spasm so much. She started on Oral Baclofen but has her MS progressed, the doctors were finding that she needed a really high dose to get it to cover her body so eventually, they decided to put in a Baclofen Pump and it was extremely helpful for her!! My grandad said it was basically a "life-saver" as beforehand, he couldn't pick my nanan up and transfer her because the spasms were so bad!! As my nanans MS progressed though, the pump stopped working as well.

I guess everyone is different in how they react and no two people are the same. I wish you the very best of luck and hope you get some relief like lots of others have reported!!

Jim takes baclofen with valium to control his spasms and tightness. No side effects that we are aware of. Nothing is perfect but it keeps him as limber as possible.

I've sent Sabimax a PM with a link in it, Sandy.

We can't put certain types of links on the board, so you can
ask her for it if you want.

The big problem with baclofen is when you try to stop using it.
It appears to have a serious withdrawal problem, which is worse than the SSRI one. So just keep that in mind if you need to stop using it. The list of severe effects is dunning and
a very slow taper should be done.

But if it works and you need it, just be aware of its downside.
It used to be very commonly used for MS patients.
But with the development of Avonex and other biological agents I guess patients are not progressing so rapidly now.
I rarely dispensed it in the past decade and I always had several MS patients. Even in the long term care facility it was not ordered often, and we supplied many rehabs.

It works to decrease spasticity, but for me it takes almost an hour to kick in, then it wears off after 3.... and when it wears off it causes more spasticity (requiring more baclofen).

I'm going to try Zanaflex.