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Death from alcohol overuse can be prevented with medications

Baclofen was developed in the 60s so there is no current patent coverage & therefore no big $$$ to be made. You can see in the literature that they are working on other GABA-B agonists that might have advantages over baclofen & that they could make $$$ on.

Any doctor could open a clinic and start prescribing this stuff. If it was a cure he would get rich
 
Clinical effectiveness of baclofen for the treatment of alcohol dependence: a review

Clin Pharmacol. 2013; 5: 99–107.
Published online 2013 Jul 3. doi: 10.2147/CPAA.S32434
PMCID: PMC3706258
PMID: 23869179
Clinical effectiveness of baclofen for the treatment of alcohol dependence: a review
Jessica L Brennan,2 Jonathan G Leung,1 Jane P Gagliardi,3 Sarah K Rivelli,3 and Andrew J Muzyk4
Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer

Baclofen, an agonist at the B subunit of gaba-aminobutyric acid receptor, possesses pharmacologic properties that may confer utility for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Research suggests that not only can it be useful in promoting maintenance of alcohol abstinence but also it may play a key role in decreasing alcohol cravings and anxiety often associated with alcohol dependence. To assess the benefit of baclofen for alcohol dependence, a review of the literature was conducted to identify published data investigating this off-label treatment. Four randomized controlled trials to date have been published and were included in this review. Although primary outcomes differ between studies, patients randomized to baclofen experience higher rates of abstinence from alcohol than those taking placebo in two of the trials. Secondary analyses indicate that baclofen is safe in patients with alcohol dependence, including those with moderate to severe liver cirrhosis, and may provide beneficial anxiolytic effects. Despite some positive data, the largest available randomized controlled trial failed to find any differences between baclofen and placebo. In all studies, individuals with severe medical comorbidities, seizure disorders, and psychiatric disorders were excluded from trials, which may limit external validity. In summary, there may be beneficial effects from using baclofen for the treatment of alcohol dependence; however, limited conclusions can be drawn from the small number of studies currently available for review. Larger well-designed trials are needed to further define baclofen’s role for the treatment of alcohol dependence.
 
Any doctor could open a clinic and start prescribing this stuff. If it was a cure he would get rich

Why not? But baclofen is generic & inexpensive. Sixty 10 mg tabs runs $1.

Most addiction psychiatrists charge about $150 for an initial visit, including the scrip for the baclofen. For some reason psychiatry is not covered by Medicare,
 
Why not? But baclofen is generic & inexpensive. Sixty 10 mg tabs runs $1.

Most addiction psychiatrists charge about $150 for an initial visit, including the scrip for the baclofen. For some reason psychiatry is not covered by Medicare,

Then what is stopping a doctor from starting a clinic and getting rich by doing this?
 
Then what is stopping a doctor from starting a clinic and getting rich by doing this?

Beats me. But the stuff works as advertised but only 10% of doctors are even aware of it as a treatment for alcohol withdrawal cravings symptoms. And those symptoms are the main cause of alcohol relapses..

Baclofen can be a drug of abuse & 'heads' use it with other drugs, including alcohol, to get high. Inebriation on it is dangerous because of loss of balance & falls resulting in hospitalization. Withdrawal from chronic high dose usage is said to be very unpleasant. But a 10 mg tab taken as needed only produces some short term drowsiness. In some patients a single 10 mg dose can have log-lasting effects.
 
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Beats me. But the stuff works as advertised but only 10% of doctors are even aware of it.

Baclofen is a drug of abuse & 'heads' use it with other drugs, including alcohol, to get high. Inebriation on it is dangerous because of loss of balance & falls resulting in hospitalization. Withdrawal from chronic high dose usage is said to be very unpleasant. But a 10 mg tab taken as needed only produces some short term drowsiness. In some patients a single 10 mg dose can have log-lasting effects.

Here is the answer.


It doesnt work like you think it does
 
Here is the answer.


It doesnt work like you think it does

It does work if not abused. If you seek it only to abuse it, you're just kidding yourself.

Baclofen is structurally very similar to gabapentin. Gabapentin can get you high if consumed correctly & in the right amounts but it builds up a tolerance quite rapidly. It is also classified as a drug of abuse. Both are substituted gamma-aminobutyric acids & are transferred into the system by a protein in the small intestine called the Large Amino Acid Transfer (LAT) protein. It evolved to handle only the moderate amounts consumed with a meal & not the relatively large quantities ingested by drug abusers.
 
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It does work if not abused. If you seek it only to abuse it, you're just kidding yourself.

Baclofen is structurally very similar to gabapentin. Gabapentin can get you high if consumed correctly & in the right amounts but it builds up a tolerance quite rapidly.

Alcohol works if you dont abuse it. Lol
 
Alcohol works if you dont abuse it. Lol

This thread is about chronic alcohol abusers looking for ways to safely get off it while dealing with the cravings that cause most relapses. It is not about people that don't abuse alcohol.

No one should be concerned about the guy who has a beer or two at a ball game. The abuser is the guy who then comes home & finishes off a bottle of Jack Daniels.
 
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This thread is about chronic alcohol abusers looking for ways to safely get off it while dealing with the cravings that cause most relapses. It is not about people that don't abuse alcohol.

No one should be concerned about the guy who has a beer or two at a ball game. The abuser is the guy who then comes home & finishes off a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Agreed. And if all he does is take a pill to cure that I think currently his chances of recovery are slim
 
Agreed. And if all he does is take a pill to cure that I think currently his chances of recovery are slim

Please read the abstracts of the scientific papers I have posted & the summary of the physician's experience with baclofen. Since this discussion is getting circular I will leave it here unless someone with a fresh question or POV wishes to enter the thread.
 
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By itself it wont cure anything in most people
I just finished watching a TED Talk where the researcher swears up and down that addiction is 5% biological, 95% psychological and social.

A disclaimer from @JacksinPA that he's not invested in the company that makes Baclofen would make me feel more at ease here.
 
I just finished watching a TED Talk where the researcher swears up and down that addiction is 5% biological, 95% psychological and social.

A disclaimer from @JacksinPA that he's not invested in the company that makes Baclofen would make me feel more at ease here.

How about discussing it with a real Dr?
 
How about discussing it with a real Dr?
That too.

Although even that has its risks these days.

It was doctors handing out Fentanyl and Oxycontin to cure everything that ails ye this past decade. Didn't work out so well for some users.

I personally don't know anything about "Baclofen", good or bad, but my spidey sense starts tingling when message board posts start reading like drug marketing. In fact, most message boards categorically prohibit this kind of thing.

Caveat lector.
 
I just finished watching a TED Talk where the researcher swears up and down that addiction is 5% biological, 95% psychological and social.

A disclaimer from @JacksinPA that he's not invested in the company that makes Baclofen would make me feel more at ease here.

I don't own any stocks & have no interest in this drug besides its curative properties in cases where alcohol withdrawal creates cravings that are difficult to deal with.
 
That too.

Although even that has its risks these days.

It was doctors handing out Fentanyl and Oxycontin to cure everything that ails ye this past decade. Didn't work out so well for some users.

I personally don't know anything about "Baclofen", good or bad, but my spidey sense starts tingling when message board posts start reading like drug marketing. In fact, most message boards categorically prohibit this kind of thing.

Caveat lector.

Chek the SEARCH box & you will find several past threads on baclofen. I have not consulted them but you might before making up your mind.

Most psychiatrists in the addiction recovery area are familiar with baclofen & will prescribe a trial amount even though it is 'off label'.
 
I don't own any stocks & have no interest in this drug besides its curative properties in cases where alcohol withdrawal creates cravings that are difficult to deal with.
Fair enough.

It can't hurt to look into it or discuss it with a doctor.

Is there anything in particular that prompted your interest in it? It seems like an unusual topic to bring up on a message board on a whim. Did you read something about it recently?
 
That too.

Although even that has its risks these days.

It was doctors handing out Fentanyl and Oxycontin to cure everything that ails ye this past decade. Didn't work out so well for some users.

I personally don't know anything about "Baclofen", good or bad, but my spidey sense starts tingling when message board posts start reading like drug marketing. In fact, most message boards categorically prohibit this kind of thing.

Caveat lector.

I was prescribed Vicodin 20 yrs ago for riding & car accidents and even then I knew about the dangers of opioid addiction...it's not new, altho it has reached epidemic proportions...but why are other people so unaware of the dangers? Again, it was known 20 yrs ago.

I objected to accepting the meds but the Drs said that my body would heal faster without the stresses caused by pain. So I took them early on and then went to over the counter stuff. I still have several opioids in my medicine cabinet fro all those yrs ago...saving them for the happily rare occasions I get hurt these days.

People are stupid to just accept things without question. But that doesnt remove the blame from Drs that describe them unnecessarily.
 
Fair enough.

It can't hurt to look into it or discuss it with a doctor.

Is there anything in particular that prompted your interest in it? It seems like an unusual topic to bring up on a message board on a whim. Did you read something about it recently?

With my chemistry background I enjoy digging around searching for things on line. The story of the French physician who healed himself got me interested in this topic. When I saw that it was very similar in structure to gabapentin, which I take, it got me even more interested. It is also similar in structure to Pregabalin.

One of the things about baclofen that fascinated me is that about 95% of it is excreted unchanged by the kidneys. Little if any involvement with the liver, which is one of the areas that drinkers need to be concerned about.

I have had personal experience with baclofen but don't want to get into details. One bit of advice: start with a small dose, say half a tablet per day in the morning, and increase your dosage only if you still have problems with the cravings. In my experience you should also be able to notice the cravings vanish entirely after you've taken it for a short time. How that works I have no idea, but you can reach a point where you don't have to take it all until you feel cravings return. Initially it will make you feel a little drowsy but that passes. It also has a diuretic effect so you don't want to take it at bed time. And you don't want to mix it with alcohol. I haven't tried that but since they act at the same receptor you might get really messed up with no net gain. And be careful with your balance & falling as it is a muscle relaxant. Don't overdose as that might mess you up also.
 
With my chemistry background I enjoy digging around searching for things on line. The story of the French physician who healed himself got me interested in this topic. When I saw that it was very similar in structure to gabapentin, which I take, it got me even more interested. It is also similar in structure to Pregabalin.

One of the things about baclofen that fascinated me is that about 95% of it is excreted unchanged by the kidneys. Little if any involvement with the liver, which is one of the areas that drinkers need to be concerned about.

I have had personal experience with baclofen but don't want to get into details. One bit of advice: start with a small dose, say half a tablet per day in the morning, and increase your dosage only if you still have problems with the cravings. In my experience you should also be able to notice the cravings vanish entirely after you've taken it for a short time. How that works I have no idea, but you can reach a point where you don't have to take it all until you feel cravings return. Initially it will make you feel a little drowsy but that passes. It also has a diuretic effect so you don't want to take it at bed time. And you don't want to mix it with alcohol. I haven't tried that but since they act at the same receptor you might get really messed up with no net gain. And be careful with your balance & falling as it is a muscle relaxant. Don't overdose as that might mess you up also.

One of the papers I posted mentioned that it may also act on receptors for nicotine & cocaine. I've had no experience with either recently but if you are hung up on either blow or cigs it might be worth a try also.
 
Go for it. If you could cure alcoholism with a pill the drug companies would make billions and be pushing it every day

Listen, Doubting Thomas. Have you ever been an alcoholic & taken baclofen to help you deal with the cravings after you've tried to quit? I would assume not, so you have no basis for being critical.
 
Listen, Doubting Thomas. Have you ever been an alcoholic & taken baclofen to help you deal with the cravings after you've tried to quit? I would assume not, so you have no basis for being critical.

I am critical of the science. If this was the cure you are making it out to be it would be on the front page of every newspaper in America. It's not a cure.....in fact it may not do anything but placebo effect. Show me the randomized double blind research that has been repeated several times and then I am on board
 
I am critical of the science. If this was the cure you are making it out to be it would be on the front page of every newspaper in America. It's not a cure.....in fact it may not do anything but placebo effect. Show me the randomized double blind research that has been repeated several times and then I am on board

Have you ever had personal experience with withdrawal from alcohol & use of baclofen subsequently?
 
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Have you ever had personal experience with withdrawal from alcohol & use of baclofen subsequently?

No have you? Are you suggesting it is a good detox drug?


So is librium
 
No have you? Are you suggesting it is a good detox drug?


So is librium

I'm not going to comment on my personal life in detail but I have had experience with both alcohol & baclofen. I've also had experience with benzodiazepines such as Librium. Baclofen is entirely different from Librium, or Xanax, or any of the many others in that class of drug. I would not have started this thread either as a joke or a as a deception. Baclofen is an outstanding & indeed marvelous & unexpected drug that treats effectively (in my experience, as well as that French physician who I quoted) a pitcher plant-like sticky trap that lures addicts almost inevitably back into abuse of a substance that can & does produce long term harm.

Your persistently negative attitude toward this drug is not productive & likely does an effective job in scaring away people who might benefit from it. It is not addictive, like alcohol. To my knowledge, no one has ever died from baclofen or initiated a malpractice suit against a physician why had prescribed it. It has been used as a drug of abuse but so has Librium.
 
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