Questions about Baclofen & Gabapentin
 

I'm supposed to be taking 10mg/4 x's/day of Baclofen & 100mg/4 x's/day of Gabapentin.

I only take 10mg once a day of the Baclofen because I felt that it was interfering with my work. I work nights.
Recently I've been suffering from insomnia & I've read that Baclofen can cause this.

Can anyone tell me what their experiences have been with the meds, insomnia & juggling all this with work.

Any input would be much appreciated. I'm so sick & tired of being sick & tired.

Thanking you in advance
Leslie

They both made me feel dizzy and weak. I stopped taking them long ago.

I hope you can find a good balance wth them.:hug:

I take baclofen, 3 of them before bed, because it makes me sleepy. I have insomnia problems, at least the baclofen seems to help that.

I quit taking the gabapentin last fall. It was making my feet and ankles swell with edema. Replaced that with Lyrica, quit the Lyrica after about 10 days partially because it made me so stoned, I couldnt do anything. All I wanted to do was sleep. I didnt realize that it was what was causing me to fall asleep standing up.

Other reason that I quit Lyrica, it's apparently the same class as gabapentin and it was not only causing my feet and ankles to swell, but it was making my hands swell and other parts of my body. I had such bad edema that I went to my regular doctor and asked to have my heart checked because the edema was so bad that I was coughing all the time and feeling really weak. (my dad, a nurse, was worried that I was having symptoms of congestive heart failure) I did have some problem with my heart...cant remember what it was called....regurgitation something or another.

The edema in my hands was making my hands more numb. Once I got rid of all that extra fluid some of the numbness that I'd been blaming on the MS got a lot better.

So, I guess I cant take medications like gabapentin and lyrica.

Love the baclofen tho. I really dont like being woken up by my legs trying to kick me in the butt with my heels. Spasticity sucks. Sometimes I take a little valium (another muscle relaxer similar to baclofen) if the spasticity is really annoying.

Funny, cause I think that the Baclofen is causing my insomnia. I did read that that was one of the side effects. I'm going to experiment a little with it. I've missed the last 2 shifts cause I'm unable to sleep. I didn't have insomnia before I started taking it.

I will let u know how that goes.

Thanks for ur input.

gabepentin made me feel awful! I felt like I was walking in a swimming pool under water. I felt thick and blunted and out of control of myself. I would lay down and not rest. I would sleep and not rest. I would nap and not rest. I felt like a puppet and someone else was controlling the strings. I told the MD I was coming off the stuff, and stopped cold turkey. Afterwards I was told how dangerous it is to simply stop taking the stuff. I should have tapered off, but it was making me crazy!

I take baclofen as needed. When I need one during the day, I take it. It makes me sleepy and very dry eyed. I try to not take one unless I am really suffering. Sometimes I will snap it in half.

Tizanadine (zanaflex) was awesome! it really stopped the muscle spams and was one of the best meds ever! but...I had wild dreams, bad rest, and simply couldnt get used to the side effects. Baclofen seemed to be the lesser of two evils.

Hello jiggered,

Insomnia from Baclofen? Really? :eek: That's the first time I have heard of someone having insomnia from that drug.

Usually feeling sleepy, drowsy, ect is what most normally complain of. I have used Baclofen several different times and it makes me tired each time but it helps for what I need it for.

I could not find insomnia as a listed side effect but, we each react differently to meds.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/d...s/a682530.html

Are you on any other meds, besides Baclofen and Neurontin, that could possibly be causing insomnia?

I used Neurontin(Gabapentin) and stopped. I used it for nerve pain and decided I would rather deal with the pain since it did not really feel much different.

I use Baclofen but I am reducing it as well. Snoopy and I have the same thoughts when it comes to side effects. It is supposed to make you sleepy not create insomnia. Baclofen is good to reduce spasms (sort of) but a side effect is a weakening of muscles (I think).

re: your sleeping. That may be one of the sx's of MS and not due to any medication. I use Ambien and holistically, watch what I eat later in the day or evening. You would have to figure it out based on your work schedule.

I feel sick and tired all the time too. That is part of my MS.:(

i tried baclofen a long time ago but it didn't work.
and the first med i used for neuropathic pain was neurontin but that wasn't working either.

then, i tried lyrica and i've been on that for awhile. it's much better.

work with your dr and keep a symptom (sx) journal. sometimes you need to try different things.

ps...welcome to NT

Gabapentin was the first drug given to me (other than IV solu-medral) and it was a very terrifying experience. I was starting off with three pills a day and it almost killed me, lost my memory didn't know how to talk, my eyesight was so messed up and my boyfriend said my eyes were rapidly spazzing back and fourth. So they offered other neuropathic pain killers but I just deal with what I have to deal with

I was also prescribed the baclofen and I have chose not to pop any of those yet, I'm scared it's going to turn me into a zombie :\

Sorry for what you are going through..insomnia is the pits!!

These are some tricky meds to take for sure. I started with Gabapentin years ago, 300mg ONLY at night..it always helped me sleep. Then it was added 3 times a day (for seizures) and I was soo agitated on it.. I would eat eat eat..and could not sit still. Hmm..

Then Baclofen 10mg was added 2x a day and can take another dose midafternoon if I need to. I did get used to 2x a day of Gabapentin now.

Its too much to start you with, IMO, but maybe you can start out with less, or less often THEN gradually go up to whatever dose works for you.

Perhaps your system is just really agitated with so many drugs. Do you take any other meds? Shots? Steroids?

Good luck.. you need your sleep. Let us know how you're doing ok?

Jan

There may be something to the baclofen causing insomnia. Because I dont fall asleep most nights until the next morning. (didnt fall asleep till about 6am)

I'll lay down around 3am and not fall asleep most nights, (watching a tv show that's on at 2am every night) and so I'll get up and read my Kindle a little bit to try to get tired. If it's coming up on 5am, I'll just give up on sleeping and go have breakfast with my dad if it's one of his working days. (he makes me a bowl of Cream of Wheat with cinnamon sugar on it...that'll help me sleep)

I didnt fall asleep till after 6am this morning. Stayed up after eating breakfast with my dad to wait for the paper to get delivered so that I didnt have to worry about my mom going outside to get it and falling down on any ice in the driveway. (yeah, as if I'm any more stable walking than she is)

My dad doesnt work tomorrow so I'm going to make more of an attempt to fall asleep before 3am. I am so tired right now, just sitting down makes me want to fall asleep. I'm going to set my tivo to record the show that I watch at 2am so that I can watch it tomorrow instead, and I'm going to make the attempt to lay down around 11 or 12 tonight and see if I end up falling asleep.

I live in the Central time zone, but I'm starting to wonder what state/and or country's time zone I sleep in...(maybe Hawaii time?)

Sorry to hear bout ur insomnia. I did read that one of the less common side effects to Baclofen, is insomnia.

I just took my Gabapentin today & I was so sleepy, but then I was in quite abit of pain, so I decided to pop a baclofen & whammo I've been alert since then.

As a side note, I absolutely love Cream of wheat, I've never had it with cinnamon sugar. That sounds soooo good,I'm going to give it a try!!

Thanks & have a great night.

It's Maple Cream of Wheat that my dad will make for me. Didnt start eating that stuff till about a year ago, but now I really like it because when I come upstairs after not being able to sleep, my dad gets the box down and makes me a bowl without asking him usually, and will hand me the cinnamon sugar to put in it.

Sometimes I'm not even that hungry, but I'll still eat it because it's kind of cool to be up and having breakfast with my dad before he goes to work.

My dad always puts a packet of Splenda in his (he kind of "collects" Splenda packets when he goes to restaurants) and I think he does the same thing for mine, so I probably dont need to be putting the cinnamon sugar in it, but it tastes really good with cinnamon.

My insomnia has been bad for the past month, but then I just did a 2 1/2 week long taper of oral prednisone, so part of my more recent insomnia problems might be from that. But, I do have problems sleeping a lot.

Sometimes I take the baclofen earlier in the night because the spasticity is bugging me. I notice I have more problems with spasticity just before a big storm. (we're in a winter storm watch starting tomorrow) so I have to wonder if the spasticity can be affected by the weather.

Yes! Found it!
 

jiggered,

As you can see most of us don't have insomnia as a problem with Baclofen, and have not heard of insomnia as a side effect of the drug.

My interest was peaked and I was about to ask where you had read Baclofen can cause insomnia but decided to search a bit more.

http://www.drugs.com/baclofen.html

From the above link: Sleep Disorders (insomnia)

Still learning even after 25 years :p :)

I find with most of my meds there is a window of effectiveness. If I take my baclofen, I MUST turn off the TV within a 2 hour window or I miss out and cant drop off. I may not be sleepy, but if I close my eyes, and pretend I can get there. If I leave the TV on or ignore that window there is no way I am sleeping. I can feel how tired I am but there is just no way to drop off.

I am the same way with xanax, pain pills, muscle relaxers and so forth. If I dont honor the window I am awake. :(

I've heard of several instances, where some drugs have the opposite effect on some people. I saw that years ago when my SIL took one of my mom's Tranquilizers and it gave her an anxiety attack. Doc said, it happens..:eek:

I take baclofen, and haven't had many problems with it, however I do suffer from insomnia. I'm not sure if the two are connected. I had serious problems with gabapentin, so I take Lyrica instead. It does the same thing for me, but with fewer side effects.

Insomnia
 

I've decided to try Melatonin. I bought some today, so I'll let u know how that works.

I've also booked a consult with my pharmacist, to see if I can somehow work around the meds & work!!

I really appreciate all your input!!

I take magnesium for butt-kicking spasm
 

Erin I take 900-1000 magnesium a day (in divided doses) and it stops my butt-kicking spasms as well as Baclofen. A neuro put me on it a generation ago. It still works. I do tend to have spasm.

Lyrica was impossible for me, made me feel like I could not breathe well.

Mariel

I had the same problem with the Lyrica, the 10 days I was on it, I think about the 3rd or 4th day I started to feel like I couldnt breathe, especially when laying down...also for some reason it made the spasticity really bad in my ribs and stomach.

I swear, Lyrica was a poison. Nasty nasty stuff....

I've decided that I'm gonna talk to my Dr. this week, I'm thinking that I have some form of depression, from the meds.

I'm starting to get anxiety attacks & I can't for the life of me force myself to go to work.

It's a vicious cycle, I don't sleep then as I'm laying in bed I have this internal argument. You're going to work even if you don't sleep. No I can't, yes you can etc. etc.
I do this for a few hours, then I get up & call in sick.
Then I beat myself up about it for the night. It all starts over again the next day.

I've been thinking about this for awhile, but anxiety, anxiousness, depression & mood changes are all side effects of Gabapentin.

What are your thoughts on this??

Any time there is a concern about medications causing depression or other negative side effects you need to get off that medication.

Many medications are tapered...you start out at a low dose and increase slowly. You also need to taper off of those meds as the safest approach.

Yes, contact your doctor but it sounds like you need to start getting off of the medications now, you can start doing that.

jiggered, I am very med sensitive. I have had medication induced depression with suicidal thoughts several times.

I stop the medication "cold turkey" then I notify my prescribing doctor. Going "cold turkey" is not a safe or accepted way to come off medication but, for me, it literally becomes the difference between life and death.

Took both medications at one time. I was up to 2700 mg of gabapentin a day. It did not make me sleepy after the first few days, and it did help some with the burning pain I was experiencing, but I was increasing my dose every six months. I was also experiencing some selling in my ankles, and gained about 15 pounds. I did not want to increase the dose again so under my doctor's supervision I tapered off of it. In retrospection, I probably tapered off of it to quickly I had been on gabapentin for over two years. The taper was pretty horrible -- constant nausea and dizziness (took me about 3 weeks). It then took about one more month after I was completely off of it to feel better. I definitely would not stop it cold turkey.

I was taking 60 mg of baclofen when I tapered off of it. It never really help my spasticity. this taper was much easier. I also tried tiznatidine for my spasticity. and it was helping a bit at a rather low dose, but It caused me to have extreme nausea.

I just want to add that I tapered off the Gabapentin too. Every four days, I eliminated one pill. I had been taking two pills four times a day = 8 pills/day.

It bothered me to miss a pill and suffer any withdrawal. That was one of my motivations for stopping.

Does the gabapentin cause you to have anxiety, anxiousness, depression & mood changes? Perhaps. Easing out of this drug can answer that question.

Consulting with your doctor or the local pharmacist (pharmacists are a great underused consultant and it is really their field of knowledge plus NO COST) is the best way to approach dealing with what is happening to you.

I think you are very smart to talk to your neuro about the depression and together try to decide if the depression is part of your medicines or if it is part of your MS situation.

Then you decide. This forum is a wealth of information but ultimately, I can only give you what I think and what I have "learned." And I am constantly relearning when I read through the various threads here.:)

Speaking of "nasty stuff", Erin's words for Lyrica, I am in my second week ramping up on Intron-A. I guess many MS people take Intron-B. I have no idea what the difference is.
This stuff is supposed to cut back on the platelets I make too many of, with my disease
Polycythemia Vera. I HAVE to take this or something worse. No choice. I have been a person who for all the time I've "had" MS has tried to avoid drugs as much as possible. But now no choice. Side effects are not so good but I"m told they will get less.

Erin, try the magnesium, everyone try magnesium. Even if you have to take drugs too.
Helps spasm!

I'm going to ask my regular doctor about it. I'm going to call him about getting some physical therapy after that last flare that had me drunk walking. Probably ask about the magnesium at the same time.

Calling my neuro this week to see if he wants to see me earlier than March, since I just had that flare and the handy-dandy prednisone taper. May ask him about the magnesium. See what he says about it. (probably will just up my dose of the baclofen tho)

http://www.overcomingmultiplescleros...eople+with+MS/


There are new doubts about whether its the right thing to prescribe Neurontin, and other such drugs for MS pain.